1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



755 



feet would be remedied. Another weak point 

 is in the neck of the nozzle. A year ago this 

 spring, when you were three weeks behind on 

 your orders, the joint of the nozzle gave out 

 completely. I had one made at the tinsmith's 

 — using the old hinge — and having the neck 

 braced with a piece of galvanized iron on the 

 inner angle of the nozzle. The iron (or steel 

 it is really — after being folded double is about 

 Y% inch wide and 2% long. It is riveted on. 

 When I wish to open the smoker I hit the noz- 

 zle a bat with my scraper, striking on the 

 brace, and open it flies. No chance for argu- 

 ment about it. 



As to that engraving on page 363, borrowed 

 from the Canadian Bee Journal, you say : 

 " This honey was produced, if I mistake not, 

 in one-piece sections ; but instead of having 

 ordinary beeways the openings extend clear to 

 the sides, the same as in the four-piece sec- 

 tion." I have used just such sections for the 

 past 12 years, and have wondered again and 

 again why any one should want to use sec- 

 tions with the curved insets, especially when 

 using section-holders. They do not allow so 

 free a circulation of air ; and as the bees de- 

 posit more propolis on them than on the sec- 

 tions with///// openings, top and bottom, they 

 are harder to clean. 



To return to the engraving : If I mistake 

 not, those eight sections were produced with 

 cleated separators. In 1893 I began using 

 cleated separators. In 1894 I used several hun- 

 dred of them, and fondly imagined I was the 

 only one who knew about such an effective de- 

 vice for getting the bees to fill the sections so 

 that they would look plump — " fat," as some 

 of my customers used to say. In the fall of 

 1895 I sent you a super containing sections 

 (l T 9 g wide) with full openings, separators with 

 cleats ( l /i inch), and a wedge-shaped follower 

 with a bee-space on all four edges, not to men- 

 tion other features. I have produced a good 

 deal of honey that would compare favorably 

 with samples given of honey produced in plain 

 sections, and the sections had the regular bee- 

 way, or, to be more exact, a half bee-space. 



Mr. B. Taylor's article on separators, p. 210 

 of Gleanings, 1895, makes that point clear, 

 and is well worth re-reading. To my mind 

 there are five essentials to the practical pro- 

 duction of honey that is well fastened to the 

 sides and has a plump look : 1. Strong colo- 

 nies ; 2. A good honey-flow ; 3. Not too much 

 surplus room ; 4. Full sheets of foundation ; 

 5. Cleated separators. Combs well fastened and 

 well filled at the edges can be produced from 

 starters, but I do not deem it practical. Combs 

 can be produced that look plump without any 

 separators ; but I do not think that practical 

 either. In a moderate honey-flow, if the bees 

 are forced to fill about all the cells next to the 

 wood by being crowded for room I think there 

 is a loss. That is, where a little extra honey 

 is put around the edges, much more would 

 have been stored if sufficient room had been 

 given. 



If, in narrowing down the 1% section, you 

 had gone further and narrowed down the tops 

 and bottoms as well, "clear to the sides," 

 there would have been some additional advan- 



tages about it : 1. The sections would look 

 still plumper than they do ; 2. You could get 

 them out of the cases without using a strip of 

 veneer ; 3. By narrowing the bottom-bars of 

 the section-holders to correspond with the sec- 

 tions, and extending the separators down even 

 with the lower side of the bottom-bars, those 

 "inviting spaces" for the storing of comb 

 and honey (which Mr. S. T. Pettit warns you 

 against, p. 95), would be broken up ; 4. When 

 a case is open for inspection, the honey pro- 

 jecting beyond the edges of the top of the sec- 

 tion presents an appearance of lusciousness 

 that is entirely lost with the plain section. 

 Rock Rift, N. Y. 



[It might be impracticable to use two wash- 

 ers to secure the jacket or shield to the Crane 

 fire-cup ; at any rate, we will try it on the next 

 batch of smokers. As to the weak point in 

 the neck of the nozzle, that can be remedied 

 by using a heavier tin, which we have used of 

 late. 



No doubt you sent us honey made with 

 slatted separators away back in 1895, but I do 

 not now recall it, except that in a general way 

 we have received quite a number of slatted 

 separators and fences from different ones, for 

 a period of at least five or six years back ; but 

 until I went to the apiary of the late Miles 

 Morton, and looked over some of his appli- 

 ances, especially some of his fences, I did not 

 really grasp the value of that device. 



As I have said several times before, just as 

 pretty and as nice honey can be produced in 

 beeway sections as in plain sections; but those 

 old-style sections must be modified in the 

 matter of the beeways. Those with the curv- 

 ed insets can hardly, from the nature of the 

 case, be filled as nicely as those having a bee- 

 way clear across and partly up and down on 

 each side. With such sections and slatted 

 separators the filling must necessarily be just 

 the same as the filling in plain sections with 

 the fences. But put the two side by side, and 

 the latter will look fatter and better filled, be- 

 cause the projecting sides in the former tend 

 to make the honey stand back in such a way 

 that the box seems not quite so full, so that 

 it is really a matter of appearance and not of 

 reality. 



We have letters on file from a number of the 

 principal commission firms, speaking in high 

 praise of the plain section. That it looks 

 well, and is usually the kind that is sold first, 

 and in some cases, at least, brings a higher 

 price, is claimed by them. But somehow I 

 dislike to speak of these things, because it 

 looks as if they were said for the sole purpose 

 of grinding that old ax. But shall facts be 

 concealed that stand a chance of putting mon- 

 ey into the pockets of bee-keepers ? 



Since basswood timber, like all other timber, 

 is advancing so sharply — nearly a third — it 

 begins to looks as if there ought to be a dif- 

 ference in price between plain sections and 

 the old-style with beeways ; for the latter, 

 taking more timber, and more labor to make, 

 of necessity cost more. If in the future the 

 plain sections shall be cheaper, and under like 

 conditions will appear to be better filled ,then 



