582 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



FKIEND FARIS AND HIS INVENTION. 



WiJLL yon please give nr* a little spies In 

 Gi,r*nimc3>* to reply to Mr Chas. S. Larkin? 

 fn the first pi ice, t deny copying nny part 

 of Oliver Foster' * plates. Now for the pro if. 



This is to e«rtifv, th >t f biuffht of John Faris a 

 o*j«- to -y Simplicity oep-hivo, with ten frames, with 

 f.iii.id tti .n in s.une, in Juuo, IS 9. 



J IKN W. HCVINQER. 



Town-H >use. Smyth rv>., Va. 



Th'si* tn certify, th it Mr. .1 .hn Fi-is exhibited to 

 m>' 't iiff -re it tim ss i i th» ve ir 1873 o'ti i foiind i- 

 ti i i with prettv fiirimivossi 'tis I used a »rno of it 

 in th • L in fStroth frames, fun length, which c tused 

 the bei-s to build straight c ■mb. 



H. G. Hkninger. 



Town-House. Smyth Co., Va. 



No*, this proves, beyond a doubt, that I did make 

 fdn in 1879. 



In June, 1879, I mode a pair of plate', L. size; 

 made some fdn, hut it was a little rouurh, on ac- 

 count of lit t lo wind or bubble holes in iht plates; 

 but I remedied thit by making the comb perfooilv 

 wet, and t'e plaster very thin, f wrote to Mr. Root 

 concerning mv plates and experiment, but it never 

 appeared in Glhanings. That was ab ut June or 

 July, 1879. I wrote to Mr. Ro t about the first of 

 th*s month, if he will be pleased to hunt up that 

 letter. He replies, that he ctn n-it find any such 

 correspondence. I suppose that he has" got it mis- 

 laid; but be ihat as it may, I experimented and 

 gleaned on. Riuht here I want to say, I got a good 

 idea from Dr Hirris"n, or rather from a descrip- 

 tion of his machine, by Mr. R 'Of, on page 239, June 

 No , 1879. Mr Hoot describes it as heinir like a book; 

 then, you know, I made a pair of frames, and just 

 hinged them together like a book -back; then all I 

 had to do was to get two pi ates that would fit per- 

 fect lv together. That cost me a good deal of time 

 and money to bring it to perfection. I would knock 

 out and refit, until 1 had the yard pretty white with 

 fragments. I get my plaster from the bank raw, so 

 I had to burn and prepare tt for use before I could 

 use it. Well, the next thing was something to dip 

 my plates in; and so I went to woik on a box. I 

 brought that to perfection, as I thought; then I pre- 

 pared some wax, dipped my plates in the wax, 

 cooled them, and pulled them open. About one- 

 half of the sheet was on one plate, and the other 

 half on the other plate. None came off. Then I re- 

 membered some bee-keeper said, pour hot water on 

 the plates. Well, that was all right. Then I got a 

 lit'le starch, and it peeled So, you see I had about 

 completed my plates before Mr. Foster's article ap- 

 peared in the March No , 1880. I did try one of Mr. 

 Foster's id*as, and that was slapping the plates to- 

 gether hard. That spoils the impressions of the fdu., 

 and so ! dropped that. 



I think Mr. Larkin has been very unkind in accus- 

 ing me of copying Mr. Foster's machine. Not 

 knowing the facts, I hope he will make some apolo- 

 gy for so doing. I attribute my idea of dipping to 

 my success, which I believe nobody claims. If you 

 will look on page 109, March No., you will see that 

 Mr. F. dinped his pi ites several times before closing 

 them. He dips his plates straight down; I dip level. 

 I never tried his plan of dipping. Mr. Root says, in 

 his ansver to Mr. F.'s letter, he has tried his plan, 

 and was elad to go hack to the rolls again. 



Oh! by the way, when I spoke of" Dr. Harrison's 

 miehine, f meant the editor of the American Bcc- 

 Kz per, of Lebanon, Mo. John Faius. 



Chilhowlc, Smyth Co., Va., Oct. 20, 1880. 



Tf, as you stand before Gorl awl your fel- 

 low-men, friend P., vou feel that you have 

 done risMit by our silent friend, Oliver Fos- 

 ter, I presume it will be best that we all let 

 it drop. The credit of the book idea does, 

 I believe, belon? to friend Harrison, for I 

 never heard of it until he advanced it, al- 

 though it seems he never succeeded in mak- 

 ing full-sized sheets with a scood cell- wall on 

 each side. Shall we not cultivate a spirit of 

 striving to o-'ive others the credit due them, 

 while we pleasantly let it drop, even if they 

 should forget to remember us in the same 

 wavV " He that loseth his life for my sake, 

 shall find it." 



IMPORTANOK OF PRF.PAHING 

 FOK WINTEK UAKLY. 



BEES 



DAMAQE OFTEN DOME BY EARLY FH0ST3. 



IRJRTEND KOOT:-I believe I will give you a little 

 of the experience we have had throuah here 

 with the cold winds this fall. Two weeks ago 

 to-day it blew the hardest I have ever known for a 

 steady gale. It blew a great many wind-wheels to 

 pieces, now and then a chimney off, stacks, etc.; 

 also a bee-hive cover now and then. Then it was 

 pretty cold for three or four days. Well, the conse- 

 quence was, that the bees were canght in small 

 clusters all over the hives on the outside combs, and 

 chilled. It seems as if there was a good double- 

 handful brought out, and I don't suppose they are 

 all cleaned out yet. Many of them that were brought 

 out did not seem to be dead; hut I suppose the sua 

 shining on them revived them; but they were too 

 neat ly starved and weak to get back into the hive 

 again. 



I was at friend Oat man's last Saturday for two or 

 thr<e hours. They were packing their bees in chaff 

 boxes, and will pack the most of them. Some of them 

 they will put four in a place, back to back; will put 

 some shallow frames in the cellar. I think he said 

 that he never saw so many bees killed off in this way 

 before. His hives looked just about like mine— dead 

 bees piled out in front. They have no surplus honey 

 this season. They have about 300 colonies. 



Yesterday I was at friend C. H. Stordock's, north- 

 west from here about fifteen miles. He also thinks 

 his bees are weakened a great deal from the chilling 

 wind, and he said they would have to go into winter 

 quarters soon if it became cold. He thinks another 

 fall ho will try to have all his bees contracted on 

 five or six combs, about the last of September. That 

 is just about my idea of it. I think if our bees had 

 been crowded on just what comb they would cover, 

 there would not have been so great a loss as there 

 has been. I don't suppose yourebaff hives have such 

 a report as this to give, havethey? Friend Stordock 

 got a good crop of basswood honey this year. His 

 bees got in about 12 days' work— about the best he 

 ever had. 



Friend Hodgkins, of Shirland, has had a cider-mill 

 about 25 rods from bis bees, and when they bad a 

 chance they patronized it freely. He kept them 

 shut in part of the tirno. but he says it killed off a 

 great many of them. He would find lots of them ly- 

 ing outside, looking just as if they were ready to 

 burst open. I was at the mill one day, and the pom- 

 ace was covered thick, and they would shovel bees 

 and all into the cheese. It must be bee-juice and 

 cider together. V. W. Kkeny. 



Shirland, 111., Oct 30, 1880. 



