i8 



ADVANCED BCE-CULTURE. 



one that enables the bee-keeper to handle 

 a "honey shower" with perfect ease; 

 "rattling" the sections on and off the 

 hives in a rapid, business-like way. It is 

 true that "tiering up" has been condemn- 

 ed, but principally upon the ground that 

 the inability to easily and readily con- 

 tract the surplus apartment to less than a 

 whole case, results in a larger number of 

 unfinished sections at the end of the sea- 

 son. If this practice enables us to care 

 for more bees, and it certainly does, and 

 we thereby secure more finished honey in 

 the aggregate, why grumble, at the un- 

 finished work thrown in ? 



For making sections, basswood is 

 probably used to a greater extent than 

 any other wood. It is the whitest readi- 

 ly obtainable in all parts of the country, 

 while it possesses the elasticity needed 

 in the one-piece sections. Its faults are 

 that it shrinks and swells badly, becomes 

 mildewed and discolored very easily, 

 and any honey dropped upon it soaks in 

 and leaves a stain. White poplar is the 

 best wood for sections. It is whiter than 

 basswood, very hard, does not shrink or 

 swell readily and is not s.tained by con- 

 tact with honey, or easil}' soiled by hand- 

 ling; but it lacks the elasticity necessary 

 in one-piece sections. There are no 

 handsomer nor better sections than the 

 four-piece white poplar; and the only 

 valid objection that can be brought 

 against them are that they cost more and 

 that more time is required in putting 

 them together. I am aware that I have 

 been pleading for time saving fixtures, 

 but there must be a distinction made be- 

 tween the hurry and bustle of swarming 

 time and the leisure of a winter's evening; 

 or between the time of an experienced 

 apiarist and that of some boy or girl who 

 can put together sections. The objec- 

 tions to the one-piece sections are that 

 they cannot be made of the most desir- 

 able wood, that, as usually made, they do 

 not remain "square" when folded, and 

 that they are made with "naughty" cor- 

 ners that sometimes gouge into the hon- 

 ey when crating it or removing it from 



the crate. When separators are used the 

 latter objection is removed. The reason 

 why the so-called "naughty" corner is 

 always found upon the one-piece sections. 



OI^D STYI<E, HEDDON CASE. 



is because if the opening is cut clear 

 through to the side pieces, the small film 

 of wood left to hold top and side bar to- 

 gether is more likely to break. When 

 the openings extend clear across, as with 

 the four-piece sections, the combs are 

 more completely built out and attached 

 to the top and bottom bars. The top and 

 bottom bars of sections ought to be }i of 

 an inch narrower than the side bars. 

 Usually they are made too wide, leaving 

 too narrow openings between them. To 

 sum up the whole matter of sections, the 



A T SUPER, 

 one-piece, although possessing some 

 faults, is cheaper and can be put together 

 quicker than the four-piece, which costs 

 more but \s faultless. My preference is 

 decidedly the four-piece. 



*This cut does not perfectly represent the 

 Heddon case. It shows the sections ilush with 

 the top of the case, when they ought to be 

 shown "bee space'* below, as 'n the cut of the T 

 super A handle ought also to be shown on the 

 side. In the cut of the Heddon hive on page 13, 

 two cases filled with wide frames are Bhown 

 above the hive. 



