88 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLFRNAL. 



For she American Bee Jourcii. 



Pollen, Reversible Frames, etc. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



Some correspondents are making 

 bee-literature very lively for the 

 subscriber. I must be wrong about al- 

 most everything regarding apiculture. 

 How I have succeeded in producing 

 honey in the past, or how 1 am to do 

 80 in the future, is beginning to look 

 like a doubtful problem. 



I read Mr. Corneil's fair, honest, 

 and candid article, on page 5o, with 

 much pleasure. If the future says 

 "the pollen theory must go," no one 

 will be more ready to kick it out of 

 the way of our progress than 1. I 

 have only put it forth as a theory, 

 regarding which my observation aiid 

 experience had pointed to as the cor- 

 rect one. Should it prove false (and I 

 think this severe winter, in connee- 

 nection witli the now prevailing ex- 

 periments, will settle it), I can die 

 easy in company with Prof, Cook, Dr. 

 Mason and— and a score of other such 

 men upon whose shoulders honest 

 error always rests with much grace. 



I had, of course, before read Mr, 

 Corneil's compilation of statements 

 negative to the pollen theory, but 

 there are a larger number of state- 

 ments arguing tbe other way which 

 might also be arrayed against Mr. 

 CorneiTs aggregation ; but why take 

 up more space ? Let it rest with 

 future experiment ; and if the pollen 

 theory does go. I shall look toward 

 Mr, Corneil as the man best fitted to 

 tell us which way to look next. 



Mr. Clarke is also willing to "calmly 

 await the impending award ;" so am 

 I. I do not take up arms against a 

 state of quietude, a condition long 

 cherished by bee-keepers, a thing of 

 no newness, but I do take up arms 

 against the theory that bees hibernate 

 in the sense that ants, wasps, and 

 some squirrels do, and quite likely the 

 very one thac Mr. Clarke had in mind 

 when he (irst started out, as he made 

 the claim of something new, and told 

 us that lie wanted a low temperature 

 changing witli a higher one, to bring 

 on this hibernation. 



lie says that the pollen theory 

 blinds me so I cannot see through 

 the hibernation theory; and Mr. Cor- 

 neil says "the pollen theory must 

 go." After it has gone, then if I 

 cannot see through the hiliernation 

 theory, what then 'i I wonder if Mr. 

 W. J. Davis is blinded by the pollen- 

 theory, 



Mr Stocking, in few years, will see 

 the error of his ideas as put forth on 

 page V,. I refer him to the market 

 reports on page .M, where he will see 

 that the success of a class of honey- 

 producers in one part of the Knited 

 States is the only reason given for the 

 low price of honey. After awhile he 

 will see the fact that supply and de- 

 mand has its effects upon our pro- 

 ducts as wfdl as all others. 



Farmers who keep bees in Cass 

 county are not as plentiful as they 

 would have been if 1 had been of the 

 same opinion as Mr. Stocking. As it 

 is, they do put considerable honey 



upon the city market where I live. 

 They often put it on at ruinous 

 and foolish prices. Failing opposi- 

 tion is the worst in the world. By 

 and by Mr. Stocking will discover 

 that honey is not a modern com- 

 modity (nothing is new except the 

 style of package and price), and will 

 stop all talk about " educating the 

 people " to the taste and value of a 

 commodity as old as human nature. 

 Honey is a luxury forever. Let bee- 

 keepers go on, talk, lecture and write 

 all they please about the " introduc- 

 tion " of honey, its wonderful health- 

 giving properties, and the terrible 

 effects of glucose, but the facts still 

 remain that tbe consumers of the 

 country consume barrels of the latter 

 to quarts of the former ; and it is my 

 opinion that they always will. I have 

 already passed through the stage in 

 which Mr. S. is now, and when he 

 gets clear through and sees his error, 

 we should like to hear from him. 



REVERSIBLE FRAMES. 



I would say to Mr. Howes that I did 

 mean to claim originality in the in- 

 vention of the revervsible frame, 

 which was illustrated and described 

 on page 8. I may be in error, but I 

 cannot now see in what way this 

 frame infringes on his. Another thing 

 of which I feel very confident, is that 

 it will find favor when his will be dis- 

 carded. Time will also settle this, 

 perhaps. 



