1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



383 



A KEVIEW OF HUTCHINSON'S BOOK. 



KKIKNI) I'OIM'I.KTON (UVKS US SO.MK THOUOIITS 

 O.N THE Hll()nU<^TION OP COMB HONKY. 



ip L'PHOlUiH it may uot have been in accord- 

 ^ ance with the rules of authoi-ship. I an- 

 P iioiineeil. in the conclusion of my lilf k^ book, 

 that "all will Hnd me ever ready to explain 

 and delend my views; or, if necessary, ae- 

 knowledue my errors." Before "explaining and 

 defending " the one or two points upon which we 

 differ, I wish to heartily thank Mr. Taylor for his 

 kind words, and for the very fair manner in which 

 he reviewed my book. Instead of setting- a box 

 over the hive, and completely surrounding- and 

 ct)verinj>- the hive with^sawdust. Mi: Taylor prefers, 

 as being more convenient, good division-boards and 

 ehatf or sawdust in the super. This question of 

 leaving one or two. sidesof a hive exposed was dis- 

 cussed at one of our conventions at East Saginaw, 

 and quite a number thought that packing ui'on 

 only three sides of a hive was but little better than 

 none. " A chain is no stronger than its weakest 

 link " was the sentiment expressed. Candidly I 

 think the comparison is not a fair one, for I do 

 think that a colony protected upon three sides « ill 

 bear the cold with less danger of loss than will one 

 that has no protection. 1 think a fairer compari- 

 son would be that of leaving two sides ot a house 

 without siding or plastering, simply boarded up 

 with one thickness of boards. Although my meth- 

 od of packing may be a little tnore costly and 

 troublesome, I think the complete protection af- 

 forded will amply repay. 



1 agree " ith Mr. Taylor, that, as a rule, a queen is 

 at her best during the <wo first years, and it is 

 possible that it might be profitable to replace them 

 at that age. With small brood-nest.«. however, the 

 dirterence between old and young queens is not so 

 noticeable. I doubt the advisabilit.\ of killing two- 

 year-old queens simply to avoid the construction of 

 what little drone comb will be built as the result of 

 their retention. 



It does not seem tome that wooden triangular 

 comb-guides, having their lower edges coated with 

 wax, would possess any advantages, not even that 

 of cheapness, over strips of foundation three or 

 four cells in width; but I must admit, that I have 

 given such guides no trial. 



One pigeon-hole in my desk is jammed full of 

 letters containing commendations and eiiticisms of 

 my little book; and you have little idea how much 

 pleasure it gives me to be able to say that not one 

 of these letters coiiiiiins anj thing that has hurt my 

 feelings, while I have been deeply touched at times 

 to witness tlie exhiliition of tact and kindness in 

 making criticism. Of all these letters, the one that 

 contains the most criticisms is from Mr. O. O. Pop- 

 pleton, of Florida: but the criticisms are all so fair, 

 and touch upon such important points, that 1 hope 

 1 may be excused for giving it in full. I have the 

 permission of the writer to publish it. 



Friend Hutcliinson :—A copy of your work on 

 "The Production of Comb Honey " is just received. 

 Many thanks for the courtesy. As 1 judge your 

 object in sending was to invite a friendly criticism, 



T proceed to give it brieliy. 

 You 



start out (pages 9— 1:>) with a very decided 

 plea for spring protection. I am no bi'llever in 

 having a hobby, and for ever hammering at it; but 

 if I ever did have one, it was this of spring protec- 

 tion; and there is nothing in your book which so 

 thoroughly meets my entire approbation as does 



this part. As long ago as 1H«1, at the Lexington 

 Convention, 1 made the statement that, " in my 

 opinion, ehatf hives aic worth all their extra cost, 

 both in monci' and labor, if used for no other pur- 

 pose than as spring protectives," and 1 reiterated 

 the same in the essay on ehatf hives of the next 

 year's convention. 1 would no more think of try- 

 ing to keep bees in the short changeable seasons of 

 Northern Iowa or Michigan, without spring protec- 

 tion, than 1 would with movable-comb hives. This 

 is one thing on which we fully and thoroughly 

 agree, whether we do on an^- thing else or not. 



