i887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



4()1 



my opinion that tlie arraiigenifnt wiil work 

 in any neij>hborlioo(l wliere many bees are 

 kept. I would .siii^gest, however, having 

 tlie hives in tlie sliade of trees — say scatter- 

 ed throngli an' ;ipi)le-orchard. or run tlie 

 tiers up so as to be among the branches of 

 the trees. There will be little or no danger 

 from moth-millers, for the combs are kept 

 at least two inches from each other. I 

 should suppose the bees would be more like- 

 ly to occupy the hives toward the top, or 

 those up among the limbs of the trees. 

 Many of our readers will remember that our 

 friend J. H. Martin, of Hartford, N. Y., 

 advocated phicing hives in the tree-tops, a 

 good many years ago. Every little while 

 we have reports of new swarms t;iking pos- 

 session of hives, left ready for them during 

 swarming time; and now it only remains 

 for some enterprising bee-man to push tliis 

 matter forwartl to success. Suppose we have 

 as many facts as can be furnished cm the 

 subject ; and as it is now swarming time, 

 let us all experiment a little in regard to tiie 

 matter. We will have some hives i)ut up 

 among our evergreejts at once ; and insterd 

 of having the bees bother us by clusteiing 

 among the evergreen branches, as they do 

 almost every season, hold them clustered on 

 metal-cornered frames of comb. As theie 

 has been considerable trouble in our apiary 

 lately, from bees missing their location and 

 getting into neighboring hives, a few hives 

 set among the evergreens might be a help, 

 after they catch a truant swarm apiece. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FRIEND HUTCHINSON'S REPLY TO ANSWKIJS AM) 

 QUESTIONS REGARDING HIS NEW BOOK. 



J 'T is possible, friend Koot. that you arc correct 

 f about tlie need of cuts in my little book; lean 

 I not help thinking, though, that the majority of 

 ■ those you mention, if not the whole of tliem, 

 would be superfluous. T am thankful, thoug-h, 

 for the criticisims, and I wish to say right here that 

 I should bo grateful to any one who will wiite and 

 tell me where he thinks a cut mig-ht be used to ad- 

 vantage; or, in fact, where he would have the book 

 different in any manner; and if there is any point 

 that is not fully understood, I shall be happy to ex- 

 plain, either bj- private correspondence ^ir through 

 the journals; and all the points that are brought up 

 shall be well considered in a re-issue. I should en- 

 joy verj' much indeed the work of getting up tirst- 

 class engravings for a book of my own writing. 

 You say, friend Root, that, had I added nics engrav- 

 ings, the book would have started out with a great 

 boom. It seems to me that it has started out with a 

 pretty good-sized boom as it is, as 1000 copies have al- 

 ready been sold, and the sale increases with each 

 week, while every mail brings complimentary let- 

 ters from pleased purchasers. 



CONTRACTING THE BROOD-NEST. 



On page 431, Mr. Gould asks me to explain why 

 the brood-nest should be so contracted as to be 

 low and flat instead of tall and thin. If side stor- 

 ing' were practiced, the tall and thin style would be 

 all right; but with top storing only, the space above 

 the brood-nest is too small to give room for a suffi- 

 cient number of boxes. Bees work the best in 



boxes when the brood is near the boxes; and it 

 will be readily seen that a low flat brood-nest gives 

 the greatest possible opportunity for placing a 

 largi! number of boxes itj proximity to the brood. 

 My objection to side storing Is, that it adds 

 considerably to the complication of fixtures, and 

 very much to the labor. 



Mr. Gould's plan of di\-iding colonics and allow- 

 ing the bees to build ctjinbs in the bi-oor'-nest will 

 probably prove satisluctoiy unless done just upon 

 the eve of swarming, when drone comb would be 

 the result. If done earlier, when the queen Is lay- 

 ing in full vigor, most of the comb built would 

 probably be worker, unless the queen were old. 



MAKING FEEDERS W.\TER-T1G HT. 



Lot me tell Dr. Miller that he can make feeders 

 water-tight by so putting them together that one 

 piece can not shrink away from another, and paint- 

 ing the joints with white lead before putting them 

 together. 1 have Oil Heddon feeders that 1 made 

 three ycai-s ago, and thej' have never given a par- 

 ticle of trouble by leaking'. Let me also add, that 

 in " feeding back " there must be no space in the 

 hive or about the feeder that is more than "bee- 

 space," or it will be filled with comb. At no time 

 are bees so pr.)i:e to build brace-combs as when be- 

 ing fed abundantly. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Kogersvillc, Mich , June 6, 188T. 



There seems to be a sort of feeling among 

 newspaper men that an editor should never 

 own up to having made a mistake, and nev- 

 er apologize if lie can possibly lielp it. I 

 once heard of a man whose death was pub- 

 lished in the vilhige paper. He repaired at 

 once to the editorial sanctum, and com- 

 menced something like this : 



" Mr. Editor, you published in yo;;r paper 

 last week a notice of my death.'' 



The editor nodded, and the man went on: 



'• Well, yoii see 1 am not dead." 



'• We see that you are alive now," replied 

 the editor, evading the question, as jou will 

 observe. 



''But," said the man ,"I haven't been dead 

 at all ; in fact, I haven't even been sick, and 

 I want you to state it so in your next issue." 



" We are quite willing to say you have 

 come to life,'' replied the editor. "l)ut we 

 can not very well say that you have not 

 been dead. It is hardly possible we should 

 have so stated it in the paper unless it were 

 a fact." And our friend from the^country 

 was obliged to go away without getting any 

 better satisfaction than the above. Now, 

 although I have never seen any thing quite 

 as bad as this, I have been very many 

 times greatly pained to notice the reluctance 

 with which an editor admits that he has 

 been even a little mistaken. Please look 

 back and remember liow seldom any editor 

 has frankly owned up that he had published 

 a mistake m regard to this matter of bogus 

 comb honey. It does not seem to be fash- 

 ionable to say right out in print, " We were 

 hasty," or, "• We were entirely in the wrong, 

 please excuse us. ' Perliaps you may won- 

 der, dear friends, what all this has to do 

 with friend Hutchinson's article al)Ove. 

 W^ell, it has just this to do with it : In crit- 

 icising his book because of the lack of cuts, 

 I thoughtlessly bore on stronger than I 

 should have done, and I want the readers of 

 Gleanings to forgive me, as well as friend 



