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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Fes. 



HALF- POUND SECTIONS, AN» OTHER 

 MA'rrKKS. 



FlllKND HOOMHOWEll'S IDEAS AHOUT TIIKM. 



SEE lialf-pound sections quoted ashi^h as 30 cts. 

 per pound. Now, unless honey in half-pound 

 sections brlnKS more than 5 cts. per lb. in ad- 

 vance of that put up In 1 and 3 11). sections, I doubt if 

 any thing- is gained by \\w change; but 1 fear much 

 win be lost. 



In our market hero at Albany, 1 am informed, by 

 reliable dealers, that they sell just as many a-pound 

 boxes of honey, and in some cases more, than they 

 do one-pounds, set side by side; and I cannot get 

 one cent on a pound more for a pound section than I 

 can for a two-pound; and if tho 1-lb. box had never 

 been brought to notice, 1 really think it would have 

 been just as well. And, by thG way. 1 have heard a 

 good many hard words hurled at our friend Novice 

 for bringing them into use; and if ho had attended 

 the convention at Albany, when the " bo.\ question " 

 was discussed, 1 think ho would have been lucky to 

 get off without having his hair pulled. 



SEI'AUATOHS. 



I have often tried to get evenly built combs in my 

 sections, without the use of separators; but to say 

 that 1 have failed in every Instance would hardly 

 give tho matter a true expression. Yes, 1 have 

 more than failed, and I think that Mr. Heddon must 

 exhibit some hidden power over his bees, to induce 

 them to build combs evenly and where ho wants 

 them to. How many are there besides Mr. Heddon 

 who use no separators, and have their combs nice 

 and straight ? When a colony of boos first commence 

 to work in tho surplus chamber, they generally be- 

 gin in tho center, or part that is located over the 

 most thickly settled portion of tho hive or brood- 

 chamber, or in that part of tho hive that contains 

 the brood. First a few sections are taken up; and as 

 they proceed from that portion tlrst occupied, out 

 toward the outer side, the cells taking the same po- 

 sition are elongateil far l)eyond tho center of the 

 box or section, and tho result Is, a section with tho 

 weight of tho honey all on one side. This is my ex- 

 perience, and I shall never try to produce comb 

 honey in sections without separators, 

 now TO KEEP (;oon friends with our neiourous. 



Since I have been keeping bees I do not know that 

 I have gained the ill will of a single man or woman 

 in my neighborhood. Somehow my bees never seem 

 to sting or bother any one; and if they do, I never 

 hear any angry threats that my bops must be re- 

 moved from the village. Located as I am within ten 

 feet of the main street. It seems strange that I do 

 not get Into a tight with some of them. Well, I will 

 tell j'ou how I manage to keep good friends. If I 

 hear of ony one getting stung In the neighborhood, 

 I send or carry them a nice section of honey; or if I 

 have none In sections I send a few pounds of extract- 

 ed, asd tho result is, instead of getting enemies I 

 generally get orders for some honey; for when I 

 offer toi/iuc them some nice honey, you see they will 

 see how nice it Is, and after I am gone they will say, 

 "Well, there 1 isn't he clever?" and, "Oh how nice 

 this tastesl I guess we shall have to buy some." 

 And the way It generally turns out, Iget a customer 

 and a good friend at the same time. 



Last spring while in the store one evening I over- 

 heard an old man telling another gentleman that wo 

 Bhould have no more fruit, because thcro were so 



many bees that they would cat the fruit-blossoms all 

 up. AVhy, ho said that tho bees were so thick on his 

 apple-trees that they dug tho l)loom all oil trying to 

 get to the honey, and that all of tho bee-keepers 

 ought to be prosecuted, and that he wished he had 

 all of tho boes in the country under a straw-stack. 

 He would touch a match to it and burn up the whole 

 business. A short time afterward 1 gave him a 

 small pail of honey, and explained to him that bees 

 did not harm the blossoms in the least, but, on the 

 contrary, did them good. Well, he said that it was 

 the tlrst that ho ever knew that bees did the blos- 

 soms good. Ho supposed that they sucked away all 

 the juice which made tho fruit. But I am sure he 

 believes me now, for wc have had an immense crop 

 of fruit this last autumn. So, my friends, if your 

 neighbors get angry at you because your bees sting 

 them, send them some nice honey, and It will heal 

 the wounds. F. Boomhower. 



Gallupville, Scho. Co., N. Y., Jan., 18S3. 



Friend 15., we succeed in bee-keeping, or 

 any otlicv kind of business, when we work 

 for tlie good of the people at large ; and 1 

 believe the masses have decided, pretty 

 unanimously, that they want a small pack- 

 age of honey at a time. Notwithstanding 

 what your Albany bee-folks said or thought, 

 about my poor self, the demand for 1-lb. sec- 

 tions the world over has been almost the 

 wonder of tlie world. We made and sold 

 about one million ourselves last year, while 

 all the other sizes amounted to scarcely 

 one-tenth of that number.— I admire your 

 way of letting your neighbors see what good 

 honey is like, :uul of disarming prejudice, 

 and i am sure it pays best in the long run. 



AVIDE: FRAITIES, OR CASES, TO HOLD 

 OUR SE< TIONS. 



WHAT SHALL WE USE? 



E are a progressive people. To-day one thing 

 is all the rage, and to-morrow it is dropped 

 for something new. We get all flxed up 

 with surplus arrangements one season, and by the 

 next season some one's Ingenuity has made some 

 great improvement, and so all our llxings must be 

 laid aside for new, if we wish to keep abreast with 

 the times. 



A few years ago you gave us the one-pound sec- 

 tion and tho broad frames. It seemed as though 

 this was nearly perfection — good enough. It seemed 

 one pound was about the right thing; but now, just 

 as It Isbecomlngastandard section, somebodythinks 

 we want a smaller one. Now, I do not believe there 

 Is any call for a smaller section than the one-pound; 

 but if we must have a smaller one, I say let us have 

 it so it will lit into our regular broad frames. 



Then there is the combined case you got up. It is 

 a regular stumbling-block for beginners. Thej' do 

 not know which they want, the case system or the 

 broad frames. I must confess, myself, I like the 

 form of giving tho bees ~S sections, one deep, cover- 

 ing the top of hive better than to give them twen- 

 ty-eight in wide frames two deep, covering half 

 the hive; but it seems to me the advantages 

 in favor of the wide frames are two to one — first, 

 not being any space between tho two sets of sec- 

 tions; second, 8 sections can be handled at once in- 

 stead of one; thirdly, by the use of the division- 

 board tho surplus room can be contracted, even to 



