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154 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



plenty of honey, but I like your sections 

 better." and he takes my honey on that 

 account. That is, that decides him final- 



ly. 



Dr. Miller — I would like to know 

 whether that is anything like the gen- 

 eral experience, whether dealers do pre- 

 fer it ordinarily. Have we any testimony 

 with regard to that, one way or an- 

 other? 



Mr. France — Up in our State the deal- 

 ers almost invariably want bee-way sec- 

 tions. The large complaint is that the 

 other one looks nice, but there is not 

 room for handling, and they press in 

 with the fingers, and they are hurt by 

 handling. 



Miss Wilson — The man to whom we 

 ship our honey said he did not want 

 any more plain sections. 



Mr. Abbott — I think they have not 

 emphasized the main trouble. It is not 

 the section as it stands by itself that 

 bothers me. The old bee-way section 

 is all right. It is the traps that must 

 go along with it in order to use it. They 

 are frail and are easily broken up. You 

 can't clean them, and they are a source 

 of constant expense. I think our people 

 probably make as good fences as anybody, 

 but I throw away — well, I wouldn't say 

 how many out of every lot they ship me, 

 because they get broken, and I seldom 

 ship out a crate of hives to anybody but 

 what there is some complaint about the 

 fence separators being broken. You 

 can not handle the no-bee-way section 

 without the slotted separator, or the old 

 Armstrong separator which had a slot 

 in the bottom and made the finest look- 

 ing section of anything I ever saw. But 

 there was too much lumber in that bee- 

 hive — it cost five or six dollars in the 

 flat, and you could not afford to pay 

 that much. It is the things that are 

 necessary in order to use them that 

 make me object to the plain sections. 



Dr. Miller — I must say that this is 

 really a great surprise to me. I try 

 to keep up with the procession and 

 know what is going on, and I read and 

 find that the plain section is away ahead, 

 that it is the thing to use, and then I 

 come here and find a lot of old fogies 

 who say that the bee-way section is the 

 thing. Their grandfathers started with 

 the bee-way sections and they are go- 

 ing on with them, and it seems to me 

 that somebody ought to do a little mis- 

 sionary work and wake them up and let 

 them know they are not up to the times; 



that the plain section is what we ought 

 to have. 



Mr. Taylor — Why not do the work on 

 the manufacturers of the plain sections? 



Dr. Miller — Well, there is a point. 

 Seriously, it is a surprise to me to hear 

 the expressions here this morning, and 

 I would like to ask this question : Sup- 

 pose the plain section is very much bet- 

 ter than the other, there are two ways 

 for accounting for the apparent feel- 

 ing with regard to it here. One way is 

 to suppose, as I have already supposed, 

 that there are a lot of old fogies here 

 that don't know what they ought to 

 do. There may be two ways still. One 

 is that they are not old fogies, but they 

 never had testimony enough to make 

 them think it worth while to try the 

 plain section. 



Mr. Lyman — Some of us have been 

 through the mill. Doctor. 



Dr. Miller — I was going to say that 

 there is still another way, that they have 

 tried them, and, after trying them, they 

 believe that the bee-way sections are 

 better. I would like to ask how many 

 have tried both kinds. If you will al- 

 low me to see the hands — just keep them 

 up and let me count them — 12. Now 

 of those 12 I would like to ask two 

 questions. I know that I have an an- 

 swer to both of them, but I want to 

 get something definite. How many of 

 that 12 prefer the bee-way section? Let 

 me see the hands — 8. How many prefer 

 the plain section? 3. How many do 

 not care which? i. 



Mr. Abbott — ^Let me tell you another 

 thing. Out of 10 carloads of goods sold 

 down in Missouri, we will sell probably 

 a wagon-load of plain sections — not 

 more in 10 carloads. 



Mr. Kannenberg — It might be that 

 they like the bee-way section because 

 they started in with it and -hate to 

 change to the plain. It costs money to 

 change. 



Mr. Taylor — I want to have the Doc- 

 tor put another question. If a man is 

 producing thousands of pounds of comb 

 honey and has to handle it, that is one 

 thing. If he is producing 200 or 300 

 pounds, that is quite another. I want 

 you to ask these 3 gentlemen here who 

 have voted in favor of plain sections, 

 how much comb honey they handle. 



Dr. Miller— Will they kindly tell us. 



Mr. Thompson — A very small amount. 

 Perhaps 2 tons would be the most in 

 any one season. 



