216 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



this : " If practice and theory should give 

 different results, I would stick to practice." 

 What I meant by it was. that I should at 

 once conclude that science (?) was making a 

 mistake. 1 know that all of us are often too 

 hasty in drawing conclusions, but I believe 

 that I entirely agree with all you have said 

 in the above. 



We are glad you like the Dovetailed hive. 

 As to the cover of the Dovetailed hive, it 

 can not warp, because the ends are driven 

 into longitudinal grooves of the end cleats, 

 which for additional security are nailed. 

 That there may be a twist or wind to such a 

 cover is possible but usually not probable, 

 we think. It should, of course, be kept 

 painted. This cover is similar to the one used 

 by Mr. Heddon, Dr. Miller, and other ex- 

 tensive bee-keepers. If we are correct these 

 gentlemen like them better than any other 

 kind. 



AMERICAN AND SWISS FEEDERS. 



KEEPING DIFFERENT KINDS OF 

 HONEY SEPARATE 



"When Extracting at the Close of the Honey- 

 Flow. 



DADANT & SON GIVE US SOME IMPORTANT FACTS 

 IN THE MATTEK. 



fRIEND ROOT:— On page 126 you ask us our ex- 

 perience concerning harvesting the different 

 grades of honey separately. We wish to say, 

 that we have never tried to leave the entire 

 honey crop on the hives from May till Octo- 

 ber, but that we do harvest each crop separately. 

 We will ask you to quote from page 436 of the Re- 

 vised Langstroth: "Some apiarists extract the 

 honey as fast as it is harvested by the bees, and aft- 

 erward ripen it artificially by exposing it to heat in 

 open vessels. We do not like this method, aod pre- 

 fer to extract the whole crop at once. It is much 

 more economical, for, with -pur system, one skilled 

 man attends to as many as five or six apiaries dur- 

 ing the honey crop, and extracts at leisure after- 

 ward, with almost any kind of cheap help. Since 

 honey has now to compete in price with the cheap- 

 est of sweets, the question of economical produc- 

 tion is not to be disregarded." Now turn to page 

 444 of the same book. " In localities where there are 

 two distinct honey-crops, each crop should be har- 

 vested separately. Thus we always extract the 

 June crop in July, and the fall crop in September." 

 We will add that we never have any mixture, ex- 

 cept that of clover with basswood (the basswood 

 crop being of no account here), or the mixture of 

 different fall flowers that bloom at the same time. 

 We will say, also, that we And differences at the 

 same date, in the honey of apiaries four or five 

 miles apart, owing to the greater abundance of one 

 certain kind of blossom in each apiary. Thus we 

 have different grades of honey at one time; and 

 the honey of one barrel can not be taken as a speci- 

 men of the honey of another barrel harvested at 

 the same date in a different apiary. The date of 

 granulation also differs, probably owing to the 

 greater or lesser density of the honey. We are not 

 the only ones who have noted this, for Mr. J. M. 

 Hambaugh, of Spring, 111., has had a similar experi- 

 ence in different apiaries which he conducts ac- 

 cording to our methods. Chas. Dadant & Son. 

 Hamilton, Hancock Co., 111. 



THE MILLEK-WAKNER FEEDER NOT NEW. 



f^IIE following article we copy from the 

 w" November number, page 215, of the 

 £ Revue Internationale cT Apiculture 

 (French i. The translation, by W. P. 

 Root, is as follows: 

 Similar needs arising in different countries gives 

 birth to the same ideas and inventions, without the 

 inventors having necessarily copied from each oth- 

 er. Such is frequently the case in apiculture, the 

 best instance of which we can cite being the mova- 

 ble-frame hive which Langstroth invented in Amer- 

 ica, while, but a short time after, Berlepsch, in Eu- 

 rope, transformed the single-barred hives of Dzier- 

 zon and of his predecessors, completing the framing 

 of the combs by suspending them, as in the Lang- 

 stroth model.* The same matter comes up to-day 

 in regard to utensils of far less importance. 



After describing and illustrating the Mil- 

 ler-Warner feeder, already given in our col- 

 umns, the editor, Mr. Bertrand, says : 



Now, several years ago there was used in Switzer- 

 land a large feeder, invented and manufactured by 

 P. von Siebenthal, in Aigle. It is constructed on 

 the same principle as the American feeder, and does 

 not differ materially. The two troughs are of sheet 

 iron, varnished, and surrounded with wood on three 

 exterior sides. The fourth side is slanting instead 

 of being made vertical, that the bees may have 

 access to the liquid. To prevent them from getting 

 drowned in the troughs, a permanent vertical par- 

 tition separates the slanting wall, or side, from the 

 trough proper. A space two millimeters ( 2 B of an 

 inch) high runs between the partition and the bot- 

 tom of the trough, giving a +'ree passage to the liq- 

 uid. A sheet of glass, movable, and resting on the 

 two partitions, closes the space between the two 

 platforms above, and retains the heat. See Figs, as 

 below. 



A, A, troughs. L, sheet of glass. P, passage for 

 the bees. N, level of the liquid. 



The troughs are independent of each other, and 

 can be used separately, and they do not permit of 

 the bees going out, if their dimensions are adapted 

 to the inside of the hive. The sheet of glass being 

 placed on, the cloth covering and cushion are put 

 back. The troughs adapted to the Dadant hives 



* Sixty years previously, Francis Huber had con- 

 ceived the idea of making frames movable by ad- 

 justing them to his observatory hives ; andQuinby, 

 in the later years of his life, went back to the inven- 

 tion of Huber when he made his hive with fixed 

 frames. 



