212 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Weight of Sections. 



C. C. MILLEK, 172— S49. 



Heretofore there has been some 

 surmizing as to what size a section 

 should be, to weigh a given amount. 

 I had five different sizes of sections 

 the past season, and can now give tlie 

 average weight of each. Tliey were 

 all 4^x4)4, differing only in thickness. 

 The largest size were the common 

 one-pound sections, used with separa- 

 tors, measuring in thickness 1 15 16, 

 or 2 inches, but as the wide frames in 

 which they were used were 2 inches, 

 it virtually made the sections 2 inches. 

 All the others were used without sep- 

 arators. The weiglits for the differ- 

 ent thicknesses were as follows : 



2 inches weighed 14.3 ounces. 

 1 5-7 " " 13.8 



1% " " 11.75 " 



11.^ " " 10.5 " 



1 1-5 " " 9.6 



We can, by no means, come to any 

 final conclusion from this, for " bees 

 never do anything iuvarialjly," and 

 the same experiment at another time 

 might not, and very likely would not 

 give exactly the same results. I 

 think likely these weights are all un- 

 usually light, for heretofore the size 

 first ^"iven has always averaged 16 

 ounces or more, and this time only 

 14.3 ounces. It we take 16 ounces as 

 the ordinary weight of the section 2 

 inches wide, and increase the weights 

 in the above table in proportion it 

 will make 



1 5-7 inches weigh 15 44 ounces. 

 m " " 13.14 



1^ 

 11-5 



11.74 

 10.74 



Referring back again to the actual 

 weights, some interesting results may 

 be obtained. The sections were of 

 such thickness that when put into a 

 Heddon super (all but the 2 inch ones 

 were raised in lleddon supers) a foot 

 space would be ej:actly filled by 6, 7, S, 

 9, and 10 of the different kinds re- 

 spectively. If we now fill a foot space 

 with the "different kinds successively, 

 we will find a foot of 



2 Inch sections weighs 85.8 ounces. 

 1 5-7 " " '^ 96.6 



1 1-5 



94. 



94.5 



96. 



The one and five-sevenths inch sec- 

 tions take 7 to the foot, and tlie IJ-^ 

 inch take 8; so there is one more space 

 between the combs in the latter than 

 in the former. The difference in 

 weight of a foot of each is 2.6 ounces, 

 and we may say the extra space takes 

 away 2.6 ounces of honey, and that for 

 every additional space in the foot 

 there will be 2.6 ounces less of hone^'. 



Let us see if this holds good. In 

 the case of the 2-iuch sections there 



are 6 combs to the foot, making 7 

 spaces (of course the outside spaces 

 are counted) without separators, but 

 as 5 separators are used, we have 5 

 more spaces, making 12 spaces, or 4 

 more spaces than in the 1 5-7 inch 

 sections. Deduct 2.6 ounces for each 

 of these 4 spaces, making 10.4 ounces 

 from 96.6 ounces, leaves 86.2 for the 

 weight of six 2-inch sections, which 

 is only 4-10 of an ounce more than the 

 actual fact. Following down the list 

 from the 1 5-7 inch sections each kind 

 has just one more space than the pre- 

 ceding kind, consequently the weight 

 in eacn case should be 2.6" ounces less 

 than the preceding one. Instead of 

 this we find, as the sections grow 

 smaller and spaces increase, an actual 

 increase or half an ounce, and then 

 another increase of an ounce and a 

 lialf. This looked so unreasonable to 

 me that I tried to find some mistake, 

 for surely any reasonable set of bees 

 ought toget less honey into a super if 

 more room was taken up with empty 

 spaces. 



However, finding no mistake, I give 

 the facts as I found them. Perhaps 

 it is best not to theorize, but it is just 

 possible that the inconsistency of the 

 bees may be explained somewhat after 

 this fashion : It left to their own will 

 tliey prefer to make their combs about 

 U^ "inches from centre to centre, and 

 if compelled to build farther apart a 

 larger space is left ; if forced to build 

 closer together a smaller space is left, 

 by the attempt in each case to ap- 

 proximate their favorite thickness of 

 comb. 



