232 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



one-half of the stock of bees to collect 

 the pay and interest on the other 

 half. But to be a little more lenient, 

 say the time of payment is extended 

 until another January. Th« seaion 

 this time proves fair, but interest runs 

 up the bill. I have been putting in 

 my time on dead property (by dead, I 

 mean unprofitable). It has cost me 

 something to keep these bees, and 

 putting all together, I find myself 

 " hard run." Now vFhat do I do but 

 sell at a sacrifice, not because I want 

 to injure a neighbor who is in the 

 same business, nor do I want to lower 

 the prices one particle. Common- 

 sense would teach me the folly of 

 such actions, but I sell at a low price 

 because I must have money and can- 

 not wait until the people are ready to 

 buy, so I give them a "bait" by 

 " offering cheap " Had I used a little 

 common-sense at first and not taken 

 risks that I was not able to carry, I 

 might have saved myself the loss. 

 Experience has taught me that it is 

 better to have a surplus on hand than 

 to sell all we have at once, and be out 

 the balance of the year. 



Here is a case just to the point: 

 Last fall a certain man had a nice lot 

 of honey. He was in debt, and his 

 creditors had the " upper hand." He 

 placed his honey on sale, part of it in 

 a grocery with instructions to sell at 

 12}4 cents per pound. It did not go 

 very fast at first. The creditor said it 

 was too high ; that certain others were 

 selling for less. (This, however, was 

 not true, at least for the same grade 

 of honey.) The final result was that 

 the best comb was sold at 10 cents 

 per pound, and by mid- winter that 

 man had no honey left. 



Another experience : I have been 

 for 12 years a limited producer of 

 honey. I sold only in my home mar- 

 ket, and have never had suflScient 

 honey to supply the demand any sea- 

 son. I gave a young man a few les- 

 sons in bee-keeping. He undertook 

 to enter the business for himself. He 

 had about 15 colonies, put his crop on 

 my market and sold at 16J^ cents per 

 pound. I had been, and was at the 

 same time, selling at 15 cents. Now 

 because I would not advance to his 

 price, he became angry and ordered 

 his sold at 12}4 cents or less, if I 

 should follow him down. I just held 

 my honey at 15, and if it would not 

 sell at that, I held it until the other 

 was gone. The result was that I had 

 mine a short time, and the other sold 

 out and retire"d disgusted, and has not 

 bothered me since. 



Organization of producers will not 

 and cannot regulate the market. But 

 if we would only " make haste slowly" 

 wo would bo better off. It would be 

 better to "legislate" to make it a 

 finable offense to go in debt when we 

 have not the capital to enable us to 

 get through without damaging others. 

 Let every man live within his means, 

 and keep a few dollars in his pocket, 

 and when prices are below first cost, 

 do not sell. The man that is " well 

 fixed " financially, is not the man that 

 lowers prices ; and the poor man who 

 has gotten himself '• into the box " 

 will not have crop enough to supply a 

 market for ;i. wliole season. II the 



unfortunate man is spoiling your 

 market, buy him out and help him and 

 yourself too. 



The man, association, or corpora- 

 tion that takes advantage of those 

 who may be subject to their power, 

 damage themselves as well as others. 

 The real rogues are very few com- 

 pared with the mass of the people, 

 and we will have but little trouble 

 with dishonesty if we would but be 

 honest with each other in every re- 

 spect. We ought all to give as well 

 as receive good prices. 



Shambaugh,? Iowa. 



For the American Bee Joomat 



A Section-Case for Comli Honey. 



J. W. POWELL & SON. 



Having noticed a section-case de- 

 scribed on page 183, we would like to 

 say a little on the subject, especially 

 as that case is something like the one 

 we use. We began where Mr. Eaton 

 has, but we think we have taken a 

 step or two in advance, as will be 

 noticed by editorial comments on our 

 section -case on page 147. As we have 

 received quite a number of letters 

 asking for more definite description, 

 we will endeavor to give it. 



Our honey-board is like the engrav- 

 ing. The bottom of our case is made 

 in the same way, except that the slats 

 are nailed fast "on the bottom of the 

 case in a rabbet % of an inch deeper 



than the thickness of the slats, which 

 gives a bee-space below the case. The 

 rabbet is cut just the same on top as 

 on the bottom, which gives room for 

 the honey-board. 



