502 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aar. 15 



slats between zincs are only about i inch 

 wide. I want the honey- board so the bees 

 can pass right up the hive side with the 

 least possible obstruction, and I want the 

 whole honey- board with just as much zinc in 

 it as it can have and yet be rigid. The slats 

 I use simply and solely to prevent sagging. 

 No further description of this is necessary. 



The foregoing, together with the illustra- 

 tions, I believe makes clear the hive I am 

 adopting— have adopted, except the fence- 

 separator part. The one I am using is not 

 my ideal. I have invented both a separator 

 and a machine for their manufacture, but 

 have not yet gotten them into use. My sep- 

 arator will support the sections, yet sections 

 and separator will touch only at section cor- 

 ners except at the separator ends next super 

 end wal^s. There will be free passage of 

 the bees in every direction through the super. 



My reasons why are only partly given in 

 the foregoing, and this article is already 

 long. Very few people have succeeded with 

 such a hive, and the reason is they do not 

 know how. Such a hive brings in principles 

 not much used and not understood ; but when 

 I have told how, I think most readers will 

 see much of advantage in the hive and its 

 system of management. My next will tell 

 of what can be accomplished, and why. 



ARE SECTIONS DETRIMENTAL TO THE 

 HONEY MARKET? 



Selling by the Piece and by Weight. 

 Concluded. 



BY G. C. GREINER. 



[As the reference to page 1119 refers to Gleanings 

 for Nov. 1, 1905, it may be well to make a little explana- 

 tion for a better understanding on the part of those 

 who may not have this particular issue of Gleanings 

 at hand. In that number I stated that, in order to 

 make selling by the piece at all practicable, the honey 

 should be graded so that all the sections in one case 

 wotild be practically of the same weight. This would 

 make it necessary to have perhaps three different 

 grades in weight. The light ones could be put in one 

 case; the medium in another, and the "fancy " in still 

 another. With this explanation the reader will be able 

 to understand more intelligently what follows. — Ed.] 



In speaking of grading honey, page 1119, 

 the editor hits my case exactly. I have on 

 my bench three sections which I have set 

 aside as grading samples while I was sorting 

 and preparing my crop for market. The 

 first is, with the exception of a loop-hole at 

 each corner, all built out. is solidly hitched 

 to the wood, and every cell is capped. It is 

 about the heaviest I could find, and might 

 be called an ideal fancy section. The sec- 

 ond has here and there a few loop-holes, 

 about all bordering cells are open, and some 

 empty, and it would probably pass as a No. 1 

 section. The third is nearly all capped, and 

 well braced to the wood; it has quite large 

 openings on the outside, and belongs to the 

 class of light-weight sections. This latter 

 is the limit in regard to weight, which I sell 

 at full price. The three weigh, as nearly as 

 common scales would indicate, 17J, 16, and 

 14i ounces respectively. 



I try to sort my crop according to these 

 three samples, not by actual weighing, but 

 by the eye, with the assistance of my hand 

 as scales. The object of making these three 

 grades is not to sell at different prices, but 

 to serve my customers ahke as much as pos- 

 sible, and thus overcome in a great measure 

 the unpleasant feature of selling by the 

 piece. 



Whenever I am on the road selling or de- 

 livering honey I always carry only one grade 

 at a time. Whether I sell to the retailer by 

 the crate or to the consumer by single sec- 

 tions, all get the same grade of honey. Aft- 

 er one kind is closed out I take the next 

 grade in the same way, so that the chance 

 of selling different weights at the same time 

 and in the same place is greatly reduced. 



To gratify our conscience the question 

 might be asked, "Why not sell these differ- 

 ent weights at correspondingly different 

 prices?" Well, this is the point where the 

 shoe pinches, and where the impracticability 

 of selling by weight comes in. If we had 

 three fixed types, like our samples, to deal 

 with it could be easily done, although ap- 

 pri^ximately only; but we must bear in mind 

 that our samples are the extremes, suppos- 

 ed to be the only ones of that weight among 

 the whole crop. Any crop of section honey 

 from the lightest to the heaviest flake, could 

 be arranged in such a gradual progression 

 that the difference between any two neigh- 

 bors could not be detected by common scales. 

 Where, then, should we draw the dividing 

 line and jump from one price to the other? 

 No matter where we break off, we should 

 be compelled to charge different prices for 

 practically the same weight of section, and 

 that would never do if we expect to keep on 

 the right side of our customers. 



Any consumer will notice at once a differ- 

 ence in price, little as it may be, but not one 

 out of fifty could see a difference between 

 sections which we were selling at different 

 prices unless they happened to be from the 

 extreme ends of the line. Even the honey- 

 producing expert is many times at a loss to 

 know which grade certain sections belong to. 

 So, on account of the slight and almost end- 

 less variation of the weights, the selling by 

 weight would prove an extremely complicat- 

 ed affair, the difference being, in most cases, 

 so little that neither the dealer nor the con- 

 sumer would care to indulge in a pastime of 

 this kind. 



While taking this side of the argument in 

 connection with the retail trade I am well 

 aware of the fact that selling by the pound 

 in larger quantities is not only quite feasible, 

 but may give general satisfaction to both 

 parties. Crates of 24 sections, sorted as 

 above mentioned, will weigh, to express it in 

 even numbers, 22, 24, and 26 lbs., according 

 to grade— a difference sufficient in amount 

 to pay for figuring up. However, to the 

 producer it would be the same as selling by 

 the piece. What he loses on one lot he gains 

 on the other, and vice versa, unless he has 

 one grade greatly in excess of the other. 



But this is not the end. After this same 



