84 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTVllE. 



Feb. 



cutting dowu expenses, and cutting off lux- 

 uries, than they are. as a rule, where they 

 have money so plentiful that tliey can pur- 

 chase almost every thing they think they 

 need. Friend B. sent with the photograph 

 the following brief letter : 



1 send you a photosrraph of iny lioim- apiary and 

 queen-yard. 1 -should be pleased to see an engrav- 

 ing of it in Gi.e.\nings. Eight years ago, Mhen I 

 first became acquainted with your journal, I never 

 thought that I should have an apiary that would be 

 shown in Gi,k.4SINg.s; and if you will have an en- 

 graving made of the photograph, I will send you 

 !f.>,00 per year untill the engraving is paid for. 



Gallupville, \. Y. F. Boo.mhowku. 



J have allowed the concluding clause to go 

 in print, because some of the friends have 

 felt hurt when 1 told them I could not afford 

 the cxi^ensc of engraving their many api- 

 aries, and that the few we did engrave inust 

 show sucli marked advantages tliat it would 

 be profitable to our readers. Tlie above pic- 

 ture cost an even .^40.00 for the woodcut 

 alone, and we w ill have as many engraved as 

 you choose, if you will pay the expense of 

 the engraving, as friend B. 'has done. The 

 picture is to be your property after it has 

 once appeared in Gleanings. 



HEDDON'S LANGSTROTH HIVE. 



A.M) S().MKTlIIN(i .ABOUT HKI>IJ<)N'.< SYSTE.M OF 

 .M.\NAOEMEXT. 



iEGAKDIN(; thehive I have just sent you, T 

 will give you most of the points that T claim 

 as original preferences, devices, and inven- 

 tions of my own. I prefer no wider space 

 than 11' 2 inches, for 8 frames. I i)refer to 

 have the ends of the brood-chamber thicker than the 

 sides that are nailed to them, and both ends and 

 sides thicker than the bottom that is nailed to them. 

 1 pi'cfer a cover never more than 'b. T much prefer 

 to have the capacity of my hives not to contain 

 over 8 L. frames. I would use no other than a light 

 readily movable hive. 



1 find no gain in having a slanting alighting-board 

 for the bees. 1 prefer thick end-bars and top-bars 

 for my frames. I prefer a V top-bar, where no 

 wires and only foundation starters are used in the 

 frames. 



My inventions consist first, of the reversible bot- 

 tom-stand, so constructed as to take the bottom- 

 board cleat, and let under no bees in front, and give 

 earth ventilation behind, and being perfectly sim- 

 ple and cheap. 



Second, the manner of cleating the liottom-board, 

 as combined with the stand. (In moving hives we 

 never have to move the stands.) 



Third, the sink skeleton honey-lxmrd, so con- 

 structed as to form a bee-space above and below its 

 slats; its slats so arranged as to exactly break 

 joints with the top-bars of the brood-frames, thus 

 preventing the attachment of bits of comb, and at 

 the same time giving most perfect freedom to the 

 passage of the "heat and odor" of the hive, and 

 consequently the workers. 



This honey-board is most easily adjusted or re- 

 moved ; at the same time as perfectly allowing the 

 same easy adjustment or removal of any surplus 

 receptacle resting upon it. It has a strong tenden- 

 cy to keep the queen below it— so much so that 



queen-excluding honej'-boards are of no use to me 

 in my system of comb-honey production. It is so 

 constructed as to be at once adapted to hives not 

 designed for it, and to leave the hive perfectly bee- 

 spaced, should one not have enough of them, and 

 have to use the hive without it, as I have had to do 

 with a part of mine several seasons. I consider 

 this honey-board almost an actual necessity be- 

 tween stories of combs, when running for extracted 

 honey. I think it my greatest invention. I have 

 never found an objection to it. 



Xe.vt comes my surplus case, which just now 

 seems to be much liked by all practitioners, and 

 which 1 think the best arrangement yet in use, for 

 the production of comb honey without separators. 

 I think, however, that some who are now using 

 them will be forced to add separators to them, or 

 abandon them for some style of super that uses 

 separators. Not all bee-keepers can succeed satis- 

 factorily without separators. 



1 ha\e thoroughly tested metal rabbets, both with 

 and williout metal corners, and I do not like either. 

 I used 25 hives containing them, for tour years. I 

 made my flrM metal rabbets (one hive, no corners) 

 lu 1871, after the direction of Mr. It. C. Otis, who 

 visited me with sample, and owned the Langstroth 

 patent for this and other States. 



1 call this hive " Heddon's Langstroth hive," for it 

 is an L. hive with my modifications, and it is much 

 modified. I consider Mr. Laugstroth's bee-space 

 above the brood-frames, as his greatest invention. 

 Hy the reading of the specifications of his patent, I 

 infer that he does also. 



T have uo patent on any claim of my hive. It seems 

 to me there is as much there to patent as in any 

 other hive that has been patented since Mr. Laug- 

 stroth's. I never thought of a i)atent till I found 

 there were men contemptible enough to wait till I 

 had invented, and still longer till I had introduced, 

 and then advertise "Heddon's hive," cutting the 

 price a little, and the quality, and quantity of trim- 

 mings a great deal, giving no more material for the 

 money than I did, and no valuable principles at all, 

 except as they thus gave what rightfully belonged 

 to another. 



Now, your course of paying a reward for merito- 

 rious inventions, either that you might manufac- 

 ture or might be placed in the hands of your read- 

 ers, I feel sure has benefited the growth of our 

 science and the subscriiition list to Gle.aninos. It 

 was a just and wise act. 



I know now of a bee-keeiicr who is using fixtures 

 and methods that I know of (and I can not guess 

 how many that I do not know of), that the bee-keep- 

 ers of the world would be glad of. I asked him to 

 write for our bee-papers, and tell all of his best 

 thoughts. His reply Avas, "They would benefit the 

 unjust as well as the just; the undeserving as well 

 as the deserving. They would be used in direct 

 comi)etition with me; and the way of the business 

 world is to protect one's own interests." I should 

 never desiie a patent to prohibit any user from 

 making for his own use; but after my recent expe- 

 rience I see the wisdom and justice of the exclu- 

 sive-right system, as adopted by every civilized na- 

 tion; and should I, in time to come, again invent 

 any thing I think worthy of protection, I shall seek 

 such protection of rightful pay for labor expended. 

 While I appreciate your exclamation on page 620, 

 1884, as well as the many manly inquiries I have 

 had, asking if I gave my honorary consent to make 



