Sept. 1. 1911 



533 



the reader an idea of how these were 

 shipped. 



Our ideal bee-wagon is shown, loaded with 

 160 such su])ers crated with one of our bot- 

 toms below, and a cover on top of each stack 

 of nine supers, held together by a common 

 plaster lath, four feet long, tacked on with 

 some small shingle nails. Thus crated they 

 are easily handled, and our wagon is so 

 handy for the jHupose that it is a pleasure 

 to haul tliem with it. The extra-long bed, 

 being 14 feet long, will accommodate 20 ten- 

 frame hives side by side in two rows without 

 any tying being necessary. This saves lots 

 of time and vexation. For havding bees, a 

 double-tier load takes just forty colonies, and 

 the wagon rolls so easily that two horses 

 trot away with large loads on any level 

 road. 



The frames that we use in these shallow 

 supers here in Texas are somewhat differ- 

 ent from the usual one put out at the fac- 

 tories, in that tlie t0]i-bars are only y& inch 

 wide, but full yi inch thick. This makes 

 tliem stronger to prevent sagging, and the 

 narrow top-bars give much more free com- 

 munication between the several stories, 

 which is of far greater importance tlian 

 many supjiose, esjjecially in the brood- 

 chambers, and equally so in the supers. It 

 does not only allow tlie queen freer pass- 

 ageway from one shallow story of the brood- 

 chamber to another in her laying, but tlie 

 bees go above into the supers much more 

 readily, and also from one super to another 

 as they are tiered up during the honey-flow. 

 These frames are often called the " Scholl 

 shallow frame" because we first tried them 

 fourteen years ago, and have been strong 

 advocates of such ever since. To obtain 

 them it has always been necessary to speci- 

 fy these top-bar dimensions in the order or 

 the wider flat top -bars were sent. Until 

 recent years such frames had to be made to 

 order altogether, but now they can almost 

 always be obtained at our large Texas sup- 

 ply-houses. It is necessary, however, to 

 state that the half-inch-top-bar frames are 

 wanted, or others may be substituted if the 

 dealer has them. 



8o far we have in use 6000 of these shal- 

 low supers, and our increase in the bee busi- 

 ness will demand another carload of them 

 next winter. Is this sufficient proof as to 

 whether we are satisfied with them ? 



New Braunfels, Texas. 



THE CARE AND GRADING OF COMB HONEY. 



How to Grade, Fumigate, and Pack so that the Hon- 

 ey will Reach the Consumer in 

 Perfect Condition. 



BY S. D. HOUSE. 



The season for the care, grading, and mar- 

 keting of honey is at hand, and it demands 

 as thorough attention as any part of our vo- 



cation. I have seen crops of fine honey \)xo- 

 duced by practical bee-keepers that, by im- 

 proper storage and handling, were made 

 tliird-class goods. Some of the trouble be- 

 gins with the making of sections, especially 

 with the one-piece section, which many bee- 

 keei)ers simjjly fold together, since they will 

 unfold as easily as they are folded. The only 

 additional strength they have is that which 

 the comb gives to them. Sucli sections 

 show more or less leakage; and what can be 

 worse and less api)etizing than a section fill- 

 ed with honey which is leaking out and col- 

 lecting the dust from the store, to say noth- 

 ing of the vexation of the clerk in getting 

 his fingers daubed with it. If all one-j)iece 

 sections are glued at the dovetailed ends at 

 the time they are folded, much leakage 

 will be avoided. 



We prepare our sections by spreading out 

 about twelve sections (groove side up) over 

 a board with a back nailed to it, one end of 

 the section being jiressed against this back. 

 This brings all the grooves in line. Now 

 with a thin two-inch flat brush we water the 

 grooves, then place another tier of sections 

 on top of the first, and so on until we have 

 twelve to fifteen high. Then we take one of 

 the upright piles and draw it forward; hold 

 the pile with the fore fingers, and with the 

 two thumbs press the pile backward so that 

 the dovetail shows on each section, the pile 

 then resembling a miniature pair of stairs. 

 With a piece of section di])])ed into prepared 

 glue we draw it down over the dovetail ends, 

 leaving a small drop of glue on each dove- 

 tail. After the section is folded in a Hub- 

 bard press a ridge of glue is found on the in- 

 side corner, which acts as a brace and makes 

 the section strong, and a help to hold the 

 comb, instead of the comb holding the sec- 

 tion together. 



Again, many sections of honey are rack- 

 ed badly in taking them out of the supers. 

 They may not show it at the time they are 

 taken out, but later theie is a leakage. Su- 

 pers with ojien-top wide frames can be turn- 

 ed upside down ujjon the bench, and, with 

 a piece of board laid across the ends of frames, 

 with the aid of the hive-tool, all may be 

 pressed out of the super at once, when they 

 can be i^ied apart without injury to comb 

 or honey. 



Sections should be thoroughly cleaned of 

 all iiropolis, and cased according to the dif- 

 ferent grades. The essential qualifications 

 of the operator in grading honey should be 

 honesty of purpose, and a knowledge of the 

 requirements of each grade. He should put 

 each section where it belongs, not allowing 

 the penurious penny to blind him. 



I am sure that a large majority of those 

 who make mistakes in grading honey do so 

 through lack of proper knowledge of what 

 is demanded. The first rule to govern one 

 should be to class the honey as white, am- 

 ber, dark; then divide each class into grades 

 — the white honey in three grades — ^fancy, 

 No. 1, and No. 2; and the other two classes 

 in two grades each — fancy and No. 1. In 

 buying honey I have found No. 2 sections 



