Feb. 23, 190S. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



139 



After adopting indoor wintering' he moved all of his 

 bees home in the fall and away again in the spring. To 

 avoid this extra work, and for other reasons, he, some year', 

 ago (1889), established his Virginia apiaries. The season 

 of 1903 he had more bees there than in this State. The 

 shrinkage in numbers here was owing to the devastations 

 of black brood, which, to quote Capt. Hetherington, " Is 

 twenty times as bad as foul brood ". One of the means 

 lately used to fight this disease has been the introduction of 

 Carniolan queens, which, on account of their prolificness, 

 keep up the strength of the colonies even though quite a 

 percentage of the brood dies of the disease. He had pre- 

 viously been well pleased with this race in his Virginia api- 

 aries, where he introduced them for the purpose of carrying 

 on brood-rearing during the usual summer dearth of honey 

 there. Their good disposition and wintering qualities were 

 found as represented, while as gatherers of buckwheat 

 honey they proved to be ahead of the yellow bees. 



Perhaps no incident in his life better illustrates certain 

 characteristics of the man than does the establishment of 

 his Virginia apiaries. His brother Oliver, of Michigan, 

 through a friend had become informed as to the bee-keep- 

 ing resources of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and 

 during a visit to his old home had canvassed with the Cap- 

 tain the advantages of keeping bees where the honey was 

 all white, and where they could be wintered safely unpro- 

 tected on the summer stands. A few days after the Captain 

 was in Virginia, when he soon concluded this would be a 

 favorable spot to locate the natural increase of his business. 

 And a most prominent characteristic of the man was that 

 after making up his mind to do a thing he did it without 

 delay. His executive abilities were equal to any task in 

 hand. 



In this case he resolved to locate a thousand colonies of 

 bees in Virginia in time for the fall flow of honey, which 

 commenced in two weeks. He wired home, ordering lumber 

 for the hives and castings made for the Van Deusen frame- 

 corners, into which he transferred the bees. The hives had 

 to be built complete from lumber in the rough, and given 

 two coats of paint. The bees were in various out-apiaries 

 from 2 to 12 miles from home. These had to be hauled in 

 and transferred, comb and bees, into the new hives (putting 

 2 colonies together for extra strength), and then a little 

 time given the bees to unite the comb for a thousand-mile 

 journey. 



The writer, in ignorance of his undertaking, happened 

 over for a visit when he was in the midst of his prepara- 

 tions. He briefly explained his plans, but when it was pro- 

 posed that the visit be postponed to a later date, he em- 

 phatically refused to entertain the proposal, saying he had 

 nothing to do but oversee his men, and as each had his 

 day's work assigned him, he did not expect much inter- 

 ruption. Twenty-nine men were at work that day. Every 

 man had his place. There was no bustle nor confusion, and 

 everything went off like clock-work. The bees were moved 

 nearly on time, what delay there was being caused by others 

 not in personal touch failing to do their part promptly. 



The management of the large number of colonies kept 

 by Capt. Hetherington has necessarily always been in a 

 systematic, wholesale way, to which we may fairly apply 

 the word extensive rather than intensive. In order that this 

 system of management might apply to all alike, his bees 

 were carefully equalized early in the season. In a good 

 many of the details of his business, however, the word 

 "intensive" might very appropriately be applied, for in 

 the mechanical perfection of his supplies and appliances of 

 all kinds, in the careful looking after the welfare of each 

 individual colony, in the supersedure of old or unworthy 

 queens, and in the neatness and order displayed in every 

 branch of his business, even to the minutest detail, he far 

 surpassed the average keeper of a dozen colonies. So well 

 did he look after the details of his business that it was 

 almost impossible to inquire for any implement or article 

 used or remnant left but that he could tell where it was. 



As soon as possible after giving the bees a flight in the 

 spring they were moved to the out-yards, after which they 

 were visited as often as necessary, or about once in nine or 

 ten days during the honey-gathering season, unless special 

 work like queen-rearing required a more frequent visita- 

 tion. A plot of ground was rented on which to set the bees, 

 and to each yard was moved a small sectional bee-house 

 and a wheelbarrow. No one looked after the occasion;! 

 swarms issuing, for, as the queens' wings were clipped, sucn 

 swarms would return. 



For some time after adopting the new Quinby hive, i'o 

 labored with Mr. Quinby to prevent swarming by givi ,'• 

 shade, young queens, and plenty of room in surplus a::l 



brood apartments of the hive ; and in 1868 he succeeded in 

 preventing all increase from the ISO colonies then under ex- 

 periment. What worked well in one season, however, did 

 not succeed in all, and it was not until he practiced remov- 



View of Capt. Hetherington's first Wintering-Cellar. The roof covered 



with a foot of earth and then a board roof. The stones 



shown are for the new cellar. 



ing the queen that he was entirely successful in controlling 

 swarming. After the advent of black brood it was dis- 

 covered that removing the queen was also beneficial in 

 checking this disease. 



More than a score of years ago he adopted the T clamp 

 with the one-pound section. At first his honey was all in 

 glass, but of late years he shipped it unglassed, much in 

 paper cartons. 



In the fall the bees were carefully looked over, and all 

 those lacking in bees were rejected. Some seasons as 

 many as one-third were thrown out. 



In connection with his last attempts at outdoor winter- 

 ing, he experimented quite largely with plaster of Paris as 

 a material for bee-hives, it being an excellent non-conduc- 

 tor of heat, and a good absorbent of moisture. He soon dis- 

 covered that in common with the absorbents heretofore 

 used, in proportion as it became saturated with moisture, it 

 lost its non-conducting properties. He, therefore, after a 

 most thorough trial with almost all kinds of hives, and all 

 kinds of packing material, abandoned outdoor wintering as 

 unsuited to his severe climate, where a five months' con- 

 finement to the hive without a flight is occasionally experi- 

 enced. 



Winters like that of 1903-04 would cause disastrous 

 losses. In the high mountainous region in which Cherry 

 Valley is situated, successful wintering has been the most 

 diSicult part of bee-keeping, as the honey-bee is indigenous 

 to warmer climates, and when removed to long winters it 

 does not bear confinement well, unless every condition is 

 perfect. Both on account of climate and of the poor quality 

 of the late stores sometimes gathered in this locality, the 

 wintering problem was the last one to be solved by Capt. 



Capt. Hetherington's new Bee-Cellar. \ cntilators are large and open 



all the time. Also openings in the floors over the bees which 



are open except in the coldest weather. He believed 



in abundant ventilation for bees. 



Hetherington, and the solution of this cost him a mint of 

 money and a score of years. 



For the last dozen years he wintered his bees as well as 

 farmers winter any kind of live stock. A year ago he took 



