136 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



have ever spent on bees, and 50 per 

 cent, profit besides, so tliatmy apiary, 

 books, periodicals, implements, ma- 

 teria] for a large increase, in hives, 

 etc., are all clear gain. 



My bees are all doing well, only 3 

 nuclei having absconded during my 

 absence. I use a shortened Lang- 

 stroth frame which can be adjusted 

 temporarily in any hive of that depth. 

 A short Langstroth frame is the ne 

 plus ultra of a frame for rearing 

 queens, and nuclei, and for shipment; 

 also, in this locality, is the hive for 

 all purposes of an apiary. 



Grenada, Miss. 



For the American Boe Journal. 



Oue-Piece Section Boxes. 



BYRON WALIvEK. 



My attention has been called to ar- 

 ticles in the JiEE Jouknal of Jan. 25, 

 in relation to the section controversy. 



The first of the articles in question 

 is from the pen of E. A. Thomas, of 

 Coleraine, Mass., the other from 

 James Forncrook, of Watertown,Wis. 

 Lest silence be taken for consent to 

 the views and claims referred to in 

 behalf of the friends of one-piece sec- 

 tions, I will attempt to reply : 



While 1 heartily indorse the views 

 of Mr. Thomas with regard to the re- 

 lative merits of the 1 and 2-lb. section 

 boxes, I cannot admit tlie correctness 

 of his criticism on the one-piece sec- 

 tion box, as compared with the dove- 

 tailed box. Mr. Thomas tells us that 

 one-piece sections cannot be bent into 

 shape without cracking tlie corners, 

 as rapidly as the dovetailed sections 

 can be driven together; that it re- 

 quired skilled labor to do tliis quickly; 

 and that only those that use a large 

 number of sections can hope to ac- 

 (juire the requisite skill. These are 

 important points, and deserve careful 

 attention. There are many things to 

 look at, if we would reach a right con- 

 clusion in attempting to decide tliis 

 matter. Very much depends upon 

 the timber used in making the one- 

 piece sections. If they are made of 

 material thoroughly seasoned, Mr. T. 

 is correct about its being a nice job to 

 bend them rapidly without cracking 

 the corners, especially if the sections 

 have not been first steamed. On the 

 other hand, if the sections are made 

 out of timber from small, tough bass- 

 wood, recently seasoned and steamed 

 immediately before bending, they can 

 be put together at least twice as fast 

 as it is possible to make dovetailed 

 sections with a mallet — the steaming 

 of the sections being reckoned as a 

 part of the process of putting together 

 the one-piece sections. 



There is anotlier point in this con- 

 nection that should not be overlooked 

 in determining the rapidity with 

 which these sections can be safely bent 

 and the kind of labor to be employed 

 for the purpose, and that is, the kind 

 of grooves that are used for the cor- 

 ners. If these grooves are triangular, 

 the sections can be bent very quickly, 

 other things being equal; but if the 

 section should break while bending, it 

 is perhaps more trouble than the sec- 



tion is worth to repair the break. On 

 the other hand, if sections liaving a 

 square cut at the corners are to be 

 bent, great care must be taken in 

 folding, or the sections will be bent at 

 the wrong points, and so make one or 

 more of its dimensions too long or too 

 short ; but if correctly bent, and the 

 section should break from any cause 

 at a comer while bending, it can be 

 readily mended with wire nails. 



There is still another style of one- 

 piece sections, that differs from the 

 last mentioned, only in having the 

 square grooves so modified that the 

 section always bends at the right 

 points without any coaxing; and in 

 having the extremities of the sections 

 joined with wire nails instead of dove- 

 tailing. I prefer this style of section 

 to any other that I have yet seen, as 

 it requires very little practice to put 

 them together rapidly, and when put 

 together, they make mucli the strong- 

 est section. 



The second objection urged by Mr. 

 Thomas, is, that it is not as strong as 

 the dove-tailed, and that when filled 

 with honey, they are liable to become 

 broken or leaky, unless very carefully 

 handled, while in the hands of the 

 grocer, or before it reaches the table 

 of the consumer ; and to give point to 

 this objection, he gives the report of 

 a conversation, as a witness to which 

 I suppose Mr. T. was present, in 

 imagination at least. Now, I submit, 

 if Mr. T. has had any such practical 

 experience witli these sections as he 

 calls on us to imagine, would it not 

 have been in better taste to have given 

 us the benefit of that instead of what 

 he has given us V At any rate. I ven- 

 ture to say, if he or any "one else lias 

 had any such experience, it was while 

 handling sections made of poor mate- 

 rial or flimsily put together, or both. 



