§6 



GLEANiKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



"Is that so? guess I'll have to come around and 

 see it. Who got it up? " 



" Got it up myself, and it beats any thing in the 

 united world!" 



At this juncture I had to tear myself away from 

 this enthusiastic inventor, as I had other business on 

 hand than the pursuit of bee lore. 



Oberlin, O., Jan. 22, 1883. Chalon Fowls. 



HALF-POUND SECTIONS. 



TBIEND MORRIS' EXPERIMENT, AND WHAT HIS WIFE 

 " POLLY " THINKS ABOUT IT. 



M S the ^2-lb. section (like Mrs. Langtry) is all the 

 J^^ tails now, I will give my little experience. 



— ' Last August one day, says I to my wife, 

 " Polly, I've thought of something. If I cut a 4J4x- 

 4*4 -lb. section through the center, putting fdn. 

 In each half, wouldn't the bees make half-pounds of 

 honey? " 



"Well, perhaps," says Polly; "but, what is the 

 ■ object?" 



"Why, don't you see?" I said; " something new." 



Like all other inventors, I never thought for a mo- 

 ment that some one else had thought of and put in- 

 to practice, long ago, the same idea. 



" Well," says Polly, "what's the use on't? You 

 can sell all the honey you can possibly raise in 1-lb. 

 sections at a big price now." 



" But, Polly," says f, " I can get a bigger price 

 per lb. for my honey." 



" But, don't you sec," says Polly, "you would have 

 to get nearly twice as much for your half-pounds, to 

 get your pay for your extra work and expense, 

 double the amount of sections at nearly the same 

 cost per 1000, double the amount of work in putting 

 together and putting on and taking off the '/^-Ib. 

 section? and besides, you are only catering to a 

 morbid taste of a dissatisfied people who are always 

 clamoring for something new. You men arf as bad 

 as we women. You want to change the fashion as 

 often as we do. A 1-lb. section has been the fashion 

 for a year or so, and now you must have a change, 

 just as you have every thing cut to fit. A round 

 section has been proposed and made, beautiful to 

 look at too; now a 54-lb. section is the rage. Next 

 you will want a section cut bias, with two rows of 

 buttons up the back. And then, again, it would 

 double the amount of fdn., and beeswax is getting 

 scarcer. Comb fdn. is crawling up higher and high- 

 er in price, and you must studs' how to economize 

 its use, instead of how to use more of it," 



" Nevertheless, Polly," says I, " I am going to try 

 one colony." 



So I took 11 strong brood-frames and split in two 

 44 414x4^ sections; of course, each frame held 8 of 

 the 54-lb. sections, making 88 sections. Then filling 

 each with nice large starters I hung them over a 

 strong colony, fixed the hive perfectly level, and 

 "let 'em went." They were filled and capped over 

 nicely; but to ship, they are no go. They weigh a 

 little over "-^-Ib., and are bulged just enough so that 

 they can not be crated, and they do not stand well. 

 Half-pound sections will have to be made wide 

 enough to hold the honey inside the section. But I 

 think I shall take Polly's advice, and stick to 1-lb. 

 sections for a while yet. 



By the way, as the question of separators or no 

 separators is up, I will remark that I have found 



that, if I take perfect fdn., put it exactly in the center 

 of the section, and a full-sized starter; put all the 

 sections on the hive at once, have the hive perfectly 

 level, and then don't meddle until the bees have fin- 

 ished the job, my word for it, 95 ;' of sections treated 

 that way will crate nicely, and will overrun 5 to 10 

 lbs. on a hundred, while with separators they will 

 fall short. But there is no use of a bee-keeper try- 

 ing to get along without separators, unless he is as 

 exact as a watchmaker; and he must beat the Wa- 

 terbury chaps at that. 



TAKING BEES TO FLORIDA TO WINTER. 



I think we Northern bee-keepers shall have to try 

 the following plan, which I clipped from the Chicago 

 hitcr-Occan:— 



On Saturday a car containing a curious freight 

 was switched on the Bnst Tennessee and Virginia 

 Kailroad and moved South. 



It was filled with bee-hives. One hundred and 

 forty of the latest style of boe-hives piled systemat- 

 iCRlly on top of each other, and to the foreground a 

 philnsopher with his bed and board. 



" Where are you going to take your bees? " 



" To Florida for the winter. My name is Thomas 

 McFarland Jackson, and I live in Northern Missouri. 

 I have large apiaries that are forced to lie idle in the 

 winter. I'm going to take this carload of hives to 

 Florida, where they can make honey every day in 

 the year. As soon as the clover is out again in 

 Northern Missouri I will take them back there." 



" Will it pay you to move them?" 



" I think so. It costs less than a dollar a hive for 

 transportation, and each hive will have from $6 to 

 ST worth of honey in it when I bring it back. That 

 is what Italian bees I sent to Florida last year did 

 last winter. Only Italian bees will thrive in Florida, 

 as the moths eat up the common bees." 



" Will you live in the open air there? " 



"I'm going to camp around with my bees. I be- 

 lieve I will bring back about $1000 worth of honey 

 in hives that would otherwise lie idle all the winter, 

 and be empty in the spring." 



Rantoul, 111., Jan. 24, 1883. H. M. MoiiRiS. 



Friend Morris, we are very much obliged 

 for the results of your experiment, as well 

 as for the wise counsels of your good wife 

 Polly. Thanks, also, for a report of that 

 Florida project. We must try to follow up 

 friend Jackson, and get him to tell us about 

 how he succeeds.— Now about your i-lb. sec- 

 tions : While reading your account I Avas 

 hoping all the way through to hear that you 

 tried a 1-lb. section, without splitting it in 

 two; /. c, that you by means of two sheets 

 of fdn. made them build two combs in one 

 section. The idea is not mine, for I remem- 

 bered it from the card below. See : — 



I feel moved to " put in my lip" about the half- 

 pound sections. Make 'em just like the pound sec- 

 tion, only run a groove the whole length of the 

 strip, on the back side. When folded, put in two 

 sheets of fdn. Harve:t, crate, and market without 

 dividing; but let the grocer's clerk pull 'em in two 

 when he retails 'em. The halves, when parted, will 

 not be quite half-pounds; but city folks are so stin- 

 gy they like 'em the better for that. Won't be 

 shouting for a half-owncc section so soon, eh? 



Richards, O., Jan. 5, 1883. E. E. Hasty. 



Well this looks to me the most promising 

 of any idea we have yet had. No separators 

 are needed between the two, for they are 

 never taken apart until they are sold, and so 

 we have a great gain here. Another thing : 

 Those who have 1-lb. sections on hand can 

 make them into i lbs. by simply running 

 them over a fine slitting saw that will cut 

 so nearly through they may be easily sepa- 

 rated with a penknife after they are filled. I 



