154 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mau. 



tem, the sections are placed in wide frames, and 

 the propolis is placed where the edges of the sec- 

 tions come in contact with each other and with the 

 wide frames. I think that, in a majority of locali- 

 ties, bees do not i)ropolize smooth surfaces unless 

 they are nearly or quite in contact. 



J. W. Harkness, pag-e 128, admits that an 8-frame 

 hive is preferable to a 10-frame one, but objects to 

 a change, on the ground of cost. Bee-keeping is 

 making rapid strides, and changes arc necessary; 

 but let no one change until he is satisfied that it is 

 best for him to do so. I changed both hives and 

 frames when I had 100 hives, and have been thank- 

 ful ever since; but it does not follow that cveryhody 

 must make the same change. 



\V. Z. HUTtlTIX.SON, OS-04. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 

 Thanks, friend II.. for the additional light 

 you throw on many points of the Ileddon 

 "fixtures and system. As soon as you men- 

 tioned it I did remember tliat Prof. Cook 

 made the remark that his cases were not 

 made right, but it did not occur to me tliat this 

 fault in tlie make was the cause of tlie pro- 

 polis and bits of comb on the sections. You 

 say none of your covers have been blown off; 

 but perhaps there has nothing happened in 

 your vicinity to " raise a breeze/" since vou 

 adopted the'lleddon system, friend II. The 

 system itself seems to be raising something 

 of a'' breeze " just now. any way; but 1 lioi)e 

 nothing but goodwill V)e the "result of tlie 

 "blow."" 



HIVE-COVEKS, ETC. 



A " REVF.nSini<E " COVER, AS WEM> AS REVEHSI- 

 BI-E FRAMES. 



row, Bro. Root, it is quite according to human 

 nature that this odd-looking cover of mine 

 should fail to suit you. You nowhere men- 

 tion that it is reversible. I have used it foi- 

 four or five years. The cut that did not show 

 it, was a very old one. The cover I sent you was a 

 cull, one in a hundred. I wrote so, I think, when I 

 shipped. I was unexpectedly bought out faster 

 than I could get them painted ahead. This style of 

 cleating (see cut on page 121) not only serves to give 

 us a strong well-stayed cover, but a reversible cover 

 that always has a projection of ^^ inch ahnve, so 

 that when the shade-board is laid on, this evor-pre.s- 

 cnt space cuts off direct communication of heat. 

 There is no system of shading that suits me as well 

 as this adjustable shade-board. Now, if these 

 covers should " wind," or twist, a chip laid on one 

 of the high corners would touch the shade-board, 

 and its weight would take the " wind" out of the 

 cover at once. I think you will believe us, when 

 we tell you that this warping or winding matter gives 

 us no trouble at all. Now, I don't like the Simi)lic- 

 ity style of cover, for I am greatly opposed to the 

 use of any kind of a cloth for summer; and a tele- 

 scoping cover, !. c, one that has any notches or 

 ledges or rabbets to fit down into any thing, are not 

 fit to cover up bees with. I have no objection to 

 them for an outer or second cover, but I want but 

 one cover to my hives, and then a shade-board to 

 I)ut on or take off, as the heat of the season indi- 

 cates. I think this a grand style of cover; but as 

 soon as it becomes popular, won't there be some 

 one to come forward and claim that it is old'/ 



THE SIXK IIONEV-BOARD. 



The honey-board is objected to bj- J. W. Porter, 

 on page 124. Bro. Porter all the time talks of the 

 bungling, obstructive honey-boards of old. I want 

 him to just try the sink skeleton board, an accurate 

 cut of which appeared on page 121. If he does, T 

 feel sure he will never discard it. Nearly every 

 year, for three seasons past, the demand for these 

 boards has so increased, and that, too, so much 

 beyond my expectations, that I have found myself 

 short, and had to rob my own apiary, and in this 

 way 1 have had about half of my colonies with and 

 half without the honey-boards. I have enjoined 

 my students to keep close watch, and see if the 

 boards were any detriment to the ready acceptation 

 of the sections. Every time the word comes, "A'o^ 

 at all." The question of the " bees readily entering 

 the surplus department " now sounds like an echo 

 of the more ignorant ])ast. I would not use a 

 system one, moment that in the least retarded the 

 bees from going to work in the surplus department, 

 as soon as there was any outside condition to make 

 such work possihlc. Just here, honey comes so fast 

 from clover and basswood, that no removal of parts 

 of cases or sections is practical. It is best to 

 remove the sur|)lus, l)y cases. Not all localities are 

 like this one, perhaps. Honey-boards were discard- 

 ed because they were not properly constructed. 

 They are now again recommended, because they 

 are now made in a practical manner. If Mr. 

 Kretchmer invented my honey-board years ago, 

 why did it die'? AVas it in practical shape"? I never 

 heard of it. In what place can I find a cut or de- 

 scri)>tion of it, that is also old':' Was it a sink honey- 

 board'? that is, was there a bee-space in the honey- 

 board itself? Won't this turn out like the Moore 

 rack? Honorarily, the right belongs to the one who 

 puts a device forward, thus benefiting tiie fra- 

 ternity. 



HOWES' REVERSIBLE FItAME. .\XD MORAL PATENTS. 



Now, Bro. Howes thinks I am an infringer upon 

 one principle in his reversible frame. Well, per- 

 haps I am. If bee-keepers so decide I will step 

 dosvn and out, and my frame may lie dead till Bro. 

 Howes and his adherents find out that my inven- 

 tions in my frames put his i)rinciple in much better 

 shape than he has it, when he can come and com- 

 promise with me; for in that case neither one could 

 make my style of frame. It needs no patent, so far 

 ax I am conecnied; no costs. I can abide by the de- 

 cision of an unpaid as well as by a paid judge or 

 jury. I advise Bro. Howes not to patent his device, 



1. Because it is not worth a patent. 



2. Some other device, patented or unpatented, 

 will come up and kill his device, and the money he 

 spent in patenting. 



3. It will be shown that the hinge principle is 

 older with another than with Mr. Howes. 



Now, if my third statement prove correct, ISIr. 

 Howes would have no advantage from his patent. 

 But should it prove incorrect, he will have the ad- 

 vantage of the; moral sense of the honest men of our 

 brotherhood, and I will do all I can to defend him in 

 his right to that hinge, as he icc7.s' thefirst to make it 

 puhlie, and Imnnrarihi it in his. 



Now, brother bee-keepers, do I infringe? If so, 

 say so, and I will abide by your decision. Bro. 

 Howes shall be treated by me as I wish to be 

 treated by him and all others. I tell you, I have 

 little faith in trying to annul one's inventions by 

 rooting lu' some old dead fixture that shows the 



