1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



253 



A Santa Barbara bee-keeper boasted about 

 the quality of his honey, and stated that he 

 extracted all of his honey before it was capped, 

 and when it was very thin. He ripened it to 

 the proper consistency in the tank. 



Eucalyptus is winning golden opinions as a 

 honey-producing tree. Nectar from it is about 

 the only living the bees get during the dry 

 season. 



The glad hand was extended to us by Prof. 

 Cook, of Pomona College ; Frank McNay, of 

 Wisconsin, and Oliver Foster, from Colorado. 



The Union Hive and Box Co. let us know 

 that they were in business, and quite a party 

 of bee-men went out there, and for the first 

 time saw the manufacture of Weed-process 

 foundation. 



An addition has been recently made to the 

 already overcrowded condition of the exhibit 

 in the Chamber of Commerce, of a large ex- 

 hibit from Fresno Co. The fruits and the rai- 

 sins are nicely set out with a nice case show- 

 ing several sections of fancy comb honey from 

 the apiary of J. C. McCubbin, of Selma, Cal. 



THE USE OF SEPARATORS. 



More Honey Without Separators Sometimes, but 



Less Money ; some Preity Strong Evidence in 



Favor of Separators. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



This is a common topic. Common as it is, 

 possibly there is room for more on the sub- 

 ject. Among producers that are considered 

 real practical men and leaders, there are yet 

 some who do not use the separator, while in 

 the lower ranks there are very many who do 

 not. 



At our last annual convention of the Colo- 

 rado State Bee-keepers' Association we had a 

 warm discussion on the use and non-use of 

 separators. When the subject had been pret- 

 ty well thrashed I offered a few remarks, try- 

 ing in brief to cover the whole ground. We 

 had present the editor of this paper, who was 

 supposed to be taking these discussions to re- 

 produce them; but afterward he asked me to 

 furnish him the speech in writing. I told 

 him I could not do it. I might write the 

 substance; but to reproduce that speech was 

 out of the question ; it was gone, and I did 

 not remember nearly all I had said. Two 

 very busy months have passed since, and now 

 I shall try to give my ideas about this much 

 discussed question. 



ARE SEPARATORS A NECESSITY ? 



Most decidedly, yes. It is almost an im- 



possibility to succeed in getting honey in 

 proper shape without them. Give me a good 

 colony, one that can enter and work the ivhole 

 super at one time, and do it easily; a good 

 rapid flow that comes steadily; weather reg- 

 ular, temperature right, sections with full 

 sheets of foundation, and I will get a lot of 

 sections so smooth and pretty that many will 

 say they are perfect. They probably can all 

 be cased, at least with a very little care. The 

 variation in weight between sections will be 

 very little. Having accomplished this feat, 

 shall I go into print and say, " As for me I 

 have no more use for separators " ? 



In 1889 I produced 8 tons of section honey. 

 All colonies were strong, and no swarming ; 

 the flow was one of the freest I ever experi- 

 enced, so that two apiaries averaged 150 

 pounds to the colony; full sheets of founda- 

 tion were used, and two separators in 28- 

 section supers. Almost the entire lot of 16,000 

 lbs. was cased, and almost as it came, with- 

 out extra care in placing sections — possibly 

 not over 100 to 200 sections so bulged that 

 they had to be left out. That lot of honey 

 was said to be the best large lot that had ever 

 entered the city of Denver to that date. You 

 see it is a possible thing, but not probable, 

 that you will accomplish such a result. Why 

 have I not done it since? I will tell you. 



Honey flows are not all alike. Seasons dif- 

 fer. Colonies are not always the same. In 

 all the years since that one, I have never had 

 such results ; and how many more years till I 

 shall have I can not tell. I may have the 

 bees and the weather, but not the flow. It 

 takes the combination of favorable conditions 

 to make it a success, and you may have those 

 conditions once in a lifetime or you may not. 

 Some localities are more favored than others ; 

 but, one year with another in the average lo- 

 cation, we can not produce what the market 

 demands if we do not use separators. It is 

 out of the question. 



But you will ask, " What if some are bulged 

 a little, or uneven in weight?" That ques- 

 tion is easy to answer. For your own eating, 

 and for your own " family trade," where your 

 customer buys a case or more, takes it home 

 and uses it all at home, it matters little wheth- 

 er the honey be straight, or even weight ; but 

 if the honey is to go into the retail store it 

 must be both regular in weight and all within 

 the wood. Much has been written about 

 dealers selling by weight or by the piece, and 

 considerable has been said about a section for 

 a certain price. 



It is the custom to sell groceries by the 

 piece or package, as in cereal preparations, 

 coffee, tea, butter, fruits, salt ; and now even 

 crackers, cookies, and all such come in retail 

 packages. The goods not put up in packages 

 and retailed that way are altogether the ex- 

 ception. The demand is for packages that 

 sell by the piece. It is absurd to think of 

 producing honey so that it must be sold by 

 weight, one section for 8 or 9 cts., another 

 for 10, 11, or 12, etc. It is also absurd to talk 

 of producing a section that will sell for a cer- 

 tain price (that hits you, Mr. Editor); for just 

 as the supply and demand vary, and prices 



