1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



757 



Don't you think she would not do equally 

 good work next season in comparison with 

 others ? Well, the Root Co. have bought 

 the queen for a breeder. — Ed.] 



New York reports an unfavorable season, 

 page 706; but had their main harvest, bass- 

 wood, shown up before July 1 ? [As will be 

 seen elsewhere, the recent hot weather, to- 

 gether with the frequent warm rains, has 

 given a new lease of life to white, red, and 

 peavine clover. They are all in bloom, and 

 give promise of a fair yield of honey. As 

 the ground is too soft to cut the peavine 

 the bees will have access to it until the sod 

 is firm enough to hold a mower. A week or 

 so ago we concluded the clover yield was 

 about up; but I find that even white clover 

 is very abundant, and the bees are working 

 well on it. If this condition is universal 

 there may yet be a crop from the clover 

 belt. A peculiar season like this throws us 

 all out of calculation. — Ed.] 



E. P. Churchill's description of a pry to 

 move followers, page 721, 1 wonder if I'm 

 the only one who can't understand it, espe- 

 cially that "one five with ends." [By read- 

 ing again the paragraph in question I find it 

 is not clear just how his hive-tool is con- 

 structed. Ordinarily I require a correspon- 

 dent to make his description very clear, or 

 furnish a photo or drawing; but owing to 

 the fact that, during a part of my time, I 

 have had to be out among the bees, I have 

 let some things go by. And that reminds 

 me that I should be glad to have our corres- 

 pondents furnish us drawings or photos. 

 We are perfectly willing to pay the expense 

 of either. There are but very few things 

 that can be clearly described by words 

 alone; and even then a good drawing saves 

 a heap of time in figuring out how a thing 

 is made or used. Sometimes three or four 

 drawings are submitted to the writer before 

 one is pronounced correct. Where a small 

 model can be made, by all means send one, 

 and from this we can elaborate a good draw- 

 ing.— Ed.] 



Referring to my question about a case of 

 sections weighing 11| lbs. selling for more 

 than a case weighing 12i lbs., the quality 

 being the same in each case, you ask for 

 something "specific," p. 640. Please look 

 at market report for Chicago, in Gleanings 

 for Nov. 1, 1903, p. 907, where you will find 

 this: " To obtain 13J to 14 it has to be per- 

 fect, and in sections that will not weigh 

 over 14 to 15 oz. Sections that weigh 16 

 oz. and over have to be sold at from 1 to 3 

 cts. per lb. less." Let's figure, taking the 

 average difference of 2 cts. per lb. A case 

 of llf lbs. at 14 cts. brings $1.64J; a case 

 of 12J lbs. at 12 cts. brings $1.50. Of course, 

 that's not saying there's anything wrong in 

 the one who makes the quotation, any more 

 there's something wrong in me for produc- 

 ing light-weight sections. The question is. 

 Why should the market be such? It may be 

 said that heavy-weight sections produced 

 without separators are likely to be bulgy 

 and leaky. But so may light-weight sec- 



tions produced without separators be bulgy 

 and leaky, and many a case of full- weight 

 sections have I produced with separators. 

 It looks to me that light-weights bring mora 

 per pound because the section can be sold 

 with the understanding on the part of the 

 purchaser that he's getting a full pound. 

 [Perhaps we shall have to agree to dis- 

 agree, for I can't see this as ycu do. I have 

 traveled from ocean to ocean, and have talk- 

 ed with commission men in nearly all of our 

 large cities. They have been annoyed witk 

 bulgy and leaky sections. If a 11 section 4^ 

 square produced without separators runs a 

 pound or a little over, it will not crate well 

 with another section of the same class. 

 Some bee-keepers are foolish enough to put 

 two fat sections together, with the result 

 that the whole case of honey has to be sold 

 for less money. Mr. Burnett has been trou- 

 bled just as we have been, again and again, 

 by bee-keepers who think thay can econo- 

 mize by using fewer separators. There are 

 many bee-keepers now who are using only 

 one or two separators in a super. Indeed, 

 I have heard it soberly argued in conven- 

 tion. While some may know their business 

 well enough to get along with only two sep- 

 arators, the great majority do not. While 

 a light-weight section may be bulgy, as you 

 speak of, they are not liable to be so fat as 

 to interfere with casing. A liX4J section 

 is the nearest to standard; when separa- 

 tored, it runs less than a pound. It the 

 average is a pound or over don't you see 

 that there are liable to be some fat sec- 

 tions that will leak? The only way to make 

 a 11 section average a pound is to go with- 

 out separators, then some of them will be 

 over full. A case of 12 sections weighing 

 12^ pounds is made up of sections that won't 

 crate up well. If you were a dealer you 

 would pay more for sections, every one of 

 which would be sound and of uniform filling, 

 than to take a case of heavier sections which 

 would be quite liable to leak. If the stand- 

 ard section were two inches thick then the 

 situation would be very different. I am only 

 sorry, doctor, that you can not be in place 

 of the wholesaler or retailer so that you 

 wouldn't be like the "man up a tree. " You 

 say you have produced many a case of full- 

 weight sections with separators. But this 

 is not saying it was an average. Possibly 

 you were referring to the 1}| section which 

 you formerly used. The 1| on the average, 

 when produced with separators, runs less 

 than a pound; and, if I mistake not, your 

 sections are not an exception to the general 

 rule over the country. Mr. J. A. Green hit 

 the nail on the head when he said the 1| 

 section was made to fit a hive. If this be 

 true, it was not to reduce weight for the 

 purpose of deceiving. You formerly used 

 IJf sections. When you adopted new hives 

 you also adopted the 11 section with wood 

 separators. It is no doubt true that an un- 

 derweight section is also more popular with 

 the purchaser— not because he is deceived, 

 but because he can get something for 15 or 

 10 cents as the case may be. — Ed.] 



