1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1119 



You say, Mr. Editor, "no one would think 

 of buying eggs by the pound." Beg par- 

 don, that very thing has been thought about 

 and t liked about; and, if I am not mistaken, 

 eggs are sold by the pound in some places. 

 Please note that, while the trend is toward 

 having things in ready packages, that's only 

 another form of saying that they are ready 

 weighed, and equally the trend is toward 

 having things sold by actual weight. When 

 I was a boy I never heard of wheat being 

 sold by weight; you, Mr. Editor, very likely 

 never knew of its being sold any other way; 

 same with corn, oats, and other grain; and 

 potatoes, squashes, and a whole lot of other 

 things are coming into the same list. You 

 say, "one can go into a grocery and get 

 pretty nearly a whole lay-out without using 

 the scales once. " Now, what kind of talk 

 is that? Haven't the scales been used in 

 making up those ready-weighed packages? 

 You say, " Many grocers will not handle 

 honey, and why? Because we bee-keepers 

 have not catered enough to the custom that 

 now prevails, of regular size and regular 

 packages at even change." My! my! 

 Haven't we? Will you please name five 

 things that we have not done in that direc- 

 tion? Well, just one, then? See here, my 

 good friend and fellow citizen, you might as 

 well say that grocers will not handle dress- 

 ed poultry because poultry- raisers "have 

 not catered enough," etc. Do you think 

 any poultry-raiser has ever tried as hard to 

 have a lot of chickens of exactly the same 

 weight as we bee-keepers have tried to have 

 sections of the same weight? And- still 

 there are some other things to be said. 

 They'll keep. [When you mention chickens, 

 beefsteak, and the like, you refer to things 

 that are seldom sold at groceries, but at 

 meat markets. The citation of a chicken 

 that is of more value, and which is to be 

 sold at a place where nearly every thing 

 must be sold by weight, is hardly a parallel 

 case. It would be impossible to sell meat 

 by the chunk, arid chickens by the piece. 

 What I was talking about was the grocery, 

 where honey is sold and where the tendency 

 is to sell nearly every thing in packages. 

 Cheese is the only article that has to be sold 

 by weight that I can now recall. Practical- 

 ly all other food stuffs are being sold more 

 and more in packages. Even butter is being 

 sold by the brick. 



What I meant by saying that bee-keepers 

 had not catered enough to the demands of 

 the grocer was that they have been in the 

 habit of putting heavy and light-weight sec- 

 tions in the same case, all mixed together. 

 This makes it necessary for the grocer to 

 sell by weight. The customer can not tell, 

 neither can the grocer, how much the honey 

 will be until it is weighed. But take to that 

 same grocer a case of sections, each of 

 which will be almost exactly the same 

 weight, so that he can sell them by the 

 piece, and see if he does not ask you to bring 

 more of your honey to him in the same way. 

 If you put your light weights in one case, 

 your medium in another, and your strictly 



fancy in another still, so that he can sell out 

 of each case by the piece, you will please 

 him and his customers too. 



Referring to my statement that one can 

 go into a grocery and get pretty nearly a 

 whole lay-out without using the scales once, 

 I meant, of course, the scales in the grocery. 

 As a matter of fact, food stuffs put up in 

 paper boxes, I supposed, are not weighed at 

 all anywhere. The packages are filled level 

 full, and sealed; and when full they hold ap- 

 proximately a certain given weight. — Ed] 



Bee Keeping among the Rockies 



Many bees are short of stores this fall. If 

 yours have not been attended to, look after 

 them at once. They may still be fed, though 

 it would have been better earlier. 

 /sr 



After the first hard frost, many colonies 

 became so discouraged that they destroyed 

 most of the brood in their hives, even un- 

 capping and carrying the sealed brood. This 

 is bad business, as these bees would have 

 been valuable next spring. 



There will doubtless be a large mortality 

 among the bees in this part of the State. 

 Many will make no effort to save those that 

 need help. "If they pull through, all right. 

 If they won't, let them die," seems to be 

 the verdict of a great many. Some have 

 just learned that bee-keeping is not the bo- 

 nanza they supposed it was, and bees are 

 not as desirable property as they were sev- 

 eral years ago. 



er 



The use of rubber bands in transferring is 

 a novel idea, and may prove valuable. When 

 using string to tie the combs in, I must dis- 

 sent from the advice often given to "wind 

 the string around and around the frame." 

 I much prefer to tie each wrap by itself, 

 keeping the string always perpendicular to 

 the top- bar and using no more string than 

 is necessary. When it comes to removing 

 the string, which is generally advisable, cut 

 it on top, take hold of one end, and pull it 

 out without removing the frame. 



SHAKING BEES OFF SHALLOW COMBS. 



Doubtless Dr. Miller's objection to the ed- 

 itor's statement on page 960 centers on the 

 use cf the word all instead of nearly all. It 

 is quite true, doctor, that one who knows 

 how can shake very nearly all of the bees 

 out of a double-brood-chamber hive of shal- 

 low fixed frames without touching a comb. 

 I make shaken swarms this way, and have 

 to be careful not to shake them too closely. 



