60 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Peb. 



nies/in orcler;to accomplish'all the labor involved in 

 these several objects, so as to secure the best re- 

 sults, to adopt those methods and appliances that 

 will enable me to perform the greatest amount of 

 labor in the shortest space of time; a necessity ren- 

 dered all the more imperative, where competent as- 

 sistance is not to be had, and at a time when, to sup- 

 ply the urgent demands of one's customers, is to 

 rob your own apiary of the necessary sections, 

 cases, and foundation. 



Again, as my experience teaches me that one of 

 the great obstacles to a ready sale of comb honey is 

 the bad condition in which it too often reaches the 

 dealer, I must have packages of such size and 

 strength as will best withstand rough handling. 

 Then, too, as it is a troublesome and expensive item 

 to keep track of and recover one's shipping -cases, 

 especially where shipping to distant markets, I find 

 It pays best, and gives the best satisfaction to all 

 concerned, to make use of cases which you can af- 

 ford to give away with your honey. It is hardly 

 necessary to add, that I must use packages of such 

 sizes as will meet with the most ready sale, and 

 bring the best prices. Now, may I not venture to 

 conclude, that a style of package that will combine 

 and secure these several ends is the one most need- 

 ed? It is not my intention, at the present time, to 

 mention in detail the various arrangements in use 

 for securing and marketing comb honey, but rather 

 to speak briefly of that which has given me so much 

 satisfaction for the past three years, and which I 

 expect to make use of in the future. It consists 

 chiefly of one-piece section boxes, somewhat similar 

 to those made by yourself, used in connection with 

 a combined honey -rack and shipping- case; also 

 nearly the same as that described by you in your 

 price list. I sent you a sample of my section last 

 year; but as I have reason to suppose that you 

 either did not see this at all, or else, noticing that 

 the ends were not dovetailed, you failed to examine 

 it closely, I take the liberty to point out in what re- 

 spects it differs from yours, and wherein I think it 

 superior. 



As I found by experiment what common sense 

 teaches in theory, that timber that can be relied up- 

 on to bend at the corners of these sections without 

 breaking is not dry enough to dovetail at the ends 

 without shrinking. I avoid the use of timber that 

 has been seasoned too much; make my section a 

 trifle heavier than yours— 5-33 inch instead of ]a in 

 thickness; cut the grooves for the corners in such 

 a way that the section will bend at the right points 

 every time, without coaxing or compulsion, and 

 join the ends with ?i No. 19 wire nails, instead of 

 dovetailing. In this way I secure a section at least 

 twice as strong, and one just as quickly put together 

 as yours; for although it takes a little longer to nail 

 them (I find, however, plenty of handy boys ready to 

 do the work at 5 cts. per 100), a smart boy, with the 

 aid of a simple steam-box, can bend mine at the 

 rate of 50 per minute, while any one whose thoughts 

 are busy in another direction can bend them several 

 limes as fast ag yours can be bent by a skillful hand 

 attending strictly to business. Allow me, in this 

 connection, to refer you to the inclosed opinions of 

 Oliver Foster, Mt. Vernon, la., and J. A. Green, 

 Dayton, 111, which I think you will admit are entitled 

 to some weight. 



I am happy to say, that your one-piece sections 

 are decidedly the best of all I have seen. Your 

 groove, with one side deeper tUau the other, is a 



wonderful improvement. A boy whom I emild not 

 teach to fold the " Koot " section rignt, folded yours 

 every one right from the start with scarcely any 

 showing. Oliver Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, la., Dec. 23, 1883. 



Mr. n'rtZ7.-c):— Your card of Jan. 4th is received. 

 You ask for an opinion as to your sections. I will 

 say, that during the past season I used over 6000 sec- 

 tions, of three different makes, and much prefer 

 yours. You may send me 5000 sections now, and I 

 shall probably want more later. J. A. Green, 



Dayton, 111., Jan. 8, 1883. 



It is not that I have an eye to that inevitable five 

 dollars, that I call your attention to this matter, for 

 I could well afford, in the long run, to pay you ten 

 times that amount, would you agree not to copy 

 this improvement. Indeed, it requires no prophetic 

 eye to foresee the early adoption of this style of 

 corner by all manufacturers of one-piece sections; 

 and the sooner this takes place, the better for the 

 brotherhood of bee-keepers. I have said my com- 

 bined honey-rack and shipping-case was similar to 

 that advertised by you, differing chiefly in having 

 the ends of an equal thickness throughout, and pro- 

 vided with a wide groove cut entirely across them 

 for handles. Such cases can be used in the upper 

 story of L. hives, by making the ends of cases only 

 Ja in. thick. 



It is a matter of not a little astonishment to me, 

 that you have so few favorable reports to publish, 

 from those using such cases without separators. 

 Several correspondents seem to think their experi- 

 ments prove that straight combs can not be secured 

 without separators, and j'ou appear to be so far 

 wedded to the arrangement of wide frames with 

 separators, that you seem to think it would be al- 

 most a calamity for the bee-keepers of our land to 

 be obliged to lay them aside for something else; but 

 I would say for one, that I could not be persuaded 

 to return to their use, believing, as I do, that it was 

 a matter of pure economy to throw them aside. As 

 to the matter of securing straight combs without 

 separators, I can say that, with me, at least, it is no 

 longer a problem, having only found it necessary to 

 use large starters in my sections, and a section not 

 over l?i inches wide. Out of over 10,000 lbs. of comb 

 honey taken in about six weeks' time the past sea- 

 son, only a small number of combs were irregular, 

 and these were chiefly in cases where wide sections 

 wei-e used. Had I been obliged to rely upon wide 

 frames and separators to have taken my crop with 

 during this time, with the help 1 could command 

 from a couple of boys in preparing every thing for 

 the purpose during the rush of the season, with or- 

 ders for sections, etc., pouring in upon one, I imag- 

 ine I should have had a much smaller yield to re- 

 port (I took in all from about 100 colonies, 10,500 lbs. 

 of comb honey, and about 3000 lbs. extracted, with 

 an increase of 50 colonies), and by the time I could 

 have prepared it for market it would have been 

 worth several cents less per pound, and the prepa- 

 ration of my bees for winter would have been neg- 

 lected. 



You state, in your price list, that honey put up in 

 such shipping-cases as I have described, usually 

 brings several cents less per pound than that taken 

 with separators, and packed in ordinary shipping- 

 cases. Even if that were the case, I should much 

 prefer to use them ; but I find that my honey sells 

 in the Detroit market as readily, and at as high a 

 price, as that put up by some of my neighbors the 

 other way. It does very well to handle over your 

 honey several times, if you use firmly nailed seo- 



