1889 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



213 



can pay her is to point to the characters developed 

 in her sons. Although all three were in the milita- 

 ry service during the late war, they came out as 

 they went in, with spotless reputations, and abstain- 

 ers from the use of tobacco and strong drink. 



The captain bought his first swarm of bees when 

 twelve years old, with money earned for that pur- 

 pose. The thoroughgoing business methods of the 

 mature bee-keeper were foreshadowed in the care 

 taken in bringing home his first colony. The old 

 family horse is put before the large spring wagon, 

 and is driven by a member of the family. For the 

 additional comfort and security of the swarm, the 

 hive is suspended in a sheet, the ends of which are 

 tied over a springing pole, while the ends of the 

 pole rest on the shoulders of the two older brothers, 

 who are seated on boards across the wagon-box, 

 facing each other. This extra care seemed neces- 

 sary for the^warm that was destiued to contribute 

 so much toward bringing apiculture from the dai - k- 



he discovered that, while warmer for awhile, this 

 double wall did not allow the sun to drive out the 

 moisture, and the hive soon became damp, and con- 

 sequently cold. He made six hundred of these, and 

 I think they are as perfect mechanically as hives 

 can be made. Not finding the double wall satisfac- 

 tory he next put his bees into straw hives, a part of 

 which were adapted to the Quinby size of the Lang- 

 stroth frame. This was about the time of the com- 

 mencement of the civil war. These box straw hives 

 were excellent for winter and spring, and well 

 suited to the requirements of the bees at other 

 times. They were not of the usual straw-hive 

 shape, but had flat tops, and were well adapted to 

 boxing. They cost nearly two dollars apiece, and 

 at one time he had about 1400 of them. With the 

 immovable-comb straw hive he adopted a system of 

 artificial swarming that was so successful that he 

 often had not a single natural swarm from an en- 

 tire apiary. Previous to this he had in use swarm- 



CAPT. HETHERINGTON'S HOME, WITH LAST LOAD OF 32 COLONIES IN THE BACKGROUND. 



ness of superstition into the full light of modei-n 

 science. In contrast to this first load we present a 

 picture of the last load of bees, driven by James, 

 the eldest brother. On the one side is seen the 

 captain's residence, while upon the other side is a 

 honey house and shop, with the barn in the rear. 

 At the back of the well-kept lawn are two observa- 

 tory hives, not shown in the engraving. We 

 endeavored to get in a view of the bee-3 7 ard, but it 

 was not possible, for at this time of the year, it is 

 several acres in extent. 



The boy bee keeper had good success, and withiu 

 five years he had marketed honey by the ton, and 

 had secured an average of nearly sixty pounds of 

 honey in glass boxes from his entire apiary. He 

 was a close observer, and quick to adopt improve- 

 ments. Before he had been in the business half a 

 dozen years he had perfected a double-walled hive 

 with chamber of confined air between, and had ap- 

 plied for a patent on the same, On thorough trial 



catchers for issuing swarms. These were placed 

 before the old colonies, and held the clustered 

 swarms until the apiarist could get around to hive 

 them. It would be an item of interest in apicultur- 

 al history to have some of these early hives and ap- 

 pliances illustrated. After a trial of the movable 

 frame, the captain found that he could not do with- 

 out it; but in his trial he made the important dis- 

 covery that the straw hives with the Langstroth 

 frames did not winter nearly as well as did the oth- 

 ers whose combs were built against the sides of the 

 hive, leaving no spaces at the end of the combs. He 

 therefore adopted the newly invented Quinby hive, 

 with closed-end frames. After an experience of 

 years with open and closed end frames he decidedly 

 prefers the latter. No new invention enters the 

 apicultural world but that the captain notices it; 

 and, if valuable, he adopts it. The honey-extractor 

 was his as soon as it crossed the ocean, and he has 

 used it ever since, believing it to be one of the 



