THE AMERICAJM BEE JOURNAL. 



183 



can, will be one of our best patrons, 

 if he can reach our prices. But he 

 cannot reach 20 cents per pound, and 

 it is a wrong to keep it beyond his 

 reach if we can otherwise make a 

 living at the business. This I am 

 confident we can do ; and, I repeat, 

 miwit do, if we continue to produce 

 honey in such quantity as we do now. 



During the last four years I have 

 fought the downward tendency of 

 prices as stubbornly as any man, but 

 recognizing, as I must, both the 

 necessity and the righteousness of 

 the decline, I can best yield and 

 " make the best of it." 



There are two reasons for the down- 

 ward movement in the prices of 

 honey. One is the general change in 

 the standard of values. Property is 

 increasing much more rapidly than 

 the circulating medium, and the one 

 must adjust itself to the other. The 

 second reason is the rapid growth of 

 the industry itself. There is so much 

 more honey thrown on the market 

 than there was five years ago. That 

 honev has declined out of proportion 

 toother commodities. I agree is true; 

 but it will not always be so. We must, 

 and will, reach a more permanent 

 footing soon. As water will find its 

 level, so our industry will find an 

 equilibrium as nearly as any occupa- 

 tion ever does. 



Hut. chiming with others I would 

 say, there are two things we must do : 

 First, lovv'er the cost of production; 

 second, develop our home markets. 



As to the market reports, that col- 

 umn is one of the first I look for, and 

 I would be sorry to miss it. 



Mechanicsburg,© Ills. 



For t&e Amencan Bee Joumai 



FeeiliiiE Syrim to Bees. 



J. L. HUBBARD. 



I desire to thank those who re- 

 sponded to my query (Jso. 374) on the 

 above subject, and will now give my 

 experience. 



Some IS or 20 years ago I was selling 

 my surplus bees, and frequently had 

 occasion to feed them, buying sugar 

 at times by the barrel. Thinking the 

 hives did not gain as fast as desirable, 

 I occasionally weighed one before and 

 after feeding, and came to the con- 

 clusion that 1 got an average increase 

 of about () pounds for 10 pounds of 

 sugar dissolved to make 16 pounds of 

 syrup. 1 used to let the syrup boil, 

 but if less Ihan 6 pounds of water was 

 used it would skim over when cool 

 and granulate in the cells. After 

 getting an extractor I added a portion 

 of honey to the mixture and had no 

 more trouble with granulating in the 

 cells, and could use less water. 



My object w-as to show the expense 

 of feeding sugar in comparison with 

 honey. It is an easy matter to have 

 plenty of honey stored in combs for 

 this purpose, saving the labor of ex- 

 tracting and the expense and trouble 

 of re-feeding, for there is a great loss 

 in re-feeding extracted honey as well 

 as feeding sugar syrup. 



An experiment in this line I find 

 recorded in another paper. The cor- 



respondent says : " To 20 colonies 

 was fed 3,500 pounds of extracted 

 honey, or an average of 17.5 pounds 

 per colony in Hr, days. The total 

 amount of comb honey received from 

 the3,500 pounds was only 1,250 pounds, 

 or 623^ pounds per colony, all in one- 

 pound sections. The total amount 

 for the 20 brood departments was 800 

 pounds, or 600 pounds of the 3. -500 

 pounds of extracted honey stored in 

 the 20 hives." 



Here we see 1 ,6.50 pounds was used 

 for brood rearing and other purposes, 

 while 1,850 pounds was stored, an 

 average of less than 5^4 pounds for 

 each 10 pounds fed. In this case a 

 large increase of bees is reported, 

 which was of some value. 



Walpole, ? N. n. 



For tbe American Bee JonmaL 



Section-Case for Snmlns Honey 



FRANK A. EATO.N. 



I use an 8-frame Langstroth hive 

 for comb honey, and make a section- 

 case of the same material, and of the 



one bee-space between each tier. The 

 sections are protected from brace- 

 combs on the bottom, by the slats, 

 the same as in a wide frame without 

 the use of a skeleton honey-board, 

 with a bee-space above and below it, 

 which takes up a valuable space, be- 

 sides separating the sections too 

 widely from the brood-chamber. The 

 movable or hinged side loosens the 

 sections all at once, making it easy 

 to remove them, and also allows the 

 removal of sectlous if desired on the 

 hive. 



There are important points of con- 

 struction that would not show in an 

 illustration. The case embraces all 

 the advantages of single-tier, wide 

 frames, and a regular open-case com- 

 bined, as it allows the use of separa- 

 tors or not, as desired. With wide, 

 frames an outer case is necessary to 

 hold them. All I have is the outer 

 case and the bottom- bar of the wide 

 frames combined, doing away with 

 the top and end bars, thereby ad- 

 mitting of taking hold of the top of 

 the section instead of working the 

 sections out of a wide frame, ai it ia 

 usually done. 



Bluffton,-o Ohio. 



Section-Case for Surplus Honey. 



size of the hive. The crates are 

 painted, and when set on the hive 

 they form part of it. If separators 

 are desired, they may be used in this 

 case by slipping a J^-inch strip of tin 

 between the two end rows of sections, 

 so as to prevent the separators from 

 going down between the slats ; then,' 

 as you put in a row of sections place 

 a separator in. However, I have no 

 need of separators ; by using sections 

 7 to the foot, without separators, they 

 hold as near a pound as it is possible 

 to obtain, and nearly every section 

 can be crated. This statement is not 

 made at random, but from actual ex- 

 perience, in obtaining comb honey 

 without separators from 100 to 1.50 

 colonies for the past four years. Many 

 of the cases in use have" to be used 

 inside the hive cover to protect them 

 from the weather, and more than one 

 or two cases cannot be used at a time, 

 and have them so protected. 



The cover raises with this case, as 

 fast as tiered up, setting on the case 

 the same as on the main hive, it being 

 made of the same material as the 

 hive, thereby protecting the sections 

 the same as the brood-chamber. 



It admits (if tiering up to the best 

 possible advantage, there being but 



For tbe American Bee JouroaL 



Tenmeratnre anfl Ventilation, 



C. W. DAYTON. 



As I believed too much upward 

 hive-ventilation had been given in 

 previous winters when the colonies 

 were in the cellar, when the bees 

 were carried in last fall each hive 

 received two or more thicknesses of 

 burlap that was pretty well covered 

 vfith propolis. This would greatly 

 retard upward circulation, but stiU 

 allow some draft. The temperature 

 (as in other winters) has been very 

 steady, never going below 41° or above 

 43°. On raising these burlap cover- 

 ings I find the bees motionless, and 

 the underside of the burlap covered 

 with many very large drops of water. 

 Sometimes where the bees cluster 

 close to the covering, the drops of 

 water will be on the outside of the 

 covering, and again where the bees 

 cluster low on the combs the moisture 

 will be attached to the upper part of 

 the combs. Giving the hive a slight 

 jar, a drop will become detached, and 

 in proceeding downward unites with 

 another and another, until quite a 