Marengo, 111. 



For the AJnerican Bee Journal. 



Premiums at the London, Ont., Fair. 



WJI. H. WESTON. 



Last year only S43 in prizes was 

 given for bees and honey, but this 

 year the bee-keepers of this county 

 have been very successful in getting 

 premiums ; in 'fact, have succeeded far 

 beyond their expectations. A com- 

 mittee composed of Mr. I). P. Camp- 

 bell, President; Mr. Frank Atkinson, 

 Vice-President, and Mr. J. B. Aikes 

 representing the West Middlesex Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, also your hum- 

 ble servant (by special request) met 

 with a committee of the Western fair 

 board, in their rooms in this city, to 

 make every arrangement, and to form 

 a prize list for the coming exhibition 

 to be held in the month of September 

 next. We succeeded in securing a 

 prize list amounting between $150 and 

 S200. 



The gentlemen forming the com- 

 mittee have signified their intention 

 to do all in their power to make the 

 next show of bees and honey the best 

 ever held in Canada. To that end they 

 have set aside a building which will 

 be placed at the disposal of all persons 

 wishing to show. The only charge 

 will be SI for membership, for which 

 members can enter as many articles 

 as they please ; they also have four 

 tickets given them to admit them to 

 the grounds. The committee have 

 also granted the bee-keepers the free 



use of the Board of Trade rooms in 

 this city for two nights, in which to 

 hold their convention, which they 

 will do during the Fair ; the exact 

 date I will give at some future time. 

 The building to be used for the bee 

 and honey show is in the best locality 

 on the grounds, and not placed in 

 some " out of the way " place, as it is 

 at some shows. 



All possible arrangements will be 

 made so that exhibitors from the 

 United States will be able to exhibit 

 without having to be at expense for 

 duty. I will forward the full prize 

 list at some future time. They also 

 provide the lumber and a carpenter to 

 arrange tables and shelving to suit ex- 

 hibitors, free of cost. So you see 

 what enormous advantages we have 

 secured, and which, I think, will bring 

 together the largest gathering of bee- 

 keepers ever held in this city. 



London, Ont. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Tuscola County, Mich., Convention. 



As regards bee-keepers' associations, 

 Michigan is the banner State. Her 

 State organization is the oldest in the 

 country, while her local associations 

 out-number those of any other State. 

 The youngest of the local associations 

 is the Tuscola county, which was or- 

 ganized March l-i, at Vassar. The of- 

 ficers are as follows : President, X. 

 Van Patten; Vice-President, A. 

 Haines ; Secretary, M. D. York ; 

 Treasurer, A. Haines. The afternoon 

 session was called to order at 1:30 p. 

 m., with President Van Patten in the 

 chair. 



The first topic discussed was : " Is 

 it desirable to prevent increase in 

 raising comb honey, if so, how '?" 



President Van Patten : If our apiary 

 is overstocked it may be desirable to 

 prevent increase, but I know of no 

 practical wav of preventing it. 



W. Z. Hutchinson : If I had too 

 many bees in the soring, so many 

 that my field was overstocked, I would 

 sell bees at some price rather than try 

 to prevent swarming. 



The President : I did not exactly 

 mean if the field was overstocked, but 

 if there was not room in the yard for 

 more bees. 



W. Z. Hutchinson : If we cannot 

 afford to furnish even "standing 

 room " for the increase of an apiary, 

 bee-keeping must be a poor business 

 indeed. As the President remarked, 

 there is no practical method of pre- 

 venting swarming when working for 

 comb, and I, for one. would not pre- 

 vent it if I could. I would not begin 

 the season with more than one-half 

 the number of colonies that my local- 

 ity would profitably support. 1 would 

 shade the hives, furnish them with 

 good large entrances, and give plenty 

 of room in the boxes. With this 

 treatment a few of the colonies will 

 cast no swarms, and none of them 

 will swarm until they are populous 

 and will furnish large swarms. When 

 a swarm issues I would put it in a new 

 hive and place it upon the old stand ; 

 set the parent hive to one side, the 

 back end of the hive touching the 



