1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



599 



manj'. of the points sug'g'ested would be 

 mare seasonable later on, we have held it 

 until now. 



The ordinar}' process of making- founda- 

 tion subjects the wax to a hig-h tempera- 

 ture long enoug-h to preclude all possibility 

 of any of the germs in the spore form being 

 left alive. We have j'et to hear of a case 

 where foul brood was ever transmitted 

 through foundation. 



You quote Mr. France as saying that 

 " the hives were boiled, so also the honey." 

 I do not understand whether you mean that 

 the hives were merely immersed in boiling 

 water, and the honey brought to a temper- 

 ature of 210, and thea allowed to cool. One 

 of our old subscribers, Mr. J. A. Buchan- 

 an, some years ag-o boiled some foul- broody 

 honey for seven or eight minutes. He took 

 it oH, and, when cool, fed it to his bees. In 

 every one of the colonies fed with this hon- 

 63', foul brood developed within ten days. A 

 number of laboratory tests have been con- 

 ducted, showing that the spores of foul 

 brood will sometimes resist a boiling tem- 

 perature for ^wo hours. The spores must 

 not be confused with the active bacilli, 

 which would be killed almost instantly, 

 probably, by a boiling temperature. We 

 shall be glad to hear from Mr. France on 

 this point, as his experience has been very 

 extended. But the question is so important 

 that we can not afford to take chances nor 

 make any mistakes. It won't cost much to 

 err on Ihe safe side. 



The scheme of scraping sections on coarse- 

 mesh wire cloth is a valuable one, and I do 

 not remember seeing it in print before. Our 

 subscribers will have a chance to test it 

 within a week or ten days, and we shall be 

 glad to get reports from all who try it. — 

 Ed.] 



SELLING BOTH BY WEIGHT AND THE PIECE. 



Some New Old Ideas. 



BY T. K. MASSIE. 



Seeing that the question of how we shall 

 sell our section comb honey, whether by 

 weight or by the piece, is being discussed 

 pro and con, I write to ask, why not com- 

 promise the whole case by adopting a size 

 for our sections that will admit of selling 

 both ways — do justice to all parties con- 

 cerned, and end the discussion? A section 

 which can be sold either by the pound — one 

 that will hold a full pound — or by the piece 

 will do this. Of course, all sections of any 

 size whatever will not weigh exactly the 

 same; but I have said, and here repeat, 

 that the 4XX5Xl>s section comes nearer 

 averaging a pound than any other size. 

 Well- filled sections of this size will average 

 rather over than under 16 ounces, the size 

 my selfishness causes me to desire. We 

 are all more or less selfish. If I sell a 

 man 20 sections by the piece, and tell him 

 that they will average a full pound, and 

 then place them on the scales and show 



him that the actual weight of the honey is 

 20 pounds and 5 ounces, his selfishness 

 causes him to think that he has gotten the 

 best of me in the deal, and he becomes then 

 my permanent customer. I\ly selfishness 

 caused me to delight in giving that over- 

 weight for the sole purpose of securing a 

 permanent customer. If I had sold him the 

 honey by weight he is likewise pleased- 

 We should also delight in giving full 

 weight. If I charge him half a cent per 

 section more when selling to him by the 

 piece, he is still satisfied, because, looking 

 at the matter from his standpoint, he has a 

 little the best of the bargain. As a rule, 

 the American people always want the best 

 end of a bargain. Then why not adopt the 

 Ayi X5Xl>s sec ion for a standard? 



Since 1886 I have tested more different 

 styles of hives, frames, separators, sections, 

 and other devices than almost any one: and 

 in my early investigations I had a desire to 

 give the resrlts to the public through the 

 bee-journals; but when j would send in my 

 experience the articles nearly always went 

 to the waste basket. PVequently I told of 

 the advantages of two story hives, closed- 

 end frames, shallow frames, wide vs. deep 

 frame tops, sealed covers, etc. ; but the re- 

 sult was always the same. When a theory 

 presented itself to my mind I would follow 

 it up to see if it would prove well in prac- 

 tice. I could not get the bees to fill the 4 '4: 

 square sections in the T supers with solid 

 tin separators. Theory suggested that the 

 solid separators divided the bees up into 

 too many small divisions. I saw that, while 

 a separator was necessary for best results, 

 it should be as near nothing as it was pos- 

 sible to make it. In 1887 I mad° 6 separa- 

 tors of perforated zinc by nailing strips i\ 

 inch thick on each side, one on each end 

 and one on the center of every A^i inches 

 where the edges of sections would come 

 in contact with it. In part of them I turn- 

 ed the long way of the slot perpendicularly, 

 and in the others it was turned horiz:)ntal- 

 ly. I then cut the shoulders (beeways) off 

 the corners of some sections, and placed 

 them in the center of a T super between my 

 zinc separidtors, the rest of the super being 

 filled out with the tin separators. It was 

 very clear that more bees were at work on 

 the sections between the zinc separators 

 than there w( re between the tins, and the 

 middle sections were more quickly and bet- 

 ter filled than the others. 



The next season I placed the zinc at one 

 side of the super, with the tins in the oth- 

 er. Result was about the same, but per- 

 haps not quite so decisive. Theory sug- 

 gested that these small divisions of bees 

 ought to have side or horizontal communica- 

 tions with each other, and that this ar- 

 rangement would give belter ventilation. 

 Practice (of course the experiment was not 

 a thorough test) seemed to prove the theory 

 a correct one. I had also been testing 

 sealed covers for wintering, and the wide 

 vs. deep frame-tops to prevent burr-combs. 

 In 1889 or '90 I wrote an article for Glean- 



