1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



467 



Mr. Shirley has reference. When sections taken 

 from a T super arc cleaner than those taken from 

 one-story wide frames, those wide frames are not 

 properly constrncted. T supers, in their best con- 

 struction, can protect sections no better, nor as 

 well, as ray well-known surplus case; and Mr. Shir- 

 ley has used hundreds of each side by side. 



WINTEHING. 



My bees have wintered better than usual, and 

 some in a higher and some in a lower temperature 

 than heretofore. At the same time, a few, standing- 

 by the side of the successful ones, have died with 

 diarrhea; and as temperature and humidity could 

 not have been the cause, and as the excreta is pol- 

 len and water, I am still firmly grounded in the 

 pollen theory. 



WHOM SHAIilj WE THUST ? 



I note the above in connection with the name of 

 .1. K. Reed, of Mil ford. Wis., on page 409. I have 

 had most satisfactory dealings with Mr. fleed, and I 

 wish the man success; not only because I believe 

 him to be honest, but becnuse he is a chronic inva- 

 lid and needs the good reputation he has earned in 

 his transactions with me. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Frit'iid IL, I am astoni.slied at what you 

 say ill your opening paragrapli ; but as 

 the subject is one of such vital iniportance 

 I have decided to answer it by the article 

 given below.— In regard to wide frames 

 and T supers, my position was. for a good 

 many years, that the wide frame afforded 

 the best protection. So many were against 

 me, however, I was compelled to give in a 

 little in regard to T supers ; but it seems 

 now, friend H., you are getting back to 

 where I used to be. The wide frame is, 

 however, a more expensive arrangement than 

 the T super.— I am very glad indeed to have 

 you speak a good word for friend Reed. It 

 is always a pleasure to me to recommend 

 men for promptness and honesty. 



THE WATER "WE DRINK, ETC. 



THE CONSIDERATION OF A QUESTION PROPOUND- 

 ED BY FRIEND HEDDON ON PREVIOUS PA(;E. 



T I'RESUME frieud Heddon has not had 

 M the experience in underd raining ground 

 W that friend Terry and myself have had. 

 '^■*- While visiting at riof. Cook's I found 

 he also had some splendid underdrain- 

 ing on his farm. Well, now, our soil is such 

 a stiff clay that farmers dig holes in the lots, 

 for watering cattle, that hold all summer ; 

 but for all that, we have proved by many 

 experiments that underdrains will draw tlie 

 water from 10 to 20 feet in each direction, 

 the distance depending upon the depth of 

 the undei'drain. For instance, it is laid 

 down in tlu^ books that underdrains 2 feet 

 deep should be 20 feet apart ; 8 feet deep, HO 

 feet apart ; and 4 feet deep, 40 feet apart. 

 When our underdrains were first put in, I 

 was a little skeptical about the water find- 

 ing its way to tlie underdrains as far as 20 

 feet off ; but soon I found the water passed 

 off from the surface of the ground quicker 

 and quicker, indicating that the water had 

 formed passageways, even down through 

 thp hard yellow clay subsoil. Now, if an 



underdrain 4 feet deep drains the water out 

 of the ground for 20 feet in each direction, 

 vvliat would an underdrain do that is 5 or 

 feet dcepV Of course, tliere will be a limit 

 soiuewiiere ; but 1 am inclined to think tliat 

 a well tiiat is ^'o or more feet down to the sur- 

 face of the water, will, in the process of 

 years, take up siuface water for a distance 

 of seveial rods in every direction from the 

 well. Now, then, the point friend Ileddon 

 mnkes is, Avonld not this foul water become 

 so thoroughly filtered in passing through 

 such a mass of earth (or savd, as he terms it) 

 as to be practically pure and fit for drinking 

 when it reaches the water in the well? 

 This would be the case for some little time 

 after the well was first dug ; but all who 

 us,:; filtering material are aware that, sooner 

 or later, the filtering material becomes load- 

 ed, and (loos not act as a filter any longer. 

 Now. if a privy-vault were only 2o feet away 

 from the well,! feel quite satisfied that, in 

 the course of four or five years, it would af- 

 fect the water in the well. In sandy soils, I 

 should think it might in less than one year. 

 Tlie microscope, 1 believe, will indicate pos- 

 itively whether the well - water contains 

 matter of this description ; and a great 

 many times it is perceptible to the taste, 

 that the water of certain M'ells has become 

 contaminited by diainings from sinks, sta- 

 bles, pig-sties, or places such as friend H. 

 has mentioned. There is one reason why 

 the occupants of the dwelling do not notice 

 it. By being accustomed to it day by day 

 their perceptive faculties in regard totaste 

 become so accustomed to it that it is not no- 

 ticed. I remember, that, when I was a 

 small boy, father and I went to a tannery. 

 I said to him. "• Father how can those peo- 

 ple live in such an awful stench and smellV" 



He asked one of the workmen how it was. 

 The reply was, that they did not notice any 

 smell at all ; and father told me that, after I 

 had remained there a little wliile. / would 

 not notice it either, and I found it to be the 

 case, and I i^resume many other people have 

 remarked the same thing over and over. 

 The people who are usiiig water that has 

 death and disease in it have become so grad- 

 ually accustomed to it that they don't dis- 

 cover by the taste any thing aniiss at all ; a 

 stranger, however, who has been accustom- 

 ed to pure spring water would be sickened 

 by a single glass, and w^ould at once pro- 

 nounce it unsafe. 



I am inclined to think that the greater 

 part of our fevers, especially the typhoid 

 type, and possibly the class of throat dis- 

 eV.ses in the line of diphtheria, mostly have 

 their origin and growth from carelessness 

 in regard to the location of our wells. ^lany 

 of the cisterns are but little better. I be- 

 lieve Mr. Terry has given us the remedy, 

 but I am afraid that even that remedy is 

 not a perfect one. There is one thing we 

 can all do; and that is, we can have the 

 ground around our wells descend outward 

 in eveiy direction. This will carry the rain 

 water away, and standing water during 

 spring time and winter. Having the ground 

 around the well thoroughly underdrained, 

 and a good free outlet, accomplishes a good 

 deal ill thjs direptiqn. This surface water, 