On page 12 you say: ''The saving of stores in cel- 

 lar wintering will pay for the expense four times 

 over." An n't j'ou a little careless or wild in this 

 statement':' Compared with unprotected outdoor 

 wintering, you are correct; but, so far as my expe- 

 rienc^e goes, the difference in the consumption of 

 honey, lietween the cellar and a thoroughly well- 

 packed colony out of doors, is too small to be con- 

 sidered. The only reliable statistics I have ever 

 seen on tliis subject are those published by A. G. 

 Hill, of the Guide. If I rememlier correctly, those 

 tables cover several years' experiments, with an av- 

 erage of, say, .iO to 1h colonies each year, and the 

 average difference between cellar and outdoor win- 

 tering is, I think, not far from one pound only. 

 This agrees with my own experience. This, of 

 course, aiiplies only when hives are properly pro- 

 tected, not when tlie work is only half done. Vou 

 also say, on the same page, " It is only by the cellar 

 method that the wintering of bees can ever be re- 

 duced to a peifect system." This is certainly too 

 sweei)ing- an a>sertion for anyone to make, for it 

 leijuiies just as perfect a system to successfully 

 >v1nier bees out oi doors as in the cellar; and such 

 a system is now in use. 1 will refer you to A. I. 

 Root for an example, but could refer to others who 

 are practically unknown. I do not think that your- 

 self, or any one else who practices your general sys- 

 tem of management, will, as a rule, be successful 

 in outdoor wintering; but that is no proof tliat oth- 

 ers in other localities, and with a different manage 

 inent, can not and do not have just as perfect a s.> s- 

 tem of outdoor wintering as any one has of cellar 

 wintering. While you have failed in outdoor win- 

 tering, I know of localities where none have suc- 

 ceeded in any other way. 



I also take issue with your views regarding stim- 

 ulative feeding and spreading of the brood, as giv- 

 en on page 14. 1 do not think that stimulative feed- 

 ing can be made of value as far north as your local- 

 ity is and mine was; at least, I tested it thoroughly 

 and could obtain no advantage from it; but spread- 

 ing of the brood has been of very great service to 

 me. 1 attribute a large share of my long-continued 

 success in honey-raising to the fact that 1 have 

 practiced spreading the brood in connection with 

 spring protection. In fact, the first can be success- 

 ful only when the latter is practiced. Spreading 

 the brood is undoubtedly much more valuable when 

 one is working for extracted honey than when 

 working for comb honey; and, as your work is de- 

 voted to the latter only, 1 do not, of course, dift'er so 

 much from you as I should had your opinion cov- 

 ered bee-keeping generally instead of only one 

 t)ranch of it. 



1 can not agree with you, that separators are not 

 a necessity (page 15). Of course, honey can be and 

 has been raised successfully that could be readily 

 crated, but that isn't all that is needed. Appear- 

 ance is a prime factor in disposing of comb honey, 

 and in that respect honey produced by the aid of 

 separators has an undoubted advantage. 



1 prefer neither the one-piece nor the four-piece 

 sections. I find that the two-piece, such as G. B. 

 Lewis manufactures, to have the good but none of 

 the bad points of either of the others. 



1 have never formed any very decided opinion on 

 the main topic of your little book ; i. e., so far as 

 the producti«u of comb honey is concerned; but I 

 take a square and decided issue with you in the ad- 

 vice given on page 2.5, not to give empty combs in the 

 lirood-nest when working for extracted honey. The 

 very conditions yoi; describe as the result of hiving 

 on empty combs are the e.xact ones we have aimed 

 at trying to attain; viz., to have the bees drop 

 brood-rearing, and attend to honey-gathering dur- 

 ing the short sharp flows of honey we are apt to 

 have in the extreme North. This is the point which 

 Mr. Doolittle, myself, and others have insisted on 

 when discussing the superiority of Italians over 

 blacks, but which I judge you have either not no- 

 ticed or not comprehended. I can simply refer you 



