162 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



for a time on quite an extensive scale. Per- 

 haps some of our readers can hunt up the 

 communication, or give us facts in regard 

 to hay by the ton, made from sweet clover, 

 aside from the statement of Prof. Tracy. 



BIOGEAPHICAL. 



JAMES HEDDON AS A BEE-KEEPER, EDITOR, IN- 

 VENTOR, AND POLITICIAN. 



In revising the A B C of Bee Culture we 

 found a number of wood engravings in the 

 biographical department, more or less im- 

 perfect, and we decided that we would have 

 all or nearly all of the subjects portrayed by 

 the beautiful half-tone process, which, as 

 our readers know by this time, is true to 

 nature with all its beauties and imperfec- 

 tions. A blemish on the features, or wrin- 

 kles which sometimes seem to creep on the 

 face rather sooner than they ought, are por- 

 trayed with all the accuracy that sunlight 

 and shade can eive. The wood engraving 

 of our friend and correspondent, Mr. James 

 Ileddon. was a fairly good one ; but the lat- 

 ter gentleman — or at least his family — did 

 not consider it natural. We accordingly 

 asked him to sit for another picture, which 

 he has done. The result we append below: 



.JAMES HEDDON. 



It is unnecessary here to give a biograph- 

 ical sketch of our Dowagiac friend, as one 

 has already been published in these col- 

 umns (see page 440, 1886), and an abbreviat- 

 ed sketch has stood through the last edition 

 of our ABC book ; but while I am about it, 

 I take pleasure in saying that Mr. 11. is not 

 only a prominent and successful bee-keeper, 

 but a man who occupies a prominent posi- 

 tion in his own city. He says he has always 



entertained somewhat of a detestation for 

 " politics." He has twice refused the nom- 

 ination for representative of his county, in 

 his State legislature, and once the nomina- 

 tion for senator from two counties, and sev- 

 eral times that of alderman in his own city. 

 In 1867 he ran for the office of mayor, with- 

 out the least possible show of election, as he 

 viewed it, and that, too, against a personal 

 friend, who was well liked by his fellow- 

 citizens. Mr. Ileddon was elected. In March, 

 1887, lie assumed the editorship of the Dow- 

 agiac Times, which paper he has conduct- 

 ed ever since successfully. Although a 

 Democrat, he believes in the principle of a 

 protective tariff ; but he does not think that 

 any line of manufactures needs it for any 

 great length of time. 



The article which we print in this pres- 

 ent issue — see page 165 — is quite charac- 

 teristic of friend Ileddon as a writer. He 

 has a happy vein of telling what he has to 

 say. and he also has an unusual faculty of 

 making every thing exceedingly plain and 

 easy to be understood. 



Mr. Ileddon is more conspicuous in the 

 bee-world as having invented a number of 

 bee-keeping appliances. He is the inventor 

 of the divisible brood-chamber. Whether 

 Mr. Ileddon was the first one to conceive 

 all its principles, I will not say. A num- 

 ber of its features are old, but they have 

 been combined, as he claims, into a new 

 invention. One of friend H.'s peculiarities 

 is that he is quite jealous of his inventions, 

 and is very particular that no one else shall 

 even hint that he (Mr. II.) does not enjoy 

 the exclusive priority. It were better some- 

 times, if he would exercise a little more 

 charity. I do not believe bee-keepers are 

 disposed to rob him of proper credit. Prom- 

 inent among his inventions is what is known 

 as the slat honey-board, which is now large- 

 ly in use. He has also made some important 

 improvements in shipping-crates. E. R. 



RHEUMATISM, AND THE CAUSE OF 

 ALL SUCH KINDRED DISEASES. 



BEE-STINGS OF DOUBTFUL BENEFIT, AS CONSIDER- 

 ED BY PIIOF. WEBSTER. 



I HAVE been noting the various articles on the 

 bee-sting as a remedy for rheumatism. The 

 thought has occurred to me that a few words on 

 the cause and nature of the disease in question 

 might assist in arriving at a correct conclusion, and 

 defining the value of the aforesaid remedy. The 

 disease of which we write presents itself in several 

 forms; viz., inflammatory, sciatic, articular, lum- 

 bago in the back, and gout; yet the cause is always 

 the same— the presence of effete matter in the 

 system, either uric acid or uric acid plus the soda 

 of the system— urate of soda. The use of rich stim- 

 ulating food, or excessive quantities of plainer 

 foods, has so burdened the excretory organs that 

 they are unable to do the work; and the next move 

 in the economy of nature is to deposit this foreign 

 matter where it will least affect the vital organs. 

 Hence the muscles and joints become inflamed 

 and diseased by these deposits, which must be ex- 

 pelled before any permanent cure maybe expected, 

 not only to get the acids out, but to prevent the 

 formation of more. 



