206 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



hives. The number of colonies 

 (about 200), foraging upon the 

 three acres in bloom, was however 

 so great that no definite conclusion 

 could be reached as to the probable 

 returns in pounds of honey from a 

 given area. That the returns would 

 be highly satisfactory is evidenced 

 by the fact that the entire area was 

 '\ilive with bees," and the}^ visited 

 the flowers from daylight until 

 dark, and sometimes eight or ten 

 bees were upon a single head at 

 one time. Mr. Hubbard, who is 

 cultivating some of these plants 

 obtained from Mr. Chapman re- 

 l)orted that he had counted the 

 number of visits made by bees to 

 a single head from 5 a. m. to 7 p. m. 

 He reported the number as being 

 2,135 actual count. 



In order that the committee 

 might have some idea of the quan- 

 tity of nectar secreted in the flow- 

 erets of a single head, the day 

 before our arrival Mr. Chapman 

 had wrapped a thin paper about a 

 head, the half of which was in full 

 bloom, and tied the paper around 

 the stem with tape, thus preventing 

 the bees from appropriating tlie 

 nectar for twenty-four hours. I cut 

 off the tape, and removing the pa- 

 per held up the ball before A. I. 

 lioot, L. C. Root and others ; 

 the flowerets were dripping nectar 

 and the drops sparkled in the morn- 

 ing sun, and their eyes sparkled 

 with delight and astonishment. I 

 have made similar tests with like 

 results using the plants which I 

 have here at this station. Mr. 

 Chapman has distributed this plant 

 over a wide extent of country from 

 Vermont to Nebraska and each 

 member of the Committee has been 

 furnished with two-year-old plants 

 for cultivation and observation dur- 

 ing the present summer. 



All the facts obtainable will be 

 given to those interested when the 

 Committee make their formal re- 



port to the Association at the next 

 annual meeting. 



U. S. Axticxdtural Station, 



Aurora, III., Ang. 5, 1886. 



For the American ApicuUurist. 



MAKING SECTION-BOXES. 

 C. W. Dayton. 



For a long time I was troubled 

 to get a section box that just suited 

 me. The principal objection I 

 found with the dovetailed-section 

 was its lack of strength. In one 

 instance I remember of dropping 

 about a hundred and there was 

 scarcely a dozen that remained 

 whole, while they were all very 

 much out of true. 



The one-piece section was a lit- 

 tle better, though many of the cor- 

 ners broke or the dovetails loosened 

 and the thin material made it a 

 hard job to nail them. 



On the whole, the one-piece or 

 dovetailed section-box as it is us- 

 ually made is truly a very frail piece 

 of workmanship. 



With the handling of section 

 boxes begins a season of anxiety, 

 which in some instances has been 

 considerably lessened by applying 

 glue at the corners. 



What is wanted and what will 

 be a pleasure to handle is a real 

 solid section, one that may be 

 thrown and knocked about without 

 starting at the joints. One thing 

 that is against us when we get a 

 solid section is we are apt to have 

 a heavy and cumbersome section 

 also. In making sections I would 

 have the top and bottom bars nar- 

 row and one-fourth inch in thick- 

 ness and the side bars not more 

 than one-twentieth of an inch in 

 thickness and nail the side bars to 

 the ends of the top bars with three- 

 fourth-inch wire nails two at each 

 corner. This kind of a section is 



