116 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



" Wherr one knows how to manag-e," 

 Geo. W. Phillips says, one needn't impris- 

 on nuclei to make 'em stay, p. 79. Please 

 tell us so we shall know how to manag'e. 

 There's some good stuff on page 80. [Mr. 

 Phillips has gone to school, and so is 

 not here to answer your question ; but 

 from what I know of his methods I think 

 he meant the giving of hatching brood, and 

 a larger proportion oi young bees to the nu- 

 cleus, to avoid the nuisance of confining a 

 few days. The methods described by Mr. 

 Phillips are those that have been tested 

 over and over again, season after season, 

 in comparison with other methods, so that 

 we believe one will not go very far astray 

 if he follows us implicitly. Rearing thou- 

 sands of queens, as we do, we feel that we 

 can speak with some authority. — Ed.] 



"It is just as easj* to produce sections 

 averaging 16 ounces as those that average 

 14X ounces." p. 65. True for you, Mr. 

 Editor, for one is just as impossible as the 

 other. Seasons differ, localities differ, colo- 

 nies differ; and with exactly the same man- 

 agement on the part of the bee-keeper there 

 is no certainty of having them twice alike. 

 [You are too mathematical!}- precise in con- 

 struing the statement. It is well known 

 th «t a IJf beeway section will come very 

 near a pound, but not quite, on the average. 

 The two-inch will reach it, some sections 

 being a little over and some a little under 

 a pound. What I meant to say was. it is 

 just as easy to produce a section of honey 

 weighing approximately a pound as one 

 that always runs short of it. Of course, 

 I understand that the management, season, 

 and bees may change these averages some- 

 what. — Ed.] 



I WONDER, now, I wonder, if there isn't 

 some mistake, p. 64, where the editor thitks 

 he saw my double covers slightly warped 

 and checked, and A. C Miller says they 

 twist badly. Seems to me I ought to have 

 noticed it. Remember, there are two thin 

 boards or series of boards with grain run- 

 ning in opposite directions. If nailed firm- 

 ly together, how can one warp without 

 making the other warp the wrong way of 

 the grain? [No, I do not think I was mis- 

 taken. If you will remind me the next 

 time I visit you, and let me look over your 

 covers, I think I can show you quite a num- 

 ber of them that are slightly warped and 

 checked. Of course, A. C. Miller had not 

 seen those particular covers that you have ; 

 but he has seen and tested the midified 

 Miller covers, such as we have been selling. 

 We use the very same principle in that the 

 grain of one set of boards runs across the 

 grain of the lower set, the whole being 

 nailed and cleated together so that the 

 warping and twisting tendencies are cor- 

 rected as much as possible. — Ed.] 



When I asked, p. 73, "Why is it that 

 in Cuba the honey harvest is in winter in- 

 stead of summer ? ' there was no joke about 

 it. I was (and am) io:norant, asking for 

 tight. F. L. Craycraft says, p. 17, "We 



are now at a date when a half of the crop 

 should be harvested," and his letter is 

 dated Dec. 21. I might think there was 

 some mistake in that date ; but immediately 

 after him comes W. W. Somerford, who 

 says bees are starving "right now during 

 the time of harvest," and his date is Dec. 

 15. To clinch the matter he speaks of "the 

 commencement of the honey- flow in Octo- 

 ber," and says, "the flow is over with 

 March." If Cuba were in south latitude I 

 could understand it ; but it's 20 degrees 

 north of the equator. The Gulf Stream 

 does some queer things; has it anything 

 to do in the case? [In Cuba there are no 

 frosts. It is a land of perpetual flowers. 

 In summer it is too hot. In fall and winter 

 it is just right for the best secretion of nec- 

 tar. In Arizona the bee-keepe s told me 

 that nectar was not secreted nearly as fast 

 on the hottest days as in more moderate 

 weather. To answer your question direct- 

 ly, the Gulf Stream or some other influence 

 has so tempered the climate that the calen- 

 dar months have nothing to do with the 

 honey- flow. — Ed.] 



Evidently you do not yet understand me, 

 Mr. Editor, from what you sa.y, p. 65. I 

 do not think there is any thing wrong in 

 producing or selling sections underweight, 

 overweight, or any other weight. I don't 

 think ifs any worse "to buy or sell sec- 

 tions by the piece than to buy or sell eggs 

 by the dozen." I think it is wrong to sell 

 a light-weight section with the understand- 

 ing on the part of the customer that he is 

 getting a full pound. In all this you and I 

 exactly agree. Here's where we differ: 

 You think that consumers always unrier- 

 stand, when buying light-weights, that they 

 are light-weights. I think they sometimes 

 buy them with the understanding that 

 they are full- weights. I don't suppose 

 there's as much of this as there formerly 

 was, for in time consumers must learn 

 what's what. But I think that the case I 

 put, p. 9%, shows that some of it is still 

 left. When a grocer will not pay as much 

 for 12 pounds of full-weight sections as for 

 11 pounds of light-weights, I'm afraid he 

 expects and intends that at least some of 

 his customers shall be deceived. I shall be 

 glad to agree with you if you can explain 

 the transaction so that it shall appear en- 

 tirely honest. [I do not think we disagree 

 very much, doctor, except that you appear 

 to have the impression that many retailers 

 sell by the piece with the intent to deceive. 

 The full-pound section has been on the mar- 

 ket so many years that the public must be 

 very dull indeed if it thinks it is getting an 

 even pound of honey when it bu3's a section 

 for so much money. The original intention 

 was to make a section that would weigh ap- 

 proximately a pound; but in practice it did 

 not do so. ThelJ^ and IJI ^H beeway sec- 

 tions were supposed at one time to do this; 

 but we know that in actual practice thej- 

 fell short. To remedy the difliculty by 

 making the section full two inches wide 

 only aggravates an evil that already exists 



