1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



When we ship bulk comb we gfet a low ex- 

 tracted- hone}' rate, and have the assurance 

 that it will go throug-h as safely as if it 

 were extracted honey. When we go to pre- 

 pare supers for the harvest, all we have to 

 do to our bulk comb supers is to scrape the 

 top-bars a little and fasten in the founda- 

 tion; but with section honey we have to 

 make up shippinf^'-cases and sections, and 

 spend a long- time putting the foundation in 

 just rig-ht. When the supers are put on, 

 the bees go to work in the bulk-comb supers 

 at once, and in a big' cluster, thereby for- 

 g^etting^ to swarm; but with section supers 

 the bees have to be carefully baited and 

 coaxed into the supers; and when they g^et 

 there they are cut oft" into 24 or more small 

 compartments which the}' have to tr}' to 

 keep warm; and to get them sealed out to 

 the wood we have to crowd the bees, there- 

 by losing- honey. By crowding- we lose as 

 much honey as we do when the supers are 

 first put on by reason of the bees being- 

 slow to enter the sections. Just how much 

 honey is lost by the bees being- slow to en- 

 ter the sections, how much is lost by crowd- 

 ing-, and how much is lost by swarming, I 

 am unable to saj': but it is considerable. 



You maj' take the items in the production 

 of the two honej's from beginning to end, 

 and there is not an item that is not in favor 

 of bulk comb honey, except solely in the 

 matter of price received; but, friends, 

 where unbiased men have tried the pro- 

 duction of the two honeys side by side, and 

 carefully taken into consideration every 

 factor, they have invariably found that they 

 can make at least 50 per cent more money 

 producing bulk comb; and many have 

 placed the per cent much higher. 



There is another fact: Not one of the men 

 who once quit section honey has gone back 

 to it. We were ourselves large section-hon- 

 ey producers several years ago, but have 

 been converted, and have disposed of most 

 of our section-honey supers, and to-day 

 have a large pile of them awaiting a pur- 

 chaser. 



You may say, "I have no trade or de- 

 mand for bulk comb honey." I will say 

 that all j'ou have to do is to produce it and 

 offer it for sale, and you will soon have a 

 trade that nothing but bulk comb will sat- 

 isfy'. You may say, "But I shall have to 

 ship my honey, and what then? There is 

 no market for this new product." I will 

 say, take your honey to the cities and offer 

 it yourself, and you will find a ready and 

 appreciative market, and one that will next 

 year demand more bulk comb, and the gro- 

 cers will have to order their supplies from 

 you. There is no question that a market 

 can be found. The bee-keepers of Texas 

 have found a market for more than thej' can 

 produce, and I take it that the bee-men of 

 other States have the same intelligence and 

 the same " get up and get " that the Texas 

 bee- men have. 



The packages used in putting up this ar- 

 ticle are now most largely 3, 6, and 12 lb. 

 tin friction-top pails that are put up in 



crates holding 10 of the 12-lb. cans; 10 of 

 the 6-lb. cans, and 20 of the 3-lb. cans. 

 There is also some demand for bulk comb 

 in bO-lb. cans, 2 in a case, the cans having 

 8-lb. screw-tops. These are sometimes or- 

 dered where the buyer desires to put the 

 honey into glass packages for a fancy 

 trade. 



In conclusion, I wish to refute the state- 

 ments made, that the production of bulk 

 comb honey was the old-fogy way of honey 

 production. I assure 3'ou that it is not, and 

 that it requires as much skill and as fine a 

 grade of honey as it does for section honey. 

 I also assure j'ou that the consumers are 

 behind this move, and that it is only a 

 question of time when the production of sec- 

 tion honey will almost have disappeared. 



Should there be any who read this, who 

 desire further information, I shall be glad 

 to give it. 



Floresville, Tex. 



[In my southwestern trip of a year and a 

 half ago I was fully convinced that bulk 

 honey or chunk honey was getting to be 

 more and more in vogue, both among pro- 

 gressive bee keepers and the consumers 

 themselves. Still, I found some bee-keepers 

 who thought it would be better to educate 

 the consumer to the use of section honey, 

 believing there would be more money in the 

 production of such an article. But I must 

 admit that Mr. Hyde has advanced some 

 very strong arguments in favor of chunk 

 honey; and why should we bee-keepers not 

 cater to the various demands? One locali- 

 ty will use large quantities of candied ex- 

 tracted honey; another will use nothing but 

 crystalline liquid extracted; still another, 

 fancy comb honey; still others dark honey, 

 almost as black as black strap itself. Ca- 

 ter to what the locality calls for, — Ed.] 



ABOUT WINTER REPOSITORIES FOR BEES. 



The Question of Temperature and Moisture ; Venti- 

 lation vs. no Ventilation. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



It is often well to take a look over the 

 past at the end of the year, to see if we 

 have made an advancement, stood still, or 

 gone backward; and if we have stood still 

 or gone backward, then we should make an 

 effort to do better during the year to come. 

 These thoughts presented themselves to me 

 on reading of late, pages 1.^4, 187, 2^4, 323, 

 337. 364, 371, 373, 374, 375, 383, 387, and 475 

 of Gleaninhs for 1902, on all of which will 

 be found items of more or less length per- 

 taining to wintering bees in special reposi- 

 tories, such as consumption of stores, un- 

 easiness of bees, setting out for a flight, 

 opening and closing doors, etc. From the 

 reports given on many of these matters I 

 c<n not help thinking that the trend of 

 thought there expressed is backward rath- 

 er than toward advancement. It will well 

 repay all those interested in wintering bees 



