1310 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



of the season, whether beginning, height, or 

 end, in which the honey is gathered, are 

 factors which determine the weight of the 

 finished section more than do its size and 

 shape. The 4%x4lixi}i section is called 

 "dishonest" because many, perhaps the ma- 

 jority, of such sections do not weigh a full 

 pound. That it can weigh a full pound and 

 more is a fact which every practical comb- 

 honey producer is aware of. Every year I 

 have cases weighing 24 pounds net, and some 

 that weigh 24^, 25, and even 25^4 pounds. 

 This is without any special selection except 

 to see that all the sections in a case are as 

 nearly uniform as possible ; and the honey 

 is in the ordinary 4^4x4^x1^ separatored 

 sections ; 24 in a case. 



Another consideration is that the specific 

 gravity varies for different honeys. "In this 

 locality" amber honey weighs appreciably 

 more per cubic inch than white honey. The 

 season here was a poor one. The first crop 

 of alfalfa failed to yield any thing; but the 

 bees worked slowly on buckwheat brush 

 (EriogOHum fasciculatum), and continued to 

 work on this after the second crop of alfalfa 

 came into bloom and yielded something. 

 In the same super, and often in the same 

 wide frame, and at the same time, I would 

 find sections of white (alfalfa) and amber 

 (buckwheat) honey side by side, equally 

 well finished, and apparently of equal weight 

 except for the difi^erence in specific gravity. 

 If a certain size and shape of section could 

 insure a full pound, we should need sections 

 of different sizes and shapes for honeys of 

 different specific gravity, in order that each 

 section might weigh just one pound. What a 

 mess we should be in ! 



The whole discussion of this subject makes 

 me tired. There will never be a "standard" 

 section which invariably will weigh an 

 "honest" pound when finished. The sections' 

 in use at present are probably the nearest 

 we can come to perfection. We can no 

 more compel the bees to aiit all exact pound 

 in a section than we can induce the hens 

 to lay eggs of a uniform size and weight. 

 Nature does not work by fixed weights and 

 measures. (The diametrical size of the 

 cells of honey-bees and similar insects may, 

 perhaps, be an exception ; but I can think of 

 none other.) By combining human ingenuity 

 with nature's work we may approximate 

 desired results ; but if exactness is accom- 

 plished it is only an accident and can never 

 be depended on as an invariable rule. 



When A. I. Root invented the 4J4-inch 

 section he knew that it could weigh one 

 pound, and that it would do so under favor- 

 able conditions. He never claimed that it 

 would do so invariably; but as it could weigh, 

 and often did weigh, one pound when filled, 

 it was called a "one-pound section," and 

 justly so. To show still further that he was 

 perfectly honest about it, he oronosed. as 

 the older readers of Gleanings will remem- 

 ber, that comb honey should be sold at one 

 cent per ounce. This would have been a 



fine thing if the price could always have 

 been maintained. But, unfortunately, prices 

 will fluctuate ; and, still more, in some lo- 

 calities like this, we have no change smaller 

 than nickels. One-cent pieces are scarce 

 and seldom seen here except in the Sunday- 

 school collection. 



The fault is not with the section, neither 

 is it with the producer. He has no control 

 over the honey-flow, the atmospheric condi- 

 tions, nor the time of the season. When 

 he sells his crop (as a whole) he gets paid 

 by the pound, not by the piece. The only 

 remedy I can see is to sell a full case at 

 the time, at the market price per pound for 

 the honey. If consumers will insist on buy- 

 ing less than a case at the time, they should 

 be made to understand that it is impossible 

 to have all sections weigh a full pound, and 

 the price must then be left to the mutual 

 agreement between seller and buyer. 



T. K. Massie, page 1072, cuts out all "light 

 weight" combs and makes them into chunk 

 honey. As he acknowledges that his new 

 4^x5x1^ plain sections will, "when well 

 filled out, average a shade over a pound," he 

 ought, to be consistent, also to cut out all 

 combs weighing over a pound and convert 

 them into chunk honey, for he should be as 

 honest toward himself as he intends to be to 

 his customers. 



Your footnote, Mr. Editor, to E. A. 

 Newell's article, page 1089, is right to the 

 point, and comes nearer to settling the ques- 

 tion about honest or dishonest sections than 

 any thing else I have seen. 



Independence, Cal., October 30. 



FOUL-BROOD EXPERIMENTS IN ENGLAND. 



No Drug Treatment; Cure by Swarming and 

 Exchanging Stocks, etc. 



BY SAMUEL .SIMMINS. 



It is not generally realized that disease 

 germs can be disposed of, or compelled to 

 leave the living body, without resorting to 

 drugs. Nevertheless, while knowing this to 

 be an absolute fact, from practical deni'-^n- 

 stration, it is desirable to use some disin- 

 fectant to prevent the spreading of disease. 



Though the state of bees living in such 

 large numbers, with the healthy subjects in 

 immediate proximity with the dead and dy- 

 ing, can not be compared with the condition 

 of sick members among the larger animals or 

 mankind, yet I am going to show how even 

 the colony of bees may sometimes recove- 

 from foul brood without the slightest aid 

 from medicine. 



In many cases the complaint comes upon 

 the bee-keeper while he is yet unacquanited 

 with the nature of the malady and conse- 

 quently it gets a tight hold of his stocks be- 

 fore he awakes to the fact; and his early en- 

 deavors to check the pest are half-hearted, 

 and likely to do more harm than good. 