Now, in what way are these frames 

 alike, except insomuch that they are 

 hinged in the middle '? Neither one of 

 them is the first frame that was ever 

 hinged in the centre and had its bear- 

 ings at the top. Neither are all three 

 of these centre-hinged frames the 

 first reversible frames. To whom be- 

 longs the original idea of reversing 

 combs at all, I am unable to say. Be 

 that as it may, Mr. Howes and I both 

 borrow that, by general consent. He 

 revolves his wood frame between two 

 flat metal pieces (the samples which 

 he mailed me were of tin), and these 

 metal strips have wood or metal rests 

 attached to them. 



Where has Mr. Howes ever pub- 

 lished or exhibited wood pieces for 

 these side strips V I have never seen 

 or heard of any such thing. His 

 principle is to spring these side-pieces 

 off, and then when the frame is re- 

 volved, let them spring back and lock 

 there. My plan is to revolve a frame 

 within a frame, getting rid of a glue 

 complication (which I think will 

 bother his style of frame badly), by 

 the shears principle of at all times 

 having the sharp corners of the 

 frames shave by one and the other. 

 Where, in Mr. II. 's style of frame is 

 the valuable open space of ^^ of an 

 inch below the centre of the end- 

 piece y 



Now, if Mr. Howes, has made 

 frames and illustrated them to the 

 public, that had wood sides, that did 

 not spring off and on, but worked on 

 the shears principle, even though he 

 had no outer top-bar fastened to 

 them, I should say that the one I 

 illustrated on page 9, was an infringe- 

 ment; because it had the shears prin- 

 ciple and two widths of space be- 



tween the end-bars and ends of the 

 hives, which is a decided advantage 

 over any straight end-bar, forming a 

 regular bee-space ; otherwise, not. 

 If he has made them, and has given 

 to bee-keepers any such frame, will he 

 please say where and when ? I am 

 willing that bee-keepers shall decide 

 it, and I will abide by the result. 

 Dowagiac, p Mich. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Are Bees Taxable in Illinois? 



HENRY UNGER. 



I would like to know whether there 

 is a law in the State of Illinois assess- 

 ing and taxing bees. If there is, who 

 has the right to make such a law, the 

 Legislature of the State or the asses- 

 sors of each county? These two 

 questions I would like to have an- 

 swered through the Bee Journal, 



I have kept more or less bees for 

 the last 20 years, and they never were 

 assessed or taxed until last year. 

 Then, on a fine day in June, the as- 

 sessor of the Town of I'lagg, Illinois, 

 came to me with his book. Having 

 asked all the questions about my per- 

 sonal property, he finally said : " How 

 many bees have you ?" I replied, " I 

 cannot answer that question, for I 

 have never counted them." He said, 

 " That is'nt really the question I 

 wished to ask. How many hives have 

 you got?" I told him the number of 

 hives in which I had bees, and then 

 asked, who gave hira the right to tax 

 insects or bees, and where he could 

 show me the law for doing so ? 



" Well," said he, " there is no law 

 about it at all. All the assessors of 

 Ogle county held a meeting, and the 

 question, ' Are bees taxable i" came 

 up, and they voted to tax bees." I 

 then asked, "How high do you tax 

 bees V" He answered. " From $1 to 

 $2 a • skip.' " I then said, " All right, 

 'skip ' away then.'" 



Now, fellow bee-keepers, look out 

 for yourselves. My intention is to 

 have the assessor count the number 

 of bees in each hive and assess them 

 by the head. The best way to count 

 them would be for him to take hold of 

 them by their rear end. I am sat- 

 isfied that it would not take him long 

 to count them. 



Rochelle,5 His. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bees in Yucatan. 



C. W. YOUNG. 



In an interesting article on Yuca- 

 tan, by Mrs. Alice D. LePlongeon, I 

 find references to bees in that country, 

 which are interesting. 



Describing the ruins of the temple 

 at Uxmal, the writer says: "The 

 place swarms with life. During the 

 months when no rain falls, every 

 creature seems mad with thirst. 

 There are millions of bees, quite 

 harmless, yet very troublesome, for 

 they swarm about one's face and 

 make themselves most annoying. 

 (They must be stingless, otherwise 



