1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



655 



knowledged almost everywhere to be too 

 much of a good thing; and I therefore con- 

 clude that you argue in favor of a single- 

 tier wide frame holding four sections. 



We find this question of preferences for 

 frames, sections, and hives is based largely 

 on what one is used to, or has had the most 

 experience with. This is particularly so in 

 all walks of life, especially toward middle 

 life, when age grows conservative. I find it 

 so in my case. While I believe you to be per- 

 fectly candid in your judgment of plain 

 and beeway sections, yet the reports that 

 come to our office are about two to one in 

 favor of the former. 



Our own market most decidedly prefers 

 no-beeway sections, and, as a rule, pays 

 more. Some two or three years ago Hil- 

 dreth & Segelken, of New York, very strong- 

 ly urged a tall section which was also a plain 

 one, for their market— not that they were 

 wilhng to pay more per lb., but because the 

 honey in such boxes averaged better, and 

 therefore brought more money. In our own 

 experience the plain boxes grade higher. 

 The same comb without the beeways looks 

 to many people fuller than it does when the 

 beeways are present. 



1 will admit this is largely a matter of 

 opinion, and only time can decide what will 

 be the universal box or section. 



But this fact should be taken into consid- 

 eration— basswood is growing scarcer year- 

 ly. The no-beeway box uses over six square 

 inches less of lumber, one-eighth thick, per 

 section, 41 size, than the beeway section for 

 the same capacity. It is also sold cheaper 

 by the dealer by 2-c per thousand. As the 

 time may come when basswood will have to 

 be abandoned for one-piece sections, shall 

 the bee-keeper or producer hasten on the 

 consumption of this valuable timber by us- 

 ing that section which uses up timber the 

 faster, or to put it another way, waste it ? 

 I hesitated very much about saying any 

 thing about plain sections in these columns; 

 but what I have said I have endeavored to 

 give without prejudice. And yet it should 

 be said the plain section and fence is not 

 patented, and can be made by any one. 

 There is, in fact, just as much money to the 

 manufacturer in the one as the other. —Ed.] 



THE PRINCIPLES OF TROPICAL BEE- 

 KEEPING. 



Queen-excluder Boards Indispensable ; Strained 

 Honey Cheaper than Extracted Honey. 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



Tropical bee-keeping differs perceptibly 

 from that of northern latitudes— at least 

 this is the reason given for the inferior 

 quality of much tropical honey, hence we 

 hark back to first principles. However the 

 conditions may differ, the merchants of Lon- 

 don, Havre, Antwerp, and Hamburg are 

 unanimous in demanding first-class honey 



from their consignors, hence we shall have 

 to keep this fact constantly in view. 



One of the first requisites of a first-class 

 honey is colorlessness. It should appear to 

 be the color of water if possible; if not, the 

 nearer the better. It should be free from 

 extraneous water— practically dry. It should 

 be free from peculiar odors. The problem is 

 to get a honey to conform to these specifica- 

 tions. Perhaps nothing can better illustrate 

 what I have to say than the frank and free 

 admission of Editor Hutchinson, of the Re- 

 view, that raspberry honey is colorless pro- 

 vided it is extracted from new combs. This 

 is a terrible admission to make, but it is go- 

 ing back to first principles simply to state 

 it. It follows from this that combs for ex- 

 tra-fine extracted honey must all be made 

 anew every time, and queen- excluders must 

 be used. There are not enough zinc queen- 

 excluders used in the tropics— at least not 

 in the West Indies and on the Spanish main. 

 Not to use excluders on hives means inferior 

 honey^at least the European commission 

 dealers will class it so. Going a step fur- 

 ther, it is true, as Editor Hutchinson says, 

 honey must be extracted from new combs to 

 be colorless. 



Some one will hold up his hands in horror 

 at the bare idea of not using good combs a 

 second time; but this is precisely what is 

 aimed at. If very high-grade honey is want- 

 ed, don't extract from combs that have been 

 used once. Better get nice new combs eve- 

 ry time. This brings us to the fact that 

 queen-excluder zinc is one of the greatest 

 inventions connected with bees. 



Some people with notions of economy try 

 to get along without a queen-excluder on ev- 

 ery hive. No modern hive is complete with- 

 out it. But there are other and even weight- 

 ier reasons for its use. Wax is one of the 

 most valued products of the honey-bee, and 

 we of the tropics hold a great hand in its 

 production. If we prevent the bees from 

 making new combs they will simply drop 

 their production of wax on the floor of the 

 hive in a fluffy pile, and a valuable product 

 is lost. 



You can not stop bees in the tropics from 

 making wax; you can only prevent them 

 from constructing combs. They make wax 

 any way, so it is best to let them utilize it 

 in making combs for storing honey. In the 

 North, where the seasons are short, sharp, 

 and decisive it may be best to use the same 

 combs over and over, but this is not a good 

 principle to follow in the tropics. Then a 

 tropical bee-master has his weather eye con- 

 stantly on the wax-pile; and if he des-res 

 plenty of it, of fine quality, he simply has 

 to have queen-excluder boards on all his 

 stocks. If the brood-chamber combs have 

 been built on good Weed foundation, as they 

 ought to be in every case, it is amazing with 

 what rapidity the colonies will build drone 

 comb above the queen-excluder every time 

 they get the opportunity. Then, also, it is 

 simply "sport" to make wax from combs 

 that have never been used as breeding-nests. 