The case is made reversible, by 

 fastening some small, sheet-iron but- 

 tons on the sides, which holds the 

 honey-board in place, thus keeping 

 the sections secure in any position. 

 The centre of the slats are kept from 

 sagging by strips of wood % of an 

 inch square, tacked crosswise, or tin 

 strips may be used and folded like 

 this ■— ' ; or if separators must be used, 

 why not fasten those T tins inside of 

 the case like this X ; or use the }4- 

 inch strips of tin that Mr. Eaton 

 speaks of V We do ont use separators, 

 and so we will let those who use them, 

 arrange that to suit themselves. 



In conclusion we will say that al- 

 though this case is entirely original 

 with us, still we do not intend to 

 patent it. All are at liberty to use it, 

 and if it should be found to possess 

 superior merit (and we think it will), 

 we do not fear but that all honorable 

 and fair-minded bee-keepers will give 

 us full credit for the invention. 



Mankato,5 Minn. 



For tbe American Bee JouiaaL 



Tlie Cappings over Honey. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



tST" Tlie semi-annual meeting of the Southern 



niinoia Bee-Keepers' Association will be lield in 



the Court House iit Bunton. Ills., oti Wecinesilay, 



A|iril20. 1887,at 10 a.m. All are Invited to attend. 



V. H. KrNXEnv, Sec. 



At the convention in Detroit, Mr. 

 Jones said : " We sometimes have 

 honey so thickened that it does not 

 fill the cell more than half full. If 

 the capping was air-tight, how could 

 this evaporation take place V" Mr. 

 Doolittle said that he had seen honey 

 so thickened by sections of it stand- 

 ing upon a mantel-piece, that it did 

 not occupy more than one-half of the 

 space in the cellar. If the cappings 

 were impervious, this could not occur. 



When Messrs. Dadant, Poppleton 

 and myself were discussing this in 

 the hotel at Indianapolis, Mr. Popple- 

 ton said that two lots of honey taken 

 from the same case and hive, and 

 stored by the same bees— in fact, ex- 

 actly the same, the one kept in a dry 

 atmosphere, and the other in a moist 

 one, would show conclusively that the 

 cappings were not impervious, as the 

 honey in the dry atmosphere would 

 become thicker, occupying less space, 

 while that in the moist atmosphere 

 would absorb moisture until it oozed 

 from the cells or " sweat." 



I do not know that fermentation in- 

 creases the bulhot liquids — it certainly 

 generates gas, and it is this that blows 

 out " bungs " and " raises the mis- 

 chief." When honey "sweats" we 

 do not find the cells partly filled with 

 gas, but running over full of diluted 

 honey ! 



The only moral I can draw from this 

 discussion is, keep your honey warm 

 and in a dry atmosphere. 



Rogersville, (5 Mich. 



For tne American Bee Joumaju 



Hives for Preyenting Swarming. 



F. A. SNBLIi. 



I have read with much interest the 

 articles which have appeared in the 

 various bee-papers in relation to Sim- 

 mins' method of preventing or con- 

 trolling swarming, with a hope of 

 finding something new and practical ; 

 but as I understand it, it is not new. 

 The idea of such a hive was first ad- 

 vanced by D. L. Adair, of Kentucky, 

 I think, and he invented a hive 

 known as the "New Idea" hive, 

 which attracted much attention for a 

 time. Its merits were fully described 

 in the Bee Journal by Mr. Adair, 

 E. Gallup and others in 1871 or 1872. 



Many bee-keepers tried the hive, as 

 it had quite a reputation for a few 

 years. I made and tested the hive, 

 and will say that swarming could be 

 well, or quite well controlled by ex- 

 tracting, yet the hive did not prove 

 practical. Briefly stated, the hive 

 was arranged as follows : 



The frames were used one tier only, 

 and run crosswise of the entrance. 

 From the front to the rear the hive 

 was 2}4 to 3 feet, to suit the taste of 

 the bee-keeper. In use, the frames 

 near the entrance were to be only part 

 full of comb, or, if full combs were 



