1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



45 



Mr. Bingham verifies Mr. Heddon's state- 

 ment as to the possibility of handling /mw 

 instead of /rame,s. 



Although the construction of the Bing- 

 ham hive differs in detail from the Ileddon, 

 yet, in a few of its fundamental principles, 

 the former is similar; as, for instance, 

 closed-end shallow frames, held together by 

 comiiression ; and the possibility of hand- 

 ling hives ijistead of frames. 



I hope 1 am not trespassing on any of Mr. 

 Heddon's claims, as I am sure Mr. Bingham 

 concedes to Mr. Heddon the right of liis in- 

 vention. Mr. B. has told me that he is glad 

 that Mr. H. has brouglit out his invention. 



In conclusion, I desire to say that all who 

 shall be so fortunate as to make Mr. Bing- 

 ham's acquaintnnce will find him a pleasant 

 conversationalist — in short, a gentleman. 

 While he has a keen sense of justice, and his 

 ow^n rights, they will, I think, find him dis- 

 posed to be fair. 



EXTRACTED HONEY. 



quire tiering' up to dry it out— very much more so 

 than among- the hills here. Bee-keepers living- in a 

 hilly locality extract often, and there is no talk of 

 unripe honey. I know there is no use of so much 

 fussing- here to get flrst-class ripe honey. 



Platteville, Wis. E. France. 



Thanks, friend France. I think it is 

 quite likely, as you suggest in your last par- 

 agraph, that the differeuce in locality has 

 much to do with the matter of ripening 

 honey. 



E. FRANCE'S VS. HEDDON'S METHOD. 



fT AVING read Mr. Heddon's article in Glean- 

 1 iNGS, Dec. 1, entitled, " Extracted Houey," 

 1 etc., I arise to make a few remarks on his 

 ^ system as he has it laid out. I understand 

 he works to a large extent for comb honey 

 and considerable extracted honey. Now, as I am in 

 the extracted-honey business quite largely, I study 

 carefully every thing I can get on the subject, es- 

 pecially from as good authority as Mr. H. ; but I 

 don't see how it is possible for me to wait until the 

 honey-season is over, and then do our extracting. 

 We possiblj' could work our home yard in that way, 

 but I don't see how we can work our five yards, 

 away from home, by his plan, as we have nothing 

 but a tent to work in, and that we carry with us. 

 We extract four and sometimes five times at eacli 

 yard, taking out from 1500 to over 2000 pounds each 

 time from each yard. Now, to tier up combs to 

 hold the honey, we should need to have combs to 

 hold 9000 pounds of honey in each yard. As about 

 2000 pounds of honey would be required to winter 

 each yard, we should have spare combs in each yard 

 to hold 7000 pounds of honey, or, for the six yards, 

 spare combs to hold 42,000 pounds (which was our 

 surplus for the year 1886). As we have no place 

 away from home to store the spare" combs where 

 they would be safe, they would all have to be hauled 

 home; and what a time we should have with rob- 

 ber-bees, extracting and fussing with all those spare 

 combs after the honey season is over, which closes 

 with us from the 5th to the 30th of July ! 



As for the quality of the honey, judging from the 

 reports of my customers, many of them dealers of 

 long standing in the honey-trade, I am led to be- 

 lieve that our honey is A No. 1, and I believe our 

 location has very much to do with it. We are locat- 

 ed among the bluflfs of the Mississippi, still away 

 from the river, where the hills are dry; and the 

 honey, as a rule, is thick when gathered. Often the 

 honey in^nowjcombs is so gummy that it is impossi- 

 ble to extract it and.save the comb. 



I don't know any thing>bout Mr. Heddon's local- 

 ity; but judging from his place on the 'map he is 

 near the lake, and I should expect the country to 

 be flat, and more or less wet, and the honey may re- 



CONVENTION AT ALBANY. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 



TT is now Monday morning, Jan. 10, and 

 M I am waiting for the train. I have got 

 W some postal cards, addressed to myself, 

 -■■ in my pocket, and whatever I find of in- 

 terest I propose to send back to the 

 printers, and have them give you the latest 

 intelligence up to the moment of going to 

 press. 



I am now at Cleveland, Ohio. I find that 

 friend Kendel, of the Cleveland Seed 

 Store, seems to be doing a fair business in 

 comb honey. One - pound sections, best, 

 bring loc ; second quality, from 10 to lie. 

 A lot that looked very fine, he says don't sell, 

 because customers have found the sections 

 inside do not turn out so nice as those packed 

 next to the glass. Do you see how it works, 

 friends? Glassed sections do not sell well 

 in Cleveland, unless at a season w^hen 

 no other is to be found in the market. 



Mr. K. has an ingenious method of his 

 own invention for testing seeds. A coil of 

 gas-pipe is placed in the fire-box of the base- 

 burning stove that warms the store. Proper 

 attachments carry the pipe under benches 

 near the window. On these benches, small 

 pots containing seed are placed, each pot 

 containing 25 seeds. By counting the num- 

 ber that vegetates, the percentage can easily 

 be estimated. The same coil of pipe warms 

 a tank of German carp that seem lively 

 enough, even in the depth of winter. This 

 arrangement seems to answer every purpose 

 of a regular hot-water warming apparatus ; 

 but altogether it did not cost over SI 0.00, 

 aside from the cost of the pipes, which was 

 about S40.00. A sort of " stand pipe." with 

 which the ends of the coil are connected, al- 

 lows room for the expansion of the water. By 

 means of such an apparatus, any part of a 

 building may be warmed, and the consump- 

 tion of coal is but little more than what is 

 ordinarily needed. 



1 found lettuce from Cincinnati already 

 on the Cleveland market. It is a small vari- 

 ety, that does not make a head. It is very 

 crisp and tender, and seems to suit this mar- 

 ket best. I succeeded in selling the crop of 

 Boston Market in our greenhouse at home. 

 I was pleased to find at friend KendeFs the 

 seed or this Cincinnati lettuce, and a pack- 

 age was mailed back home to be sown in the 

 greenhouse at once. 



At the office of the Ohio Fai'mer I was 

 pleased to make the acquaintance of the ed- 

 itor, M. J. Lawrence. Their circulation has 

 now become" so large they keep two large 

 Campbell presses running constantly. Quite 



