1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



301 



fed the bees to prepare them for winter. He still 

 has much faith in the pursuit, although the past 

 three successive poor honey years have told heavi- 

 ly upon his enthusiasm. 



Mr. Manum has one son, a fine young man, just 

 of age, who promises soon to be a great relief to 

 the father in the management of his extensive 

 apiaries. 



Mr. M. is of medium height, with dark complex- 

 ion, hair, and eyes. A kind friend, an upright 

 gentleman, and a thorough business man, he has 

 attained an enviable position among the bee-keep- 

 ers of Vermont, where he is so universally known. 

 His extensive operations, his uniform success, and 

 his practical writings, have also given him a na- 

 tional reputation. J. H. Larrabee. 



Larrabee's Pt., Vt. 



Friend L., I well remember when Ma- 

 nual's samples of Vermont white poplar 

 came into our office. We had been for some 

 time making sections then ourselves. This 

 white poplar " took the shine " off from any 

 thing in the line of basswood so completely 

 that at first I was inclined to feel a little bit 

 jealous ; but it did not take me long to de- 

 cide that I would tell our readers the truth 

 about it, no matter how much it hurt our 

 trade. I do not remember the exact words 

 of the editorial, but it was to the effect that 

 friend Manum's white poplar was nicer 

 than any thing we had ever made, and, I 

 believe I added, nicer than any thing we 

 could hope to make, unless we could get 

 that same white poplar. In a little circular 

 that came along with the sections, the 

 printers had put it "popular" instead of 

 poplar, and there was no little merriment 

 about friend Manum's white " popular " 

 sections ; and indeed they were " popular " 

 after my editorial went out. Years passed ; 

 and while attending the National Conven- 

 tion in Detroit, a large fine-looking man 

 came up and put out his hand, and said it 

 was a pity that, after all these years, he too 

 could not have the pleasure of shaking 

 hands with his benefactor. I asked him 

 what he meant by " benefactor." " Why," 

 said he, " Bro. Boot, I am the man who 

 made those white-poplar sections to which 

 you gave such a boom by your kind editori- 

 al ; and now I want to say to you, that, al- 

 though I have not yet amounted to very 

 much, what little I have done I owe great- 

 ly to that kind and disinterested editorial." 

 And then there was a big laugh all round. 

 When I wrote it I had no acquaintance 

 whatever with friend M. I only knew that 

 the beautiful smooth pieces of wood that al- 

 most rivaled white paper in whiteness were, 

 both in workmanship and the quality of the 

 wood, beyond any thing I had ever seen be- 

 fore. White poplar, from its nature, is not 

 suitable for one-piece sections, therefore 

 they must always be made in four pieces ; 

 and as the material is somewhat scarce it is 

 not likely they will ever be furnished for 

 much less than double the price of the bass- 

 wood sections. The bee-keeping world, 

 however, owe a debt of gratitude to friend 

 Manum for furnishing the finest section, so 

 far as I know, that has ever been made any- 

 where. Dr. Tinker, I believe, finds on the 

 hills in his vicinity a kind of white poplar 



that very nearly equals the Vermont poplar. 

 It may be well to say, also, that, if the doc- 

 tor's sections are lacking any in quality of 

 material, they excel in workmanship, per- 

 haps, any thing the world has yet produced. 



BEE-FEEDERS. 



FRIEND HEDDON'S COMMENTS ON SOME THINGS IN 

 MARCH 15TH ISSUE. 



T NOTICE on page 216, in an illustration and trans- 

 jdp lation from a French bee-journal, something 

 W regarding feeders. Now, while I have had con- 



"*• siderable experience with feeders, both in 

 feeding bees large quantities for wintering 

 and feeding back extracted honey to finish thou- 

 sands of pounds of sections, I wish to say to your 

 readers that I found a feeder based on the princi- 

 ple of the one shown in the cut as in many ways 

 unfitted to the instincts of the bee. In the first 

 place, the two little feed-troughs do not afford suffi- 

 cient space for the average colony of bees to do 

 the rapid work required. Then there is no need of 

 the wood feeder being lined with metal. Not one 

 in twenty, if properly made of wood, when con- 

 structed as they should be, will leak; and if one 

 does leak it will not leak outside the hive, but all 

 within, where the few drops will be picked up by 

 the bees and no robbing be incited. The only val- 

 uable principle I discover about this feeder is the 

 reservoir plan, wherein the bees rise up, rounding 

 over a lowered partition, taking the honey from 

 the top, the reservoir keeping the feeding-troughs 

 full, by force of gravity, the same as the stand-pipe 

 waterworks system. Let me say to your readers, 

 that it was not only " several years ago," but a good 

 many years ago, that I discovered this principle. 

 While I know it was original with me, I do not 

 know whether it was prior or not. I think it was, 

 for, so far as I have been able to discover, there is 

 nothing in print touching any of the principles un- 

 til after I had used it for several years, and also, I 

 believe, described it in bee-journals. With this 

 communication I inclose you an engraving and de- 

 scription of the feeder, and on the second page is 

 clearly outlined what I claim as my invention, 

 whether prior or not, not patented, I want you to 

 understand. After reading it, you will say in your 

 foot-notes what you believe concerning it. 



UNPAINTED HIVES. 



About fifteen years ago the same idea entered my 

 mind in regard to painting hives, which I find in 

 the article of G. M. Doolittle's, beginning on page 

 217. Upon the strength of my new supposition I 

 made between thirty and forty hives, leaving them 

 unpainted, and used them for several years, care- 

 fully nodng results. I had lost quite a per cent of 

 my bees with the winter disease known as bee-diar- 

 rhea (the only winter difficulty, in my mind, worthy 

 of mention). While I found, by actual experiment, 

 that omitting the paint allowed the hives to become 

 so dark in color that they drew the sun's rays, pil- 

 ing up the heat, making them very objection- 

 able in hot weather in summer, and that the 

 rain, so far as it could get at them, had caused 

 them to become rotted at the joints, I found no 

 difference whatever in regard to the successful 

 wintering of my bees. It is to me another of the 

 fine-looking theories which have to vamoose before 

 experience. It appeared to my mind, before it re- 



