1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



69 



ry to fit any particular size of section, and 

 they cost about So. 00 a thousand. 



No change is necessary, except that the 

 shipping-cases must be a little larger. 

 About X inch more for each section is need- 

 ed lengthwise of the shipping-case, also 

 sidewise, if no wedging space is ordinarily 

 left. 



Any section that weighs a pound or a lit- 

 tle under is all right. There are very few 

 sections now that weigh over a pound. 

 The cartons are especially necessary where 

 plain sections are used, for the honey, being 

 flush with the edge of the section, causes 

 abrasion of the cappings in handling, so 

 that, when the grocer wraps the section in 

 paper, it almost invariably reaches the con- 

 sumer in bad condition. 



Twenty years ago we were the pioneers in 

 advocating sections weighing not over a 

 pound, and this made a great improvement 

 and increase in the sale and consumption 

 of honey. V\'e should now like to see a 

 standardized case of honey holding 24 sec- 

 tions, and weighing from 22 to 24 pounds 

 net, all sections being enclosed in these 

 substantial cartons. This would save a lot 

 of work, and would cause a honey-package 

 to be as standard and as well known as a 

 barrel of flour, etc. Odd sizes and different 

 styles, varying according to the whim or 

 notion of the producer, cause lots of confu- 

 sion in the trade. Moreover, wholesalers 

 are seldom able to duplicate an order with 

 the same style, etc. 



Shipping-cases need no non-drip bottoms. 

 Corrugated paper is best, but ordinary pa- 

 per is sufficient protection when these heavy 

 thick cartons are used. 



Albany, N. Y. 



ANOTHER COMMUNITY HIVE. 



BY LEON C. WHEELER. 



In a late issue of Gleanings a description 

 is given of a community hive, and the edi- 

 tor asks if any one else has had any experi- 

 ence "along this line." Several years ago 

 I built a hive with this idea in view; and 

 while it is, of course, not the same as the 

 one described, still it is the same in princi- 

 ple. The original idea with me was gotten 

 from the Ferris hive described in Glean- 

 ings several years ago. Instead of simply 

 putting two colonies together, as Ferris did, 

 however, I doubled the dose as the fellow 

 did who thought that, if a small dose of 

 medicine was good, more would be better. 

 My hive was made to hold 24 frames on a 

 side with a division through the center; in 

 other words, there were 48 frames in the one 

 body. 



Other divisions were made in each side to 

 make it into either four or eight compart- 

 ments as desired. The big division through 

 the center of the hive, and also the other 

 cross-divisions, were all made partly of wire 

 cloth, thus giving a free passage of air 

 throughout the hive and giving a common 



scent to all the bees. The first year I used 

 it I started it with eight nuclei which built 

 up till I had a hive running over with bees 

 about the close of the clover-flow. The su- 

 per I used was made to hold 26 frames on a 

 side, or 52 in all, with free intercouse through- 

 out the whole. This was accomplished in 

 the case of the division through the center 

 by means of little strips of wood set a bee- 

 space apart, extending the whole length 

 along the bottom and about 2>< inches high. 



This super, which I put on at the begin- 

 ning of the buckwheat honey-flow, was fill- 

 ed full, and I extracted 127 lbs., if I remem- 

 ber correctly— nearly as much as that ob- 

 tained from all the other colonies in the 

 yard— as this was a very poor year for buck- 

 wheat. Since that year I have used the 

 hive only for rearing nuclei, for which pur- 

 pose it is very good; but I am confident that 

 one could get an enormous amount of hon- 

 ey from it by starting in the spring with 

 fair-strength colonies. This would be espe- 

 cially true in a poor year when the ordinary 

 colonies would store but little. I rather ex- 

 pect to try it again next year any way. 



To avoid trouble with queens getting in 

 the wrong entrance I made some small en- 

 trances at the sides of the hive to use when 

 mating, which gave two entrances at each 

 side of the hive, and I never had any trou- 

 ble with queens getting in the wrong en- 

 trance. Of course, if one were to use this 

 hive for honey he would have to have a 

 special apparatus to handle the supers, or 

 else handle by frames. This would not de- 

 ter me from using the hive, however, if I 

 can get the extra honey which my experi- 

 ence would seem to indicate that one might 

 get by the use of this hive. 



THAT UNIVERSAL HIVE AND SECTION. 



This is a subject quite thoroughly discuss- 

 ed by men better posted than I; but my 

 choice of a hive is the old reliable ten-frame 

 Langstroth hive with Hoffman frames; and 

 I prefer the i^^Xi'/Xl'A plain sections. It 

 would take quite a lot to hire me to change 

 this combination, and I think you would 

 find the same thing true in the majority of 

 cases. 



But we all have our own ideas, and I think 

 you will find it's about like talking to the 

 wind to try to get bee-keepers to see near 

 enough alike to accept the same styles of 

 hives and sections. 



Barry ton, Mich, 



BEE-KEEPING IN MINNESOTA AND CAL- 

 IFORNIA COMPARED. 



The Profits in Either Locality About the Same. 



BY F. A. GRAY, 



For the past four seasons I have been per- 

 sonally operating my apiary in San Diego 

 Co., Cal. I also have two apiaries in Min- 

 nesota, which, during this time, have been 

 run by my two sons up to August 1 of each 

 season, when I return to Minnesota and 