I have handled a large amount of 

 honey in a great variety of packages, 

 including dovetailed sections. I have 

 never had any package give sucli gen- 

 eral satisfaction to all concerned, as 

 these same one-piece sections ; in fact, 

 I have yet to hear the first complaint 

 against them, when made as above 

 described. On the other hand, my 

 experience in handling dovetailed 

 sections, is somewhat similar to the 

 imaginary one related by Mr. T.,with 

 the imaginary element left out. I re- 

 member one lot in particular, that I 

 purchased of parties who get their 

 sections from the most extensive 

 manufacturer of dovetailed sections 

 in the United States (he has since dis- 

 carded them, and now makes the one- 

 piece section only), so that they ought 

 to be a fair sample of such sections. 



AVell, in handling this lot, I had oc- 

 casion to scrape the jiropolis off the 

 sections before offering them for sale; 

 and although the utmost care was 

 used to avoid breaking sections, or 

 starting leakage, about one out of 

 every twenty sections was rendered 

 unfit for market before the process 

 was completed, owing to lack of 

 strength in the sections. 



I do not wish to be understood to 

 claim that it is impossible to obtain 

 dovetailed sections suflflciently strong, 

 but I do claim that such sections are 

 not a fair sample of those offered for 



sale. With regard to using glue to 

 add strength to one-piece sections, I 

 will say that I have never had occasion 

 to make use of it for that purpose, but 

 am assured by those that have tried it 

 that it is a success, and tluit the time 

 consumed in applying it, is hardly 

 worth mentioning. 



For the benefit of those who find it 

 necessary to steam the sections before 

 binding, and who have not the privi- 

 lege of using a steam box for the pur- 

 pose, I would suggest that the wax 

 extractor placed over a kettle of boil- 

 ing water, using a piece of a board 

 nearly covering the top to confine the 

 steam, will make an excellent sub- 

 stitute ; or even a common tea-kettle 

 with the top removed will do very . 

 well. 



Mr. Forncrook claims, in the com- 

 munication referred to, that he has 

 been obliged to advance the price of 

 sections, owing to basswood lumber 

 having advanced one-third in value. 

 Is it not a trifle strange, if Mr. F. is 

 correct about this, that lie is the only 

 dealer in one-piece sections that seems 

 to have found this out i* Even Mr. 

 Lewis, who resides in his own (Forn- 

 crook's) village, asks less for sections 

 this year than he did last. The sec- 

 tions he advertises however, this year, 

 are a trifle less costly than those he 

 sold last year. But Mr. A. I. Root 

 should reply to this article by Mr. F. ; 

 but, to my mind, we have suflScient 

 reply in the following editorial in 

 Gleanings, for February, which I quote 

 verbatim : " Before us is a copy of a 

 patent granted to H. W. Hutchins, of 

 East Livermore, Maine, for a plan of 

 making boxes of one piece of wood, 

 precisely like the Forncrook sections, 

 even to the V shaped groove, dove- 

 tailing in the ends, and all. The 

 drawing makes it so plain, it is diffi- 

 cult to conceive that Forncrook's was 

 not copied from it." 



Capac, Mich. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Do Swarms Pursue a Straight Line? 



Q. C. JORDAN. 



I have been keeping bees for 15 

 years, but never had a great many at 

 once, neither did I ever derive much 

 profit from them, for I never gave 

 them the attention required to make 

 them profitable. I have, of late, be- 

 come more interested in trying to im- 

 prove them than ever before. Some 

 time ago I purchased a colony of Ital- 

 ians from Henry Alley. On the 17tb 

 day of April last, that colony gave a 

 swarm, and continued to swarm every 

 few days until they had increased to 

 9 good colonies. Two of them abscond- 

 ed, and I had heard it said that 

 bees always went in a straight line 

 when they swarmed until they stopped, 

 noting particularily the direction they 

 went. I took my compass and found 

 they went N. 64^ W.; so I put out and 

 went over fences and ditches, woods 

 and swamps, until I came to Broad 

 River, a distance of G miles, and I saw 

 nothing nor heard anything of them. 

 I concluded I would go across and go 

 up on top of the hill on the other side. 



