1306 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



I could not in former years put it up so 

 satisfactorily even if I tried my best. The 

 weight of my sections was uneven in spite 

 of my best efforts ; and combs did not look 

 so neat as now. 



How have I been able to make the change 

 do you ask? I can tell very quickly. It 

 was by changing from the old style of two 

 beeway sections to the plain four beeway 

 sections. 



While formerly I used a section i^ inches 

 wide with top and bottom i^ inches wide, 

 now I use a section ij/l inches wide on 

 all sides, and the bees fill them very per- 

 fectly and much more evenly than the old 

 style. This I attribute to the fact that 

 the bees travel over all the edges of the 

 section and are encouraged to build as near 

 the edge as there is room. 



I was at first puzzled to know why these 

 plain sections looked so much better than 

 the old style. Of course the projecting sides 

 of the old style injured their appearance 

 but if these were cut off still they would 

 not average nearly so good as the four bee- 

 way sections or as even weight. Then I 

 went to work opening first a clamp with the 

 old style of sections and separators and then 

 a clamp with the new style of sections and 

 separators. I soon discovered what I either 

 failed to notice before or had given little 

 thought ; that many clamps of old style sec- 

 tions, while well filled in the center, as you 

 moved away from the centre the combs 

 would be thinner and of course lighter in 

 weight and less attractive, while the four 

 beeway sections with open separators would 

 run very evenly from the centre to the out- 

 side row. 



When I first began using these sections 

 and separators it was with the hope of a 

 much larger yield of section honey. In this 

 I have been somewhat disappointed and still 

 there is reason to believe that quite an 

 amount more is stored than with the old 

 style of sections, as during the past two 

 seasons we have been able to tier up many 

 good working colonies once in eight days 

 in the clover season, something that I have 

 never been able to do before. Again the 

 fact that the sections are more evenly filled 

 shows that the yield is larger. 



Of course there is in these sections some 

 variation in weight and yet the difference 

 is so slight that I do not feel as I formerly 

 did about selling by the piece, and I am 

 sure Mr. Editor should you <;ee how evenly 

 my combs run you would be satisfied that 

 it was catering near enough to the grocers' 

 wishes without making an extra grade, and 

 Dr. Miller would be satisfied without stop- 

 ping to weigh each one as it is sold. I 

 am now more than satisfied as from year 

 to year I have it to pack with the pleasure 

 it gives me. 



Indeed, I know of few things in the whole 

 line of beekeeping that have given me more 

 unalloyed pleasure than these no beeway 



sections with the separators to match, for 

 the two must needs go togetl'.er. 



It is one of the surprises to me that oth- 

 ers have not seen their value and adopted them. 



It is true that the separators are much 

 more expensive yet the advantages are so 

 many and desirable that I feel it pays many 

 times over. 



Before closing I might add that bleaching 

 all combs that are much stained, so they 

 will all be of an even color or near it, adds 

 to the attractiveness of a lot of honey as well 

 as evenness of weight. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



[I have read this article over with no little 

 pleasure — not because it gives me a chance to 

 jab Dr. Miller — " I told you so," but because 

 it is a gratification to know that so excellent 

 an authority as Mr. Crane backs up two of 

 the doctrines I have been preaching for some 

 time back, namely, selling comb honey by 

 the piece, and producing said comb honey in 

 plain sections. Mr. Crane brings out very 

 clearly v^hy some have regarded the selling- 

 by-the-piece proposition as impracticable, not 

 to say unfair and dishonest. Why? Because 

 comb honey in beeway sections will vary con- 

 siderably in weight, while that in plain sec- 

 tions will run much more uniform. As near- 

 ly as I can remember, those who have advo- 

 cated selling by weight have been largely 

 from the ranks of those who prt duced bee- 

 way-section honey: and those who have advo- 

 cated selling by the piece have, conversely, 

 been principally the plain-section men. Per- 

 haps this will serve to harmonize the conflict- 

 ing opinions, because the advLcates of the one 

 side have been talking about one thing while 

 those on the other have had in mind another. 



As I have traveled over the country I have 

 time and again been impressed by the fact 

 that some honey-producers of the old school 

 were constantly working against themselves 

 when they compelled the retailer to sell by 

 weight. Some of them just would not sell 

 that way, but by the piece. The result was 

 that comb honey in beeway sections would 

 vary to such an extent that one customer 

 would get 25 per cent more for his money 

 than another. 



I have seen, too, that there was a growing 

 tendency in favor of plain sections. The 

 sales-records of our manufacturing department 

 have shown that very strongly; but I have no- 

 ticed that the " old-timers " who have pro- 

 duced honey for many years in beeway sec- 

 tions stuck to the old system. This is not to 

 be wondered at, because age (and very prop- 

 erly so) grows conservative, and perhaps less 

 able to appreciate the value of a new device. 

 I feel it more and more so in my own case. 

 For that reason I am not disposed to call my 

 friends of the old school mossbacks. But I 

 notice that beginners and bee-keepers of the 

 latter days take kindly to the plain-section 

 system because they have no old prejudice to 

 remove. This is an article that may well be 

 read with care by bee-keepers of both the old 

 and new schools, for upon its truth or falsity 

 hinges not pennies but dollars. — Ed.] 



