T-HE MMMRICMIt BEE JOtJRHKlL-. 



75 



^^^^^^^*^^^t ^* ^^^^^^^^ 



cept on Mr. Hedilon's divisibli^ brood- 

 ohaniber. 



j\ly piu'ijost! fi-oin the first was, that 

 it sliuuld lie free to all boc-kocpers to 

 make and use. I afterwards sought to 

 control its geniiral mannfactun^ by a 

 patent, and in a pending applieation 

 of Mr. W. S. Kline and myself, laid 

 claim to it, which was duly allowed. 

 In assigning this claim, the Patent 

 Olricc decided it a " misjoinder," and 

 it had to be cancelled. It was learned 

 subsequently that a patent, if obtatned, 

 would be invalid, owing to certain 

 decisions of United States courts that 

 were unknown to me. Hence, no 

 further action was taken or desired. 

 It is sufficient to know that it was a 

 patentable invention, and that I could 

 yet obtain a valid patent, if I had not 

 made the invention jiublic, as stated 

 by Mr. Heddon. I have suft'ered no 

 loss in the matter, and now only de- 

 sire the credit tliat clearly belongs to 

 me ; and I shall insist, that if this 

 honey-board is to be called anything 

 else than a wood-zinc honey-board, it 

 shall be designated as " Dr. Tinker's." 



In opposing the use of two-rowed 

 zinc in my honey-board, Mr. Heddon 

 says — "great anil expensive mistakes 

 are made regarding this point." But 

 should he make ten times the number 

 of tests with his bees to prove his posi- 

 tion, it would not help the matter a 

 particle. The general facts on this 

 point are exact! y an I have slated. His 

 bees are mainly blacks and hybrids, 

 and it is well-known that these bees 

 will go through small anger-holes, and 

 store honey, when Italians will not, as 

 a rule. So Mr. Heddon's tests in the 

 matter are not worth a fig. While his 

 bees may work fairly well through a 

 few queen-e.xcluding holes in his 

 honey-boards, mine will not ; and nine 

 out of ten of all the colonies in this 

 country will not ! 



Again, two-rowed zincs used in my 

 honey-boards practically opens up the 

 way to a super of open-side sections, 

 or to an extracting super, so perfectly 

 that it is like placing an empty box on 

 the hive, as regards giving room to 

 prevent swarming, and the result is 

 the same. 



Now I will be kind enough to tell 

 Mr. Heddon that one of my honej-- 

 boards used on one division of his hive 

 will almost entirely overcome the ten- 

 dency to swarm out of such contracted 

 quarters. Some of the bee-keepers 

 using his hive have had to re-hive 

 swarms from five to six times before 

 thej' would stay ; and in a large apiary 

 the annoyance has been a serious 

 matter, requiring the use of a queen- 

 trap before every young swarm. One 

 division of his hive is too small, and 

 the whole brood-chamber is too largo 

 for a swarm, but if those who have his 



hives will use my lioney-boards, they 

 will succeed far better. 



I am tenacious of the point that th(! 

 zinc strips should lie let into the slats 

 nearly up to the rows of perforations, 

 so that tlie bees can get a ready foot- 

 hold on the wood, and get through the 

 zinc without a struggle. While solid 

 .sheets of perforated zinc are not a fail- 

 ure, still they arc not equal to my 

 wood-zinc honey-board, and can never 

 be made the equal. 



Stoi-ifying; Hives. 



As to the use of the English word 

 " storify " instead of the word " tier," 

 I consider it the more elegant and ex- 

 pressive term. I desire no credit for 

 its original use. Our English brethren 

 have long used it synonymously with 

 our use of the word " tier." I have 

 never applied the word to the manage- 

 ment of the Heddon hive as alleged. 

 Not even in one instance did I operate 

 the Heddon hives I had, on the plan 

 given in my new management of bees. 



