THU SMERICJtls: BElt JOURNAL. 



425 



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wind}- day it took the same bee fifteen 

 minutes to return. 



Red and Alsikc Clovers. 



There is plentj- of clover bloom liere 

 this season, but my 40 full colonies 

 liave not a pound of honey to the hive. 

 It is so wet and rainy that bees get 

 very little time to worlv. I have about 

 one-third of an acre of Alsike clover, 

 and I notice that this is visited by the 

 bees much more than Is the white 

 clover. Some seasons my Italian bees 

 work on red clover, but this season it 

 is not visited b}' them. I once saw a 

 field of red clover covered with Ital- 

 ians, and all underneath was a perfect 

 mat of red clover, and this was cov- 

 ered with black becg, and hardly any 

 Italians ; while the red clover was not 

 visited by a single black bee. The 

 conclusion that I came to was, that the 

 Italians could reach a little deeper for 

 honey than the blacks, and that the 

 red clover sometimes secretes more 

 hone}' than others, and then the bees 

 can reach it. Perhaps the petals are 

 shorter in some seasons than others, 

 and this may account, in part, for 

 Italians working ou red clover in some 

 seasons, and not visiting it in other 

 seasons. 



North Prescolt, Mass. 



IMPARTIALITY. 



Large vili.Siiiali Brood-Cliainbcrs 

 Again Considered. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY -W. ■/.. HUTCHINSON. 



The old question of " Large vs. Small 

 Hives " seems to be fading in the dis- 

 tance, while that of "impartiality" — 

 has the lirvicw editor been impartial ? 

 — is bobbing up serenely. 



It is an easy matter to go through a 

 book or a magazine, and by making 

 selections give a wrong impression. 

 Mr. ]>adant fails to saj' that the Bevicw 

 has contained a few articles favoring 

 large hives. In his revision of "The 

 Honej- Bee,"' he quotes from French 

 authors in favor of large hives. Why 

 not have given a few quotations in 

 favor of small hives ? Instead of so 

 doing, he says : 



We take this opportunity of again ener- 

 getically asserting ttiat our preference for 

 large hives is based on a successful practice 

 of more than twenty years, with several 

 hundred colonies in different sized hives, 

 wliile our opponents could bring forward 

 nothing but their preconceived ideas. 



My ideas in regard to the size of 

 hives are not wholly theoretical. I 

 have kept bees for twelve years, and 

 used hives ranging in size from a two- 

 frame American to one holding 33 

 American frames. Mr. Heddon has 



used many ditlerent sizes of hives; 

 among others he had 30 " long idea " 

 hives, that held 3(1 frames each, and 

 he used them two viai'S before throw- 

 ing thciu away. Mr. Doolittle is well- 

 nigh universalh- looked up to as a 

 leader, and always "gets there" in 

 the production of honoj', and he has 

 for years been pleading for a svuall 

 brood-chamber. 



Adaiu Grimm has been quoted as 

 "the man who made a fortune out of 

 bees," until a mere mention of the 

 matter leaves a " chestnuttj' " flavor 

 upon the palate. He used an S-frame 

 Langstroth hive. 



But why multiply examples ? And 

 yet, in the face of all this, my op- 

 ponent assei'ts that those who argue in 

 favor of small hives can bring forward 

 " nothing but their preconceived 

 ideas." 



Even if large hives were my " night- 

 mare," as Mr. Dadant asserts, I fail to 

 see what bearing my preference for 

 the Heddon hive lias upon the subject ; 

 because, as explained in my last arti- 

 cle in the American Bee Journal, the 

 Heddon hive is endle.fsli/ large. No one 

 can be rightfully accused of mercenary 

 motives in advocating either a large or 

 a small hive, as any one is perfectly 

 free to make any size of hive. 



Mr. Dadant asks " why I did not 

 quote Mr. Jones, who, after bujing 

 the i)atent (to the Heddon hive) for 

 Canada, abaiulotied it ?" One reason 

 is, that nothing of the kind has ap- 

 peared for me to quote ; and I aiu at a 

 loss to know why my opponent should 

 ask such a question. 



In his first article, Mr. Dadant as- 

 serts that a large colony requires no 

 more labor than a small one, and I 

 asked him if he could extract the 

 honey from a large colony as soon as 

 from a small one. This he evades by 

 telling with luiw few day.s' work he 

 and Ml'. Stachclhausen have produced 

 large crops of honey — all of which no 

 one doubts ; but the (luestion is : Can 

 you extract the honey from a large 

 hive as soon as from a small one ? 



Mr. Dadant says that I have con- 

 demned oil-cloths, as I have large 

 hives, without testing them. Large 

 hives I have used, (piilts I have not, to 

 any great extent, and I said .so ; that 

 .seeing other pefqde use them had satis- 

 fied me ; and from this, and from cor- 

 respondence, and from reasoning upon 

 the subject, I honestly believed that 

 the quiits would yet be discarded, and 

 said so, and see nothing in such actions 

 that calls for condemnation. In hives 

 with raised covers or " caps," I pre- 

 sume that quilts are a necessity, but 

 this style of hive is being superseded, 

 and with it will go the quilts. 



All through Mr. Dadanfs article 



"love for the Heddon hive." That 

 the Heddon hive is my preference, I 

 do not dispute. I used and advocated 

 it before I began the luildication of 

 the Ecview ; and when I became an 

 editor, the question arose: "Shall I 

 now become a • bump on a log,' or 

 shall I have ideas ?" I decided to have 

 idea.s, and to express them. If I pre- 

 ferred the Heddon hive, I should say 

 so, giving my reasons ; if I thought 

 that the Bingham smoker and honey- 

 knife were superior, there would be no 

 hesitancy in allowing that fact to be- 

 come known ; the same woulil be true 

 in regard to the Given foundation, 

 four-piece poplar sections, etc., clear 

 down through the category. I would 

 always hold myself in readiness to give 

 reasons for my preferences.or acknowl- 

 edge my errors ; at the same lime 

 allowing others the privileges claimed 

 for myself ; and when I cannot run the 

 Review upon this plan, I shall simply 

 write its obituary, and turn my en- 

 ergies once more to the production of 

 hone}'. 



It is true that I h.ave declined many 

 articles (what editor has not?), some 

 of them from the best writers, and I 

 must continue to do so, unpleasant 

 though it be ; but I have never been 

 actuated by motives of partiality, and 

 have never declined one simply because 

 it " advocated large hives." 



Flint. Mich. 



NEBRASKA. 



The Season and Bec-Kceping 

 in Nebraska. 



Written Jor the American Bee Jmimal 



BY CHESTER A. MOTT. 



runs a. thread of opposition to my 



Bees have been a little backward 

 here this spring, on account of cool 

 nights, which we arc apt to liave 

 through May and the fore])art of June. 

 The bees are getting out in the morn- 

 ing now — I do not know how early, 

 but I believe that they go to work be- 

 fore they get their breakfast, or else 

 they get it pretty early, for they are at 

 work before I am out of bed. and all 

 good bee-keepers get out in the morn- 



iiio- if they do not, I think that they 



should. 



Nebraska has not been a very good 

 State for a large crop of honey in the 

 past, although what honey there is, is 

 very nice ; but I believe that in the 

 near future, it will be a very good 

 State for honey. White clover is 

 spreading fast, and it grows well ; the 

 vards and roadsides, and some of the 

 "fields will soon be white with clover ; 

 also heart's-ease. smart-weed and milk- 

 weed are plentiful. The propects ar« 

 good for a Ijig crop. 



