THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



59 



how he could distinguish pure Carniolans, he 

 frankly admitted that he could tell only by 

 their behavior. Think of keeping an apiary 

 pure by watching tlie behavior of the bees ! 



Sections. It sounds a little as though you 

 meant to say that four-piece sections, cost- 

 ing, made up, only I4 cent a pound more 

 than one-piece sections, would, when put 

 into good sliii)piug cases, bring two cents a 

 pound more than the one-piece. I know 

 that two cents a pound may be lost by using 

 poor sections, but, supi)osing both are put 

 into the same case, do you believe that the 

 best one-piece sections will fall one cent in 

 price below tlie best four-piece ? AVill it 

 fall one-fourth of a cent below Y I like the 

 four-piece sections because they never per- 

 sist in getting out of square and staying out. 

 But the one-piece are cheaper, and we can 

 give our customers more honey for the 

 same money, the honey looking just as well 

 when on the table. Ought we not to have a 

 little consideration for that ? The use of 

 glassed sections ceased, I think, mainly be- 

 cause it was a piece of extravagance on the 

 part of customers to buy them. Then, do 

 not most persons think the plain corners of 

 the one-piece l)etter looking than the dove- 

 tailed corners of the four-piece ? Still, I 

 sometimes Ions to go back to the four-piece, 

 or, at least, to the two-piece. 



I tried about 100 open-side sections when 

 they were first spoken of, and I had much 

 faith in them, but, on trial, I couldn't make 

 out that they possessed (oiy advantages. Of 

 course others may find advantages that I 

 didn't. You say "There are indications 

 that the bees are more inclined to finish up 

 their work as they go along than to ex- 

 tend their work into more sections, leaving 

 a portion of them uniiiiished." Now, see 

 here, isn't one great claim for these open 

 sides that they allow freer communication, 

 hence a more ready working from one sec- 

 tion to another V And now you're claiming 

 that the freer communication prevents work- 

 ing from one section to another. 



Having tried both by the hundred, I pre- 

 fer the T super to the old style Heddou. even 

 if I never used a separator in either. It's so 

 much easier to empty the T, and I don't 

 know that any one ever claimed any 

 advantage for the Heddon, except that it 

 holds the sections square. Well, use a one- 

 fourth inch separator on top in the T super, 

 and it will hold the seciions sciuare, just as 

 well as the other. 



I wouldn't advise putting on full supers of 

 partly drawn combs to start the l)ees at 

 work. A single section of that kiud put in 

 the middle of a super will start the bees to 

 work at once just as well as a whole super 

 full. 



It seems to me you don't believe in con- 

 traction quite as much as you did. I'm sure 

 I don't. Anl i think Fin learning to have 

 fewer unfinished sections ; so few that I 

 think I shall never feed back again. 



I sometimes wonder if we're not on tlie 

 wrong tack in allowing the queen so little 

 room. Maybe Uadant and France with their 

 big hives may be nearer right after all. 



Makengo, 111., 



Mar. 18, 18;^y. 



Diflferent Strains of Bees— Hives— One-Piece 



Sections — Separators — Brawn-out Combs 



And the use of Extracting Supers. 



J. A. GKEEN. 



fP I COULD have everything in my api- 

 ary exactly as I wished, my bees would 

 be pure Italians like the colony from 

 wliich I have taken brood for queen 

 rearing the past three years. Were I com- 

 pelled to take the average Italians, or else 

 hybrids, I am not sure but I might prefer 

 the hybrids. There is a great ditference in 

 Italians. Some are poor workers — others 

 take the lead in industry. Some produce 

 comb honey that will not bring within two 

 cents of the highest price, while the prod- 

 uct of others is, in my opinion, fully as 

 salable, if not a little more so, as that made 

 by black bees. 



Carniolans I have never tried. My "trial" 

 with Syrians has made me a little cautious 

 about trying new races. Others, however, 

 who have bought Carniolan queens of the 

 best breeders, have complained to me of a 

 fault in which they are supposed to be lack- 

 ing ; and that is extreme irritability. Prob- 

 ably they were hybrids, but we cannot pre- 

 vent intermixture, and if the product of the 

 cross proves to be more uncontrollable than 

 than the average German-Italian cross, 

 we'd better go a little slow in adopting them. 



My preference among hives is the light, 

 shallow, tixed-frame, readily movable type ; 

 and I believe in outside packing both for 

 winter and spring. 



So it's a wonder to you, is it, why one- 

 piece sections have become so popular ? 

 Well now, it is a mystery to me why some 

 persist in. objecting to them. The only way 

 111 which I can account for it is by supposing 

 that they became prejudiced against them 

 at a time wlieii sections were not as well 

 made as they now are, and from not having 

 used them with proper appliances. A well 

 made, one-piece section looks better than 

 the four-piece. Under nearly all the circum- 

 stances of use, it is stronger. If put togeth- 

 er With a press, ;is it ought to be, it is square 

 and will remain so. The "naughty corners" 

 are no disadvantage when separators are 

 used — as they ought to be — and by them 

 sections, either empty or full of honey, can 

 be handled easier, (juicker and with less 

 danger of breakage and soiling than is pos- 

 sible with the four-piece. Perhaps the bass- 

 wood sections are a little easier soiled, but 

 soiling IS unnecessary, and this point does 

 not count with me. The open-side sections 

 I have tried to some extent and do not like. 

 They are not well adapted to the most and 

 best of the supers in use, nor to the use of 

 separators. 



As to dispensing with separators, to dis- 

 cuss the question properly would require in 

 itself a long article ; so I will simply say 

 that, in my opinion ( which, I think, can be 

 supported by good argument and hard facts) 

 the man who produces comb honey without 

 separators, and sells the same in the gen- 

 eral market, is injuring not only himself but 

 the wliole honey producing fraternity. 



