484 



CJLEAMNCJS IN JJEE CULTUIIE 



iuLY 



but I am expefting- every day as they grow 

 bigger some of tliem will get out aud be 

 found around among the old folks: and 

 then if one of the old folks should get in 

 among the children, what troulile they v'ould 

 make! Never mind; we are going to keep 

 trying. 



^ I ^ 



EEVERSIBLE FRAMES. 



FRIEND HEDDON'S REPORT .\FTER ITSING THEM A 

 SECOND SEASON. 



JN response to your request for reports regarding- 

 "reversible frames," I will say that we now 

 have about 3.50 colonies in two apiaries, with an 

 averag-e of about U frames per colony, as most 

 of them have two sets of eight each. Some- 

 thing over half of these 5000 frames are our style of 

 reversible frames, which have been described, and 

 I believe illustrated, in Gleanings, within the last 

 year. 



I have to report not only practical success in their 

 manipulation (the second year of their use), not on- 

 ly as far as gluing-, etc., is concerned, but the gen- 

 erally conceived advantages of reversing are more 

 than realized. The comfort of frames solid full of 

 comb, and that comb nearly solid full of brood, is 

 pleasing to the eye of the apiarist. I find the three- 

 fourths space between the lower half of the end of 

 the frame and the hive a great ii<lvantagc. A few 

 hives that were overlooked, and became clogged 

 with honey, crowding out the queen, hud to have 

 Iheir brood combs e.\tracted. Before replacing 

 them with the bees we reversed them, giving plen- 

 ty of surplus room above, and this reversing pi"e- 

 ventcd any further clogging- of the brood-frames. 

 1 am pleased beyond expectation, and never e.xpect 

 to use else but reversible frames for either comli or 

 extracted honey production. We are practicing 



MODERN THANSFERRINO 



with over .50 colonies, and it seems like changing 

 the railroad train for the ox-cart, to think of going 

 liack to the old method of transferring bees. 



OITR METHOD OF PREVENTING AFTER-SWARMS, 



as given on page 414, is working perfectly in several 

 places in our yard. I do not remember of a single 

 failure in my experience. 



Before closing, I wish to say a word in i-egard 

 to our 



HONEV MARIvETS. 



There will be many locations thronghout our 

 TTniled States, where not nearly enough honey will 

 be produced to supply the local deuumd. Many of 

 those who have become discouraged, and givtMi up, 

 will (now that the wintering problem is under con- 

 trol), soon go to bee-keeping again. It will be a 

 fatal mistake to allow the taste for honey to die out 

 in their locality. They should see to it that the 

 supply is e(|nal to the demand, by pui-ehasing honey 

 at wholesale and retailing it at such i)rices as will 

 l>ay them for the trouble, and can be aHorded l)y 

 the consumer. This is more paiticularly an im- 

 portant matter with e.xtraeled honey. It is not on- 

 ly important for tlie individual, but for the whole 

 fraternity. Keep \()\u- market always well sup- 

 plied. .Ia.mes Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., July tl, ISS.".. 



I am\eryglad indeed to hear that you 

 still like reversible frames.— In regard to 

 " modern transferring," 1 suppose many of 

 the readers, like myself, have forgotten just 



whiit you mean by this term. Will you 

 please iirielly describe it again, or refer us to 

 where your former description may be 

 foimdV ' If I recollect aright, it is in tising 

 frames tilled with foundation maitily, in 

 place of the old irregidar combs to be foimd 

 in most box hives.— 1 would emphasize most 

 strongly your concluding remarks. Every 

 bee-keeper should let it be known that hon- 

 ey can always be had by going to his resi- 

 dence ; and let packages of all sizes from 

 half a pound up be always in readiness to 

 pick up and take off at a moment's notice. 

 There is a steady demand for good honey, 

 and the demand is not very likely to de- 

 crease, providing the lioney can idways be 

 found by going after it. 



REPORT FROM ARKANSAS. 



MATvING A lU'ZZ-SAW TABLE OCT OF A GINST.\ND. 



S no reports have appeared in Gleanings 

 from this portion of the State, here are a few 

 .iottings. Bees wintered well. I do not 

 know ( f a single stock that has died. My 

 bees at fruit-blooming had from 10 to 25 lbs. 

 of honey. 1 transferred five stocks at the begin- 

 ning of fruit-bloom, and was compelled to take 

 most of their honej', on account of weight. We had 

 nearly one week of fine weather at this time, and 

 bees did finely; but cool cloudy weather set in, so 

 they could do but little, and lasted until fruit-bloom 

 was gone. 



Our next show was blackberries, and I am not 

 quite sure that they got any honey fi-om this; but 

 the weather still stayed cool up to the last three 

 days. I fed all I was able to, and yet my bees that 

 weie transfei-reil are still short of stores, as well as 

 my new swarms, of which 1 have had three more 

 than any one that I know of in this i)art of the 

 country. 



Our next show is pei'sinimon. It will soon be in 

 bloom. It yields more and better honey than any 

 thing in this country. Then comes in horsemint, 

 goldenrod, sumac, all of which yield honey. Then 

 comes in the Spanish needle and partridge pea. T 

 forgot to say, that we have but little white clover, 

 and its blooming is over. T have not seen a bee on 

 a head this spring. Our prospects are indeed 

 gloomj — luore so to one like me who has put his 

 all into the business. Bad health induced me to 

 hurry up my inclination to go into the business. 1 

 heard from friend W. D. Scott one week ago. He is 

 an enterprising apiarist of this county, but his bees 

 are doing badly for want of forage. We have 

 several men in this county who are extensively en- 

 gaged in the busiiu-ss; to wit, Scott, Clinton, Black- 

 well, Thomson, Hotillar, Pledges, and others; but 

 with what success, I do not know. 



I would say to my Southern fi-iends who eon- 

 template going into hive-making, if you can get a 

 Carver gin-stand, you have a saw-table made. Ke- 

 move the saws from the shaft, leave the pulley on 

 one end and the band wheel (that runs the brush) 

 on the other; yon will find a casting on the shaft 

 inside of saws that you can easily build a band 

 wheel on; bolt your cross-framing to cross-beam 

 of stand for your saws, and you have one of the 

 best saw-tables for horse or steam power in nnu-ket. 

 You have two band wheels on one shaft — one for 

 cut off, and the other for rip. I advanced my cut 



