1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



837 



world. The high quality of the goods, and 

 the fair and square dealing characteristic 

 of Mr. Lewis and the other members of his 

 company, have built up for them an envia- 

 ble reputation and a large business. 



THE FOUR-PIECK SECTIONS A POSSIBLE SUB- 

 STITUTE FOR ONE-PIECE. 



Rererring to the scarcity of lumber for 

 one-piece sections, Mr. Hutchinson says, in 

 the September issue of the Review: 



Kour-piece sections may yet become a necessity, ow- 

 ing to the scarcity of basswood. Gleanings, in com- 

 menting upon this, laments the enormous amount of 

 labor that the handling, i r use. of the four-piece in- 

 volves. The putting-together of the four-piece section 

 does take more time, but it is a kind of work that can 

 be done by cheap help: bt sides, with proper tools or 

 appliances the difference in time is not so great as 

 might be imagined. There is a tool in which it is only 

 necessary to pick up the four pieces, set them in, and 

 give it a slam, and the section is together. Bro. Root 

 might be surprised to learn how many bee-keepers 

 there are in the country who really p-refer the four- 

 piece section. I am one of them. 



I am well aware that there are a few 

 who prefer four- piece sectious, but the num- 

 ber is verj' smah. Although we sell about 

 15,000,000 one-piece sections annually, we 

 have not had during the past 3'edr, and a 

 heavy one at that, orders for more than 

 100.000 four-piece, and that is mostl}' for 

 our Eastern trade. We understand the G. 

 B. Lewis Co. has had but a light trade in 

 them, while the W. T. P^alconer Co. has a 

 much larger demand than either of us. 

 The four-piece goods seem to have been 

 used quite largely at one time in New 

 York; but the improvements that have been 

 made in recent years in one-piece "sections, 

 and in the manner of making them, have 

 almost driven the four-piece goods out of 

 the market. But for all that, we may have 

 to go back to them, as we maj' not be able 

 to get enough tough wood to make one-piece 

 boxes to supply the present enormous de- 

 mand. Between five and ten million feet of 

 basswood is cut every year (this is only a 

 drop in the bucket of the amount used by 

 contractors and furniture-makers), and it 

 would be hard to find any other timber as 

 tough, in sufficient quantities to take care 

 of this enormous output. It may be, there- 

 fore, that we shall be compelled in the fu- 

 ture, saj' ten years hence, to use four-piece 

 boxes made of some other wood. Or possi- 

 bly we may have to get up some scheme 

 whereby' chunk or bulk honey can be di- 

 vested of every suggestion of adulteration, 

 so that the general public in the cities will 

 buy it the same as it would section honej'. 



LITTLE FERTILIZING-BOXES IN CONNECTION 

 WITH STRONG COLONIES. 



In our issue for Aug. 15 I spoke of the 

 fact that the very small nuclei, section- box 

 size, had not worked for us satisfactorily. 

 Indeed, I pronounced them a "complete 

 fizzle." We put out quite a number of them, 

 and followed directions as closely as we 

 could, but not a single queen was fertilized 

 in them. As our readers know, our friend 

 E. L. Pratt, better known as '* Swarth- 

 more," wrote me that he had been and was 



then making the plan work successfully,- 

 and that he would like to prove it to my 

 satisfaction if I would make him a visit; 

 but I could not leave at the time. Our friend 

 D. R. Keyes, who wrote about the matter 

 originally, on page 536, June 15, now 

 writes as follows: 



I noticed on page 713 that you speak of my invention 

 as " a most complete fizzle " with you, and I am not 

 surprised, for I found out before you published the ar- 

 ticle that it would not woik with most persons, iinle.«s! 

 they had more explicit directions than I gave. While 

 it does not do all I had hoped, it does do a great deal; 

 and if you will come my way in April, 1904, I think 

 you might be tickled to see the thing work. 



Wewahitchka, Fla., Sept. 28. D. C. Keyes. 



It is needless to say that I am open to 

 conviction. If these small nuclei can be 

 made to work satisfactorily in getting 

 queens fertilized, without too much trouble 

 or annoyance, I desire to know how it is 

 done, in order that I may teach others. As 

 every one knows, the most difficult part of 

 queen-rearing is getting the queens fertil- 

 ized, and I might say the most expensive 

 part by all odds, because our regulation 

 plans involve the use of a lot of colonies, 

 splitting them into thirds and fourths. 

 This necessarily ties up a lot of capital. If 

 we can make a tenth of the number of bees 

 do the work, it is well worth our while to 

 learn the modus operandi. Perhaps our 

 friend Keyes could make his directions a 

 little more elaborare, so that, when we try 

 the plan again next summer, it will not be 

 a " fizzle " as before. 



STORES NECESSARY FOR INDOOR AND OUT- 

 DOOR WINTERING. 



We are constantly asked the question, 

 " How many pounds of stores are necessary 

 for wintering? " A good deal depends on 

 the strength of the colony, and very much 

 on whether it is to be wintered outdoors or 

 indoors. The average outdoor colony in 

 this latitude requires anywhere from 20 to 

 25 lbs. ; for indoor, from 15 to 18 lbs. will 

 make a safe allowance. The indoor colony 

 may not consume during its actual confine- 

 ment mare than 4 or 5 lbs , while the out- 

 door colony during the same period may not 

 require more than 10 lbs. If this is the 

 case, why should not every one winter in- 

 doors? Because it is not positively proven 

 3'et that the extra amount of stores consumed 

 outdoors does not give a more vigorous col- 

 ony in the spring. 



GLUCOSE BETTER THAN HONEY (?). 



Mr. W. L. Selser, of Philadelphia, Pa., 

 calls m.y attention to the fact that one of the 

 large glucose-manufacturing concerns is 

 putting out flaming advertisements of a 

 certain brand of corn syrup as " better 

 than honey for less money." The brazen- 

 ness of such advertising, Mr, Selser says, 

 beats any thing he ever saw. But better — 

 far better — that they should advertise the 

 goods for what they are than to put them 

 out under the name of honest honey. The 

 corn-S3'rup people pay a fine compliment to 

 our product when they attempt to compare 

 their stuff with the finest sweet in the world. 



