216 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



feet. . Barnes'' new foot-power saw-table "has 

 a good stout crank that can be used in place 

 of the treadle; and I tell you, one stout 

 man to turn the crank while somebody else 

 does the sawing, does a great deal more 

 work than where one has to tread, and feed 

 the saw besides. For small fine work, for i 

 the use of pattern-makers, and some other 

 artisans, your ten-cent foot-power might be 

 a great convenience. I am glad you remem- \ 

 ber Mrs. Chaddock's experience. ! 



SURPIiUS-CASEJS. 



MR. HEDDON GIVES US A CHAT IN REGARD TO 

 THEM. 



T WISH to have a little chat (over the caligraph) 

 |P with you and your men in the shop, reg-arrting 

 W surplus-cases. So far as I know, I was first to 

 "^ make surplus-section cases, which contained 

 the bee-space at the top, so necessary to tier- 

 ing up. If I was not prior in such invention, I was 

 original in it, never having heard of any such 

 thing, unless I have forgotten. I was opposed to 

 separators at that time, and so I constructed what 

 is well known as the Heddon case; and when you 

 get your experimental apiary going, if you make 

 experiments on a sufficiently large scale to tell the 

 facts sought, you will find that this old ease of 

 mine is to-day the best ever made, and I believe 

 the best that ever will be, where no separators are 

 used. 1 believe it can not be improved. I shall 

 not have time, in this, to give all the reasons. 1 

 wish T could be in your shop a little while. For the 

 use of separators, 1 think the tin T case is prefera- 

 ble to it; and as 1 now desire to use separators, I 

 wish to talk to you about the T case, which is no 

 further a copy of my old case than that it uses the 

 bee-space, and so can be tiered, which plan you 

 will i-ecollect I used to advocate strongly, almost 

 alone, at one time. 



1 consider the tin T as radically an invention, and 

 a good one too. T think it the coming case, for 

 those who will use separators, and never care to 

 invert them. I do not know who invented it. but I 

 think I recollect seeing it illustrated in a bsick num- 

 ber of your paper or the A.B. J. Several years ago 

 Mr. Vandervort visited me, and he told me that he 

 used no other style of case, and fully explained to 

 me all about how he made the T's and how he 

 fastened them to the cases, and how he used a 

 " follower "* that pressed the sections by virtue of 

 a spring. I found Mr. V.a man of far more than 

 ordinary inventive ability, and a very fine mechan- 

 ic, in both iron and wood. I do not remember 

 whether or not he said he invented the T. As re- 

 gards using them on the removable or adjusting 

 plan, I also well remember seeing that explained 

 in a back number of one of our journals, and T 

 presume Dr. Miller can tell where. Any way, as 

 soon as it gets to attracting any attention the own- 

 er will appear, for I feel sure that the rightful 

 owner will claim a good thing, when we see that, 

 if a thing Is v«n/ good, men will claim it who never 

 dreamed of it. 



Two years ago we made some of these T cases, 

 and of .5-lfi sides, as you advocate. Years before 

 that, we made cases just like Eaton's, illustrated on 

 page 131, except the movable side, which we had 



♦ I discard all " followers," 



tested previously, and do not think can be made in 

 ant/ manner so as not to ruin the case. Mr. Eaton 

 speaks of this case doing away with the honey- 

 boai-d, but it n<^ver will, because it can not be made 

 to " break joints " with the frames below, unless 

 too narrow sections are used. Besides, when he 

 goes to tiering he lifts with his first ease a whole 

 lot of dauby brace-combs, to be placed above and 

 attached at once to his new clean sectioiis. But, 

 why go further? Mr. Eaton is plainly no inventor, 

 as other points in his ease clearly show. 



1 would not make the L-shaped tin to support the 

 T's, but tack a plain fiat strip on the bottom edge 

 of the side piece of the case, that would project in- 

 ward enough to suit me. What can be better? and 

 how much simpler! But I think you were right in 

 the first place, in choosing the stationary rests for 

 the T's. The reasons you give, together with the 

 greater ease of adjusting the sections when they 

 are stationary, to me, more than oftsets all to be 

 gained by having so many different lengths of 

 sections in use in the same apiary, which is, in 

 many other respects, a serious detriment. But 

 here is the mechanical botchery of the movable T. 

 The rest which holds it, must be so placed as to 

 prevent the bees from entering the outside sec- 

 tions at their outsides, which, if they can not do, 

 they will not so completely fill and so quickly fin- 

 ish, as when they can. 



We give the lollowing preferences to this T case: 

 It is cheaper, and better adapted to the cheaper 

 wood separators. It is also lighter. This is all. 



The one-story wide-frame cases, as we now make 

 them, we prefer for i-easons as follows: With our 

 screw method, we keep the frames tighter togeth- 

 er; we can invert the sections or any longitudinal 

 row of them, at will. We can "jump " these rows 

 from outside to in, or vice versa, at will. The sec- 

 tions are always clean. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Feb. 19, 1887. James Heduon. 



Further on, in reply to Dr. Miller you will 

 notice that we have discarded the L tins, and 

 use instead short pieces of iron as recom- 

 mended by friend Miller. You will see that 

 this places the bee-space above the sections. 

 You will observe, also, that we still make 

 the T tins movable, for the reason that the 

 majority of those using the T supers seem 

 to prefer them that way. Many thanks for 

 the suggestions yon have made in regard to 

 supers in general. This is a matter that is 

 of considerable interest to us all just at this 

 very time. 



THE T SUPEB. 



ITS ADVANTAGES .4.ND DISADVANTAGES CAREFUI,- 

 r.Y CONSIDERED. 



fRIEND ROOT:— As the T super is now before 

 us, a few words may not be out of place. 1 

 had :J5 of these supers in use last summer; 

 have been using them for two seasons. 1 

 first got the idea from ati article by C. H. 

 Dibbern, in the 4. B. .r, page 1:33, 1884. Mine are 

 made for the old-style Heddon hive, but the princi- 

 ple is the same as you have described in Glean- 

 ings. Anyone is likely to see their advantages 

 at once, and I will therefore omit them. 



In simiilifying the super, by using a continuous 

 tin rest lengthwise at the bottom, instead of Dr. 

 Miller's method of separate rests, you have gained 