I supposed Mr. Heddon knew that 

 my apiary had been run for years for 

 experimental purposes, and that I had 

 many kinds of hives in use. The new 

 management is to be credited to the 

 invention of the wood-zine honey- 

 board. 



New Philadelphia, O. 



[We cannot afford space to unim- 

 portant disputes where nothing is at 

 stake but personal glory. Messrs. 

 Heddon and Tinker have each pre- 

 sented his side of the controversj^, 

 by one article — now let that suffice. 



This dispute concerning the "priority 

 of invention " may be settled amicably 

 by simply calling it " the wood-zinc 

 honey-board," omitting any personal 

 name. — Ed.] 



VERMONT. 



Report of the Vermont Bee. 

 Keepers' Convention. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY J. H. LARRABEE. 



The annual convention of the Ver- 

 mont State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 was held in the Town Hall at Middle- 

 bury, Vt., on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 1889. 



At 10 a.m. the convention was called 

 to order, with President Holmes in the 

 chair. After routine business, the first 

 subject of interest discussed was, 



YVintering: of llees in Special 

 l£e|iO!«ilorics. 



The discussion was led by J. E. 

 Crane, who had for many years' win- 

 tered hundreds of colonies out-of- 



doors. During the past two or three 

 years he had experimented <juite 

 largely with cellar wintering, and at 

 the present time he has about l.'iO col- 

 onies in a special repository under his 

 resilience. Ho had no special means 

 of ventilation in the i-epository, except 

 a pipe connecting with the chimney. 

 The cellar was very dry. Wlien first 

 put in, the bees were the most quiet at 

 a temperature of from 5(P to 55°, and 

 in some cases even at 60°. Towards 

 spring, however, the temperature 

 should be lowered, or early breeding 

 and uneasiness would result. 



Mr. C. had placed his bees in the 

 cellar early, and not removed them 

 until natural pollen could be ob- 

 tained, even six months confinement 

 proving safe, if the bees are quiet. He 

 had been very agreeably surprised in 

 the results obtained, as the bees win- 

 tered in-doors had compared favorably 

 in results obtained with the bees of his 

 other apiaries wintered in chaff 

 packing. 



The above came as a revelation to 

 the most of those present, as only some 

 five or six wintered their bees in cel- 

 lars. Much interest was manifested, 

 and many questions asked, in reply to 

 some of which Mr. Crane stated, that 

 he ventilated each hive by raising the 

 cover 1 of an inch at one end ; that the 

 consumption of honey per colony in 

 the cellar was less than out-doors, but 

 he could not state the saving in honey 

 to the bee-keeper, as much honey was 

 consumed in the spring. 



Next followed reports of winter 

 losses for the winter of 1887-88, which 

 showed that the losses were heavier 

 than usual, some of our best bee-men 

 reporting from 10 to 20 per cent., and 

 some (notably Mr. F. H. Walker, of 

 Manchester, who lost 80 colonies out 

 of 167) were somewhat discouraged in 

 consequence of it. Sympathy was not 

 lacking. 



AFTEK:>iOOr« SESSIOI^. 



At the opening of the afternoon ses- 

 sion, a new Constitution was presented, 

 discussed and adopted. It is hoped 

 that this Constitution will broaden the 

 field of labor of the Society, and pro- 

 mote its usefulness. All members un- 

 der the old Constitution become mem- 

 bers of the " new," by the act of 

 signing it. 



The following Board of Officers were 

 then elected : 



President, R. H. Holmes, of Shore- 

 ham ; Vice-Presidents, one from each 

 county represented, viz : Addison 

 county, J. E. Crane, of Middlel)ury ; 

 Bennington, F. H. Walker, Manches- 

 ter ; Chittenden, Geo. Beecher, of 

 Essex ; Caledonia, J. D. Goodrich, of 

 East Hardwick ; Franklin, B.P.Greene, 

 of St. Albans ; Lamoille, J. W. Smith, 



