1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1197 



have worked upon similar lines, making an 

 ordinary ten-frame hive into a three-compart- 

 ment hive by fitting two tight-fitting division- 

 boards (not wire screens) , one entrance being 

 at the front and the other on^ at each side. 

 Each division takes three of our frames. I 

 have always been very successful with them. 



In the autumn a good stock is divided up 

 by placing the two division-boards in position. 

 The brood and bees being also split up, two 

 queens are introduced to the two compart- 

 ments that are, of course, queenless, when 

 all are fed up so as to be provided with plen- 

 ty of sealed stores. A good cake of candy 

 is then placed upon the top, and every thing 

 made secure for winter. The one great 

 point in wintering these small colonies is to 

 be certain they have plenty of stores. 



My bees always winter outside in single- 

 walled hives, but I don't think our winters 

 are so cold as yours are; however, I hope 

 more will try this idea, and so always be pre- 

 pared with sufficient spare queens to intro- 

 duce to any hive that may have lost their 

 queen in the winter, and also have one or two 

 for a less fortunate friend. All that is re- 

 quired to be done when the queens are re- 

 moved in spring is to take out the division- 

 boards, and then you have a fine stock ready 

 for any early honey (hawthorn, sycamore, 

 or fruit, here). 



The last season was a very fine one for us 

 English bee-keepers. I hope it has been so 

 for our American friends. 



Herbert Potts. 



Button, England, Aug. 29. 



[The plan you describe is doubtless for 

 outdoor wintering. It has been tried to 

 some extent with varying success in this 

 country. We expect to test it out on quite 

 an extended scale in our cellar under the 

 machine-shop. Indeed, we are almost com- 

 pelled to, as we have a large number of 

 choice queens which we desire to keep over 

 till spring. We will, therefore, put these 

 light nuclei, two or three, as the case may 

 be, in one hive. — Ed.] 



GROCERS WANT FULL-WEIGHT CASES OF 

 HONEY. 



Just a word in regard to the article at the 

 foot of page 1089, Oct. 15. More or less of 

 the time for the last three years I have been 

 on the road selling honey, and I feel that I 

 know what the trade, in this section at least, 

 desire. 



First, let me say that by far the greater 

 part of the best grade of our honey runs 24 

 lbs. to the case of 24 boxes. I maintain, al- 

 so, that in the best grade each section should 

 be so near like all the others that there 

 would be no choice. It has always been the 

 cry of the bee journals and the jobbers that 

 comb honey should run a pound or two under 

 weight. When I first went out, my heart 

 rather misgave me, knowing that I must sell 

 full- weight cases. What did I find to be the 

 wish of the trade in this matter? Just this. 

 Fully 75 per cent specified full weight; not 



over 5 per cent desired cases weighing 23 lbs. , 

 and only one merchant to whom I sold honey 

 this year wished a case weighing less than 

 23 lbs. Any thing less than 22 lbs. must go 

 as second grade, and goes slow at that. 



You suggest that the grocer keep the case 

 under the counter, and show only two or 

 three boxes. By so doing you deprive him 

 of his cheapest and best mode of advertising. 

 I know from actual experience with my trade 

 that the merchant who displays artistically 

 a whole case or even two or three cases of 

 honey in his window or on his counter will 

 sell several times as much in proportion to 

 the size of his trade as one who displays less. 

 Why? Simply because the attention of the 

 consumer is called to it more forcibly, and 

 at a time when he is prepared to purchase. 

 It is also true that every one likes to buy an 

 article that he knows is being sold in large 

 quantities. What better recommendation 

 can there be for it? Phillip E. Crane. 



Middlebury, Vt., Oct. 24. 



[It is true that, in some localities, full- 

 weight cases or full-weight sections are call- 

 ed for; but in most of the Western markets, 

 particularly those around Chicago, a pection 

 slightly underweight is in demand. You say 

 you maintain that each section shall be so near- 

 ly like the others that there will be no choice. 

 That is a good deal the doctrine I have been 

 preaching ; for when the sections are care- 

 fully graded they are very nearly of equal 

 value, and can, therefore, be sold by the 

 piece. There will be no need of keeping 

 sections of this kind under the counter. The 

 case might be set back a little, so that the 

 grocer can pick up the first one he comes to, 

 which would be the next one in order.— Ed.] 



wintering BEES BY PLACING HIVES BE- 

 TWEEN BAGS OF STRAW. 



I see so much in Gleanings about winter- 

 ing bees that I will tell how I hg,ve been fix- 

 ing them for wintering for the last six years 

 or more. I put five and six on a bench with 

 a jute sack filled with straw between each 

 two shoved up together; then I drive stakes 

 behind and in front a foot from the hives. I 

 then fill the spaces with corn fodder to the 

 top of the hives. I also set fodder up at 

 each end, also putting some over the top; 

 then a board roof with proper slope. I have 

 never lost a colony yet by wintering in that 

 way. This winter I am making a change, 

 and am taking wire netting, such as is used 

 for poultry- fencing. I cut it 3 feet wide, 

 and length to suit, putting a heavy filling 

 of straw between two pieces, then lacing 

 them together with binding twine, and set- 

 ting them on edge, front and rear of hives, 

 with a bag of straw between the hives and 

 at each end, and will use second-hand steel 

 roofing over the top, with some packing of 

 straw or fodder under the steel. The straw 

 and wire netting will be something like a 

 mattress, and can be taken and stored away 

 in spring for another time, and it will not be 

 so much trouble to clean up as the fodder. 



