314 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



touching my criticism of his method of 

 preventing after-swarms. In the heat of 

 his onset he falls into several errors. The 

 first error I notice is the idea he harbors 

 that the method I pursue for preventing 

 after swarms is bound up with the Hed- 

 don hive. He says "the especial part of 

 this criticism comes in your failure to 

 take into consideration that not one Hed- 

 don hive is in use to where there areji/ty 

 to one hundred other kinds of hives." 

 But, my brother, I did not fail to take that 

 into consideration. I have followed the 

 plan probably as much with other hives 

 as I have with the Heddon; and it is just 

 as convenient with them as with the Hed- 

 don; always excepting chaff hives, tene- 

 ment hives and house apiaries. These 

 latter are stationary; and no one using 

 either of them would suppose I advised 

 my plan for either of them. 



The second error Doolittle falls into is 

 where, after referring to my largely us- 

 ing the Heddon hive, hesa3's, "and wishes 

 to engage others toward a favorable 

 opinion of that hive. ' ' This is gratui- 

 tous, if not unkind. 



Further along he seems to imply that I 

 have some other sinister motive in giving 

 my plan; as he paraphrased me, I may be 

 allowed to paraphrase him: "And now Bro. 

 Doolittle I am perfectly willing that each 

 reader of the Review should use the 

 Doolittle plan of preventing after-swarms 

 if he believes it more to his ease and com- 

 fort so to do, for I give my plans and ways 

 of working only with the hope that it 

 may help, ease and lighten the burdens 

 of my brethren and sisters. ' ' 



A fourth error he falls into is his sup- 

 position that I made queen traps a neces- 

 sary part of my plan. I do not. They 

 are very convenient, however, and would 

 be as convenient in Doolittle's plan as in 

 mine; in fact, if I practiced his plan I 

 should con.sider them a necessity. As 

 to the cost of them, of which Doolittle 

 makes so much, they surely save me that 

 in one way and another many times over; 

 indeed, their first cost is not heavy if one 

 makes them himself as he should. 



Doolittle's counterclaim that his plan 

 is less laborious and time consuming than 

 mine seems ridiculous to me; but I sup- 

 pose this is only a good illustration of 

 how much better one's own way of doing 

 things seems than some other person's 

 way. Of course, my plan would not do 

 very well for invalids, or weakly women ; 

 neither would Doolittle's unless there be 

 some one who delights in a broiling sun. 

 This, with what I had already said in 

 speaking of hives, illustrates Bro. Doo- 

 little's fifth error, viz., that apian to be 

 of value must be the best for every sort 

 of hive and and for every individvial bee- 

 keeper. Another one is his supposition 

 that it is literally necessary to raise up a 

 hive and carry it away. I generallj' do 

 that because I can do it without difficulty, 

 and quickly, but giving it two or three 

 hitches at one end and the other is just 

 as good. As to the consumption of time, 

 I certainly can do all the work necessary 

 in a case inside of two minutes; and I 

 would put down any one who can cut all 

 the qneen cells from the hive of a strong 

 colon)' with certainty within that time as 

 a marvel. Doolittle writes the editor of 

 the American Bee Journal, page 585, "I 

 am driven to work from 5 A. M. to 9;3o 

 P. M., out in the hot sun the larger part 

 of the time." I suppose I oughtn't, but 

 I can't help putting this and that togeth- 

 er. 



THE OUEEN L.WING .\CCORDING TO 

 NATURE. 



Dr. Miller when in a controversy some- 

 times seems to have a happy faculty of 

 overlooking the part of a matter that 

 might interfere with his making the 

 point desired. Thus, in Gleanings 645, 

 he says: "According to Bro. Doolittle, 

 page 624, Nature's plan is to have eggs in 

 the brood nest placed 'in the center, al- 

 ways. ' Then when a queen varies from 

 Nature's plan, when left to herself, by ' 

 putting eggs all around the outside of the 

 brood, Bro. Doolittle will you please tell 

 us whose plan that is?" If the doctor 

 had seen the whole matter he would have 

 found it according to Doolittle to have 



