206 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



BEE-FOOD IN WINTER. 



THE BEST OF THEORIES MUST VAMOOSE BEFORE| 

 CONTRA FACTS. 



"HEN I answered Question 97, in Gleanings,! 

 1 did so from my experience in bee culture 

 for the past twenty years. I, also, have 

 some theories and a slight knowledge of 

 chemistry as connected with apiculture; 

 but the latter are not great enough to cause me to 

 rely upon them when my practice with large apia- 

 ries teaches me differently; but it happens that my 

 theories regarding transpiration, ventilation, and 

 the component parts of winter food, precisely agree 

 with my experience, nearly all of which ground you 

 have been over in your experience, as indicated in 

 your foot-notes to Bro. Corneil's article on page 172. 

 I love theory; still 1 am aware that there is both 

 true and false theory. 1 strongly incline toward 

 those minds which take to theorizing, and who 

 study and love science; and lvalue Mr. Corneil's 

 scientific articles, but I know positively that, in the 

 depths of his research, his lantern has gone out, 

 and he thinks he feels something that doesn't exist. 

 I know that bees can and do and did continue to 

 digest syrup without the least particle of pollen 

 in the hive. Practically I know nothing of the 

 component parts of sugar, only so far as T believe 

 the statements of chemists, and especially of our 

 friend Professor Cook. I believe that I never said 

 that my bees starved on sugar syrup. I said that 

 they froze to death during the longest and severest 

 cold spell 1 ever witnessed. Bees kept upon natu- 

 ral stores did the same; but I did bring through 73 

 colonies upon sugar syrup, and in perfect condi- 

 tion. There were very few dead bees, and not the 

 least sign of the old malady we have called bee- 

 diarrhea or bee-dysentery, so that, when they had 

 their first flight on the 17th of April, warm and 

 pleasant, and the outside bees were gathering pol- 

 len, not a bee of the 73 colonies voided any thing, 

 not even water. Their bodies were just as slim as 

 when placed in winter quarters. I call that perfect 

 wintering, as they were confined in the cellar 151 

 days with absolutely no food in the hive except 

 strictly pure granulated-sugar syrup acidized with 

 tartaric acid. I honor Mr. Corneil for his careful 

 research, but I know that he will be compelled to 

 search again. 



DOVETAILED HIVES. 



When I see something in Gleanings relative to 

 mechanical construction of hives I am at once in- 

 terested; for, more than all other branches of api- 

 culture, have I made this a study, and with it have 

 I experimented. While William Stolley, of Grand 

 Island, Neb., was my foreman I devised this same 

 honey-board with the full bee-space on either side, 

 and he assisted me in making it; or perhaps I am 

 mistaken, and it was W. H. Shirley, of Mill Grove, 

 Allegan County, Mich., who helped me make some 

 of them at our mill, one or two samples of which 

 still hang in my shop. The brood-frames to use in 

 that case were to come flush with the top of the 

 hive, of course, the bee-space being in the honey- 

 board. It has never gone into general use with us, 

 and I think it never would, even were we to con- 

 tinue using the old Langstroth hive and suspended 

 frame. Now, the dovetailing arrangement, you may 

 well imagine, was talked over much by us, believ- 

 ing as we did that it would be the best way with 

 which to make our shallow cases, which with the 



[new hive you know I use in the brood-chambers the 

 isame as in the surplus cases, and we came near 

 [getting machinery to make them in that way, but 

 [did not do so. T believe it is a move in the right 

 [direction; and with your shop-room, power, fine 

 machinery, and large trade, I believe it is practical 

 and best to adopt dovetailing for hives, supers, etc. 

 No. I do not favor discarding the bee-space at the 

 top of the L. hive, nor do I believe the section-hold- 

 ers illustrated on page 189 will come into general 

 use. I will not occupy your valuable space at pres- 

 ent by telling why; but you make one of my points 

 when you say that honey is cheap, and we must 

 have simple and cheap implements. Where no sep- 

 arators are to be used, I believe nothing is better 

 than my old-style case, but I would advise making 

 it with dovetailed corners, and grooves in the sides 

 for divisions. Certainly you are privileged to not 

 only use but manufacture for sale my break-joint 

 and bee-space honey-board, when used either with 

 or without queen-excluding metal, or, for that mat- 

 ter, any of the parts connected with my modifica- 

 tion of the Langstroth hive; and, more than that, 1 

 wish to thank you for your manly method of giving 

 credit to whom you believe it belongs. Of course, 

 you have not forgotten how almost alone I pleaded 

 for the honey-board; but a writer in the Canadian 

 Honey-Producer seems to have forgotten that al- 

 most alone I also pleaded for the tiering-up system 

 long before he ever uttered a word about it, as the 

 records show, and no doubt before he had any con- 

 ception of its usefulness. It is tedious, to say the 

 least, to plead for certain manufactures and sys- 

 tems of manipulations for years, opposed and al- 

 most alone, and, after succeeding in popularizing 

 it, to have some one come up, like a Jack out of a 

 box, and lay claim to the results of your labors; 

 but we must learn to bear and forbear. 

 Dowagiac, Mich., Mar. 5, 1889. James Heddon. 



You will see, by referring to department 

 of " Recent Developments,' 1 elsewhere, that 

 we have decided to put the bee-space above 

 the frames instead of below, and, of course, 

 use a one-bee-space honey -board. 



ANOTHER HEXAGONAL APIARY. 



SESPE APIARY, FILLMORE, CAL. 



T DID not think to tell you about my hexagonal 

 |jf apiary when you were here, so I send you a 

 W plan of it now. The little round spots are 



"*• stones about as large as a man's head, 8 in a 

 pile. They answer a double purpose. They 

 are put on the hives in the winter to keep the cov- 

 ers from blowing off, and when a hive has a virgin 

 queen one of them is put near the entrance to mark 

 the hive until she is laying. The hives all face those 

 stone piles, and the honey-carts are run up through 

 the other hexagons between the backs of the hives. 

 Those other marks between the stones are nucleus 

 hives. The advantages of this arrangement of the 

 hives are, that the bees do not work to the out ends 

 of the rows, and become weak in the center as they 

 do when the rows are straight, and queens are sel- 

 dom lost on their wedding-trip. The only disadvan- 

 tage I know of is the difficulty in getting the honey- 

 cart to stand close and at right angles to the inner 

 hives when taking out honey. The land slopes 

 south to the honey-house; hives face east and west, 



