616 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the sections. There is no getting around it, 

 as we understand the law. For particulars 

 how to apply the net weight, the reader is 

 referred to our editorial in our last issue, 

 page 528. 



The net-weight law is going to work some 

 inconvenience and hardship, and beekeep- 

 ers will adjust themselves to it. It is not, 

 however, going to protect the consumer, in 

 our opinion. As explained in our last issue, 

 practically every comb-honey producer will 

 be obliged to adopt the scheme of marking 

 the minimum net weight on each section. 

 This will mean that he must lose the differ- 

 ence between actual net weight and a mini- 

 mum net weight marked on the sections. 

 As beekeepei's, like everybody else, are not 

 inclined to give away something for nothing, 

 they will charge enough extra per pound or 

 ounce to cover the deficiency and more. 



Fumigated Comlbs Not ObjectionaMe 

 to Bees 



We have received a large number of 

 reports — many more than we can publish — 

 from beekeepers who testify that fumigat- 

 ing with carbon bisulphide does not injure 

 the combs in any way so far as the bees are 

 concerned. These reports cover experience 

 with fumigation of combs in numbers run- 

 ning into the thousands, so that we think it 

 is safe to assert that cai'bon bisulphide does 

 not make the combs unfit for use again 

 for brood combs, as intimated by P. J. 

 Hovel, page 476, June 15. 



The Natioeal 



Net- wei 

 Not 



on 

 r a 



The new law will encourage the packing 

 of comb honey in cartons in order to avoid 

 the labor of marking each individual sec- 

 tion. It will stimulate an effort on the part 

 of the producer to sell his comb honey in 

 local markets and to his neighbors. Both 

 results will be for the good of the comb- 

 honey business and the public generally. If 

 all the comb honey produced were cartone'i 

 it would practically eliminate 90 per cent of 

 honey broken in shipment. 



•The net-weight law will go further. It 

 will eliminate entirely non-separatored comb 

 honey. Such honey, offered at all kinds of 

 prices to move it off, has been a real detri- 

 ment to comb honey produced as it should 

 be with separators. Thanks to the net- 

 weight law, this stuff will be relegated to the 

 past. That which has been pi-odueed al- 

 ready will have to have the individual 



weight on cacli se('ti(iii. After a producer 

 tries to mark the exact weight of honey on 

 each section, he will conclude that he will be 

 saving nothing by dispensing with separa- 

 tors. 



Another kind of comb honey that will bfi 

 put out of business will be glassed sections 

 While these goods have not been a nuisance 

 to the rest of the comb-honey producers, i* 

 will not be practicable to sell them any 

 more. 



Advance Prices on 

 n Accouiinit of the 

 the NatioDial Net- 



weight Law? 



The suggestion has been made by one who 

 stands high in the beekeeping fraternity 

 that now is an opportune time to advance 

 prices on comb honey, for the reason that 

 the national net-weight law is forcing an 

 expense on producers in marking, and a loss 

 in the honey to be sold that should be cov- 

 ered in some way; that is, providing it is 

 sold by count. The argument is made that 

 if the producer sold a case of 24 one-pound 

 sections formerly for $3.00, we will say, he 

 should now charge at least $3.25 for that 

 same ease, assuming that the two seasons 

 were alike so far as the production of honey 

 was concerned. Last year the weight of the 

 section, or frame around the honey, could be 

 weighed in with the ho'ney and the wax ; but 

 the wood part must now be eliminated, and 

 some one must pay for it. Again, last year 

 it was possible for the producer if he sold 

 by count to get pay for all the honey he 

 produced and put into shipping-cases. Un- 

 der the operation of the net-weight law he 

 can receive pay only for each section on the 

 basis of the lightest section; or, to put it 

 another way, he must sell every section in 

 the ease, no matter what it weighs, at the 

 weight of the lightest section in the case. 

 The elimination of the frame around the 

 honey will amount to 24 ounces, or l^/^ lbs. 

 to every shipping-case. ( This formerly went 

 in at the price of the honey.) If the light- 

 est-weight section in the case is I2V2 ounces, 

 exclusive of the wood, all the rest of the 

 sections in that case, no matter whether they 

 weigh 11/2 or 2 ounces more, must be sold 

 as weighing 12^2 ounces. At a conservative 

 estimate there will be a shrinkage right here 

 of 1/2 lb. in a 24-lb. case, or, in all, 2 lbs. 

 The actual shrinkage that must be deducted 

 this year over last year on a ease of sections 

 sold by count will not be less than 2 lbs. to 

 the case, and sometimes it will run from 2V^ 

 to 3 lbs. If the sections were produced 

 without separators, the shrinkage will be 



