44 



GLEAJSIINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



MR. T. F. BINGHAM. 



His Visit at The Home of the Honey -Bees. 



SMOKERS, SHALLOW HIVES, ETC. 



R. T. F. BINGHAM, of smoker fame, 

 on his way to the convention at Al- 

 bany, stopped off at Medina, partly 

 on business and partly for a visit. I 

 will say, at the outset, that whenever 

 one of the old veterans in bee-keeping finds 

 it convenient to visit the Home of the Hon- 

 ey-Bees, so-called, 1 regard it as a special 

 privilege to show him about, and ask him all 

 the questions I can. Whether he be a sup- 

 ply-dealer or not, he is at liberty to appropri- 

 ate any idea he may find useful to himself, 

 even if he should intend to use said idea at 

 future date in competition to our business. 

 This has always been our policy ; and while 

 we may sometimes have suffered in conse- 

 quence of this kind of competition, taking 

 into consideration the little hints and ideas 

 we gain in return— we never lose. 



Mr. Bingham and ourselves, for a number 

 of years back, have made and sold smokers, 

 and, as a matter of course, our goods have 

 come more or less into competition. As was 

 to be expected, in our conversation yester- 

 day we freely discussed the relative mer- 

 its of the Clark and the Bingham smok- 

 ers. The inventor of the latter, after noting 

 the manner in which we made the Clark, 

 kindly offered suggestions, or, if you please, 

 " short cuts,'" in its manner of construction ; 

 and while we may use said suggestions, we 

 shall respect the" principle of his smoker, 

 which, indeed, Mr. Bingham gives us the 

 credit of doing. When we were discussing 

 this smoker question I inquired what he 

 thought of the shaving fuel which Mr. Hed- 

 don recommended in his book, and which 

 had been talked of lately in the journals. 



"Well," said he, "t prefer hard-wood 

 chunks to any thing else." 



He then explained that the shavings were 

 too apt to cause sparks, and, besides, woidd 

 not last as long as the hard wood. He stat- 

 ed that it was a prevalent opinion among 

 bee-keepers that rotten wood is the fuel for 

 smokers. This opinion he regards as a 

 great mistake. The rotten wood will not 

 only burn out too quickly, but is open to 

 the objection of shavings ; namely, a too 

 frequent cause of sparks. 



While no doubt friend Bingham is correct 

 as regards the proper fuel for his own smok- 

 er, yet with the Clark the difficulty with 

 sparks from rotten wood and shavings is to 

 a great extent obviated, I think, by virtue of 

 the cold-blast principle. Of course, I am 

 not forgetful of the fact that the Bingham 

 possesses good features which the Clark has 

 not. I will not, however, take space to dis- 

 cuss it here, but defer it until next summer, 

 when T propose trying both smokers side by 

 side, and, T hope, letting them stand solely 

 on their own merits. 



I asked Mr. Bingham how long he could 

 make his smoker last, without going out, 

 charged with the hard wood. If I am cor- 

 rect, his reply was tliat it would last all day 

 without refilling, and that it would give hirh 

 smoke just when he wanted it. This, surely, 

 is about all that could be desired. But it 



seems that Mr. Heddon, his "friend," Dr. 

 Miller, and others, prefer the shavings. 

 Perhaps, however, these latter gentlemen 

 have not acquired the knack of burning 

 hard wood. 



SHALLOW HIVES. 



Knowing that our friend Bingham for so 

 many years back has used, and very suc- 

 cessfully, too, the shallow closed-end frame 

 (6iX23 inches), I took the opportunity to 

 question him in regard to the working and 

 merits of such a frame, with which he says 

 he has had an experience of nearly 20 years. 

 A few facts from him will be of interest just 

 now, when the discussion of shallow frames 

 is before bee-keepers. 



Mr. Bingham's frame is ()4x28 in., as al- 

 ready given, with closed end-bars 1* inches 

 wide. This frame has no bottom-bar. The 

 top-bar is a stick, I inch square. At each 

 end of this is nailed the closed end-bars, the 

 stick being so nailed that one of the corners 

 will form a comb-guide. 



One would naturally suppose that a frame 

 of this description would hardly be secure 

 enough, and that the end-bars, on account of 

 the absence of the bottom-bar, would be 

 easily knocked out of "whack," as the ex- 

 pression runs ; but Mr. B. assured me that 

 such was not the case. Eight of these shal- 

 low frames, or any other number as conven- 

 ience may requireif^are held securely together 

 by compression. This is effected by a well- 

 known principle ; namely, a wire loop, or 

 link, each end of which "is hooked over a 

 screw-head. A little stick, equally distant 

 from each screw-head, is made to spread the 

 wire taut. 



It did not seem to me that such a contriv- 

 ance would hold securely enough ; but Mr. 

 Bingham assured me that he had used it a 

 good many years. To satisfy myself more 

 fully I took seven shallow-depth closed-end 

 frames which we happened to have on hand, 

 and looped them together, as described 

 above. I dropped the seven, as thus secured, 

 on the floor, and scuffled tliem about with 

 my feet, and yet they held together. 



Mr. Bingham told me he could invert his 

 brood-chamber if he chose to do so, but that 

 he did not find it necessary. If I remember 

 correctly, I believe he said he did not even 

 alternate the sections of his hive, although 

 it could easily be done. I tlien asked if, 

 from his experience, it were practicable to 

 handle these shallow liives instead of frames. 

 He replied, that it was possible to a very 

 large extent. He told me he had not handled 

 the frames of some hives for several years ; 

 that he could perform many of the needed 

 opei-ations by simply handling hives. By 

 grasping one of his shallow sections, and 

 holding it up to the light, lie could hunt out 

 the queen-cells on the several frames at 

 once. He, said, that in a shallow|brood-nest, 

 the exact location of the (jueen can often be 

 determined by the peculiar commotion of 

 the bees toward a common center. Then, if 

 he chooses to catch or view her majesty, he 

 loosens and spreads apart the frames, and 

 selects the one whereon she is to be found. 

 He can also, when occasion requires, shake a 

 large part of the bees from whole sections at 

 once. In short, our readers will see that 



