86 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



this is for the apiarist to put his honey- 

 on the market in the most attractive 

 shape. Let the sections be thorough- 

 ly cleaned of propolis, and if the 

 wood is colored by age (as some sec- 

 tions will be) let them be scraped to 

 whiteness with glass and sandpapered 

 and put in neat shipping cases with 

 glass in front, such as I have found 

 for a number of years at the Falconer 

 Manufacturing Company's plant at 

 Falconer. N. Y. Let your honey be 

 honestly graded. Put the finest next 

 to the glass and then just the same 

 quality clear through to the back of 

 the case, and then if sold by 

 weight, give sixteen ounces to the 

 pound. Have a neat card to tack on 

 the case with the producer's name and 

 address. I notice by market quota- 

 tions, particularly in the West, honey 

 so much per case; a mode of selling 

 I know nothing about by experi- 

 ence. 



Having said this much about selling 

 honey, we will now consider how to 

 get the honey. I shall consider only 

 the production of comb honey. 

 First I consider the 4 1-4x4 

 1-4 sections, an appliance which 

 has come to stay; or in other 

 words, the one pound package can not 

 well be improved on. To produce a 

 smaller package would be to pro- 

 duce less pounds. To vary the shape 

 or size of sections would involve ex- 

 tra expense of cases. The change of 

 size or shape of sections may be more 

 benefit to supply dealers than to hon- 

 ey producers. With low prices for 

 honey the expenses must be kept as 

 low as possible. I prefer a 

 section seven to the foot, without sep- 

 arators. 



These wide sections with separat- 

 ors leave too much wood in sight 

 when the section is filled, and any 

 separatored sections divide the colony 

 into too many small apartments for 

 best results in quantity. Combs of 

 more uniform thickness can no 

 doubt be secured by the use of sepa- 

 rators, but a very fair average can be 

 produced without them and the extra 

 cost and labor of cleaning off 

 propolis be avoided. I use cases with 

 pattern slats and tier up the cases 

 during a flow of honey by raising 

 cases nearly full, and putting an 

 empty one between the partly 

 filled case and the brood nest, 



provided honey is coming 

 freely; but if the honey flow seemi 

 near an end, put empty case on top 

 It requires a knowledge of the flor 

 of your field to know just when t 

 put on or take off cases, and it woul 

 be a wonderful help if we could bu 

 know the kind of weather we are t 

 have a few days in advance. Eve 

 the weather bureau can help us bt; 

 little, and I have never been able t 

 exercise the least faith in weathe 

 prophets who claim to tell us a who! 

 year in advance just when it will rai 

 and when it will shine. Yet I hav 

 seen some intelligent people wh 

 claim to believe such predictions. 



I do not manage bees by superst 

 tions. I never ring any bells or tO( 

 horns to induce a swarm on the win 

 to settle. Death has twice invade" 

 my family circle, but I did not go ar 

 tell the bees. But I have a stro: 

 presentiment that when the man 

 ing hand of the Davis family 

 fallen by "the last enemy" that 

 bees will go too, for of five childr 

 the bees have assisted me in reari 

 not one takes kindly to bee-keepi 

 I am inclined to think that bee-kee; 

 ers are born, not made, and the san 

 may be said of every professio 

 We have all seen men in tl 

 ministry, in law and medicir 

 that would much better fill 

 position in the work shop 

 the field. It seems a great waste 

 material to take what would make 

 good farmer or mechanic and make 

 poor doctor, lawyer or minister 

 him. But I will carry that thoug, 

 no farther, but next discuss "T 

 Hive I Use," as Bro. Doolittle woi 

 say. I prefer a free hanging frai 

 with bee-space at top, bottom a 

 ends, of the Langstroth type, but r 

 so long. I used for a number 

 years this frame with nineteen in 

 top bar, that is very good and will 

 low four lengths of sections in t 

 supers. But my location, northweste 

 Pennsylvania, is nearly 42 degrees 

 latitude (42 degrees being the bour 

 ary line between the states of N 

 York and Pennsylvania) our winti 

 are usually long and cold, and it 

 necessary for the bees to cluster : 

 wannth at least seven months out 

 the twelve; four of the seven j 

 spent in winter quarters and three 

 summer stands with uncertain te 

 peratures. It may be warm and 



