641 



CLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



dim 0wn Jlnnw 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 



THE HOPATCONG - , A NEW HAT FOR THE 

 APIARY. 



Tip MONTH or so ago, one of our engrav- 

 ^Im ers (who by the way is interested in 



0» bees), seeing a peculiar kind of hat in 

 -^^ one of the shop windows in Cleveland, 

 sent a rough peu - drawing of the 

 same, with a note, asking if such a hat 

 would not be very cool and desirable for a 

 bee keeper. Upon receipt of this I wrote 

 him, asking him to have one sent, that we 

 might try it. After testing it a couple of 

 weeks in the apiary, durinar some of our 

 hottest weather, I requested him to make 

 an engraving of it, showing it in different 

 views. This he has done, and I append the 

 result below. 



A NOVEL BEE-HAT, ALIAS THE HOPAT- 

 CONG. 



The engraving is so complete as to make 

 a detailed explanation almost unnecessary. 

 You will observe that the hat is supported 

 by a light rim, an inch or so above the 

 crown of the head. Its special feature is the 

 perfect access of light breezes to all parts of 

 the head. An ordinary hat, it should be 

 observed, incloses the top of the head in a 

 tight box, as it were, leaving very little op- 

 portunity for the escape of the heat formed 

 by the rays of the sun on the top of the hat, 

 and heat formed by radiation from the 

 crown of the head. The result is that most 

 hats in the hot sun, while they ward off the 

 direct rays of the sun, do not leave suffi- 

 cient ventilation around the crown of the 

 head. This Hopatcong is very airy ; and in 

 practice, I can confidently say, is about as 

 cool a sun-shade as I ever wore. I liked 

 the light cloth hat we advertised, but it was 

 hardly sufficient protection from the sun, 

 although it allowed the breeze to circulate 

 through the light fabric of the crown. I 

 have exchanged hats with different persons, 

 and the verdict is always that the Hopat- 

 cong is the coolest hat they ever wore. It 

 is the same sort of hat that we see repre- 

 sented in pictures of scenes in China and In- 



dia. Although not a very handsome head 

 protection, it is extremely comfortable ; and 

 if the natives of India and China use this 

 hat to any great extent, they have more re- 

 spect for comfort than some of their more 

 civilized neighbors. 



There are two objections to the Hopatcong. 

 While it projects far enough forward and 

 back to properly shade the face and neck, it 

 is hardly wide enough to give sufficient pro- 

 tection to the sides of the neck, as the dia- 

 agram at the upper left-hand corner will 

 show. Again, it is rather too expensive to 

 be adopted very generally. The one that I 

 wore cost $2.0u at retail, and I have not yet 

 learned where they can be obtained for less 

 money. I understand that they are being 

 used to some extent in the Southern States, 

 and that they are retailed at a dollar apiece. 

 They can certainly be made for less money ; 

 and as soon as the people who are necessa- 

 rily obliged to work in the hot sun know of 

 their comfort, they will be adopted more 

 generally, in spite of their oddity, I think. 

 Now, please do not send in orders to us for 

 these hats— at least for the present. I am 

 quite sure that you can get them in most 

 cities, and your local retail dealer in hats 

 and caps ought to be able to procure you 

 one if you wish. 



A VERY GOOD SUBSTITUTE FOR THE HO- 

 PATCONG. 



Just after I had gotten the Hopatcong, 

 our Mr. Spafford, who is in the apiary con- 

 stantly, struck upon an idea which I think 

 is certainly worthy of being given to bee- 

 keepers at large. It is this : He purchased 

 an ordinary palm-leaf hat, but one or two 

 sizes too large for him. He then wet the 

 hat so as to make it assume a conical shape, 

 the same as shown on page 249, 1887, where 

 Dr. Miller is seen emptying a T super of 

 sections. He then took two corks, about f 

 of an inch in diameter. These he cut into 

 halves longitudinally. These four halves 

 were then sewn on the inside of the crown 

 of the hat, equally distant from each other. 

 When the hat is adjusted to the head it is 

 supported from the head by means of these 

 four corks. In other words, the hat itself — 

 at least that part which would ordinarily 

 come in contact with the head— is kept f of 

 an inch away. This leaves quite a good op- 

 portunity for the circulation of air around 

 the head. Mr. Spafford and I often traded 

 hats, and I have been surprised to note that 

 his hat was nearly as cool as the Hopatcong, 

 and his did not cost more than about an 

 eighth as much as mine. It had this addi- 

 tional advantage, that the drooping rim 

 thoroughly shaded the head and neck on 

 each side as well as before and back. 

 While all the breeze would not circulate 

 over the crown quite so freely as in the 

 Hopatcong, yet it was decidedly cooler than 

 the ordinary straw hat, where the rim fits 

 closely around the head. On some accounts 

 I should prefer it to the Hopatcong. Now, 

 may I suggest that Dr. Miller take his bee- 

 keeping hat, or, rather, get one a size larger 

 than he ordinarily wears, if he can, and ad- 

 just the little pieces of cork in such a way 

 as to keep the hat away from the sweaty 

 heady If he does not think it is a great im* 



