100 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Fkb. 



aud declare in favor ol" wide f i-aiiics and separators. 

 That statement auinses inc. 1 presume you have 

 been too very busy to have noticed that in my writ- 

 ings for papers I have favored them some two or 

 thi-ee years when used one story, upon the tiering- 

 up plan. I was driven from their use, as well as the 

 hundreds who went with me, from our experience 

 with them in two-story supers. I was led to the use 

 of them again some four years ago through the so- 

 licitations of Mr. Oatnian, and announced my suc- 

 cess and pleaaure with them as fast as experienced. 

 I must change every week, if 'tis necessary to pro- 

 gression; but I thiuk you have covered me over a 

 little too deep in this instance. You did not men- 

 tion the peculiar features adapting the horizontal 

 Viarts to reversing in two ditferent ways. One, by 

 having a half bee-space on either side of the frames 

 in each case and the honey-board, and of having all 

 of the bee-space on one side, pushing the frames 

 through at each reversion. 



Yes, this shallow hive is not only "splendid for 

 shipping bees," but owing to its depth, weight, char- 

 acter, and fixedness of the combs and the cases, it is 

 splendid to move anywhere about the apiary, or in 

 a I'epository, as well as to the railroad station. 1 

 now come to your objection to the tiers of series 

 of shallow combs; and 1 must say that I can not be- 

 lieve that you have had experience upon this point. 

 From the standpoint of my experience, it astonishes 

 me that any one should think that queens will not 

 breed rapidly in shallow combs. I feel sure that 

 this is the echo of the same frightened tones that 

 were loudly heard when father Langstroth took his 

 grand step from box hives 18 inches tall to his "dan- 

 gerous shallow hive." You speak of "less than 5 

 inches of comb depth." My combs are only 's inch 

 less, and my experience has firmly convinced me 

 that I can take two tiers of combs, no more than 

 three or four inches deep, and all of 24 to 30 inches 

 long (to get capacity), arranged with the "sticks and 

 spaces" as mine are, and, by the iutercha»gi»iJ, can 

 encourage breeding faster, with less expense, than 

 can be produced in any other way with any depth of 

 combs; or I will just let the two cases alone, and 

 agree to equal in brood any other form of hive, all 

 other influences being the same. We know this by 

 hundrcdsf of experiments: and friend Bingham, 

 withh is 2.5 years' expei'ience with colonies, in hives 

 containing eight combs i^-i inches deep and 22 inches 

 long, believes that, in these combs, brood is produced 

 faster than in any other form. 



I have used one of his hives eight years; and as 

 far as my observation goes, on the one hive, T would 

 say the shallower the better, for brooding. 



Do you forget how our queens often produce 

 twice the brood in two or three tiers of L. frames 

 (passing honey-boards and perforated bottoms) that 

 they will in one tier, even though that one be large 

 enough to hold all the brood, if it were all concen- 

 trated? 



Do you forget the rousing swarms from old box 

 hives full of cross-sticks, with the combs all in jags 

 and pieces, which have oft and repeatedly been 

 praised for the winter passages they created You 

 did not mention the adaptability to contraction, so 

 highly prized by friends Hutchinson, Doolittle, and 

 others, bringing out the fact that only one section 

 or brood-case is used during the greater part of the 

 year. 



A WORD .ISOUT MY P.4TENT. 



BegJinUnS' the originality of my iqvontiou, ym 



have spoken quite correctly in one sense, yet ] fear 

 you have left a wrong impression. I knew that 

 closed-end frames were old; also that, though 1 was 

 an original inventor of screws for tightening frames, 

 others wei'C original in the idea before me, and that 

 it is not patentable. 



I am also aware that J am not original in using 

 frames around bee comb, nor of honey-boards of 

 some kind, nor of using wood for beehives. I don't 

 believe there is a man in the world bright enough to 

 make an improvement in hives, harvesters, sewing- 

 machines, watches, and, 1 might say, nearly every 

 useful article known to man, without using old 

 parts mainly. If he has one new feature, or a valu- 

 able combination of old ones that will carry into ef- 

 fect a new and useful system, he does well, and at 

 once commands my respect, and the earnest atten- 

 tion of the Patent Office. All, yourself among the 

 number, have credited to me a new and original 

 sj'stera of management, and the new hive is a pe- 

 culiar combination of parts and principles intended 

 to be best adapted to woi-king that system, and that 

 combination is what we have endeavored to secure 

 by letters-patent. If the new hive and peculiar 

 system of management are worthless, a patent can 

 do no harm; if useful, should 1 have no part of the 

 value thereof ? In my chapter on patents I endeav- 

 ored to make these points clear. If my reasoning is 

 unsound, I should thank you for correction. If I 

 have not already given enough of value to the pub- 

 lic to amount to my full share in the line of presents, 

 I here ask you to publicly tell me so. 



I shall be pleased to send you a complete hive, 

 and enjoy seeing some accurate illustrations of it. 

 Wouldn't it be well to allow me or friend Hutchin- 

 son to explain its workings, and the system of 

 management adapted to it, we and my students be- 

 ing the only ones who have passed it through the 

 crucible of practical experiment';' 



DoAvagiae, Mich. James Heduon. 



Friend IL, I shall be very glad to have you 

 write an explanation to the engravings after 

 I have had them made; in fact. I greatly 

 prefer you should do so. as I, of course, have 

 had no experience as yet in using such a 

 hive with bees in it. 



THE STINGLESS BEES OF MEXICO. 



THEIR MANDIBLES A MEANS i)V DEFENSE. 



have learned through the many travelers 

 whom I have seen and conversed Avith on this to me 

 very interesting subject. I have a brother who 

 sojourned in the sunny clime of the State of Sinc- 

 loa for a little more than one year. He says they 

 are very numerous. He says he was out in the 

 woods shooting birds, called by the natives chichi- 

 lacs (a bird something like the guinea in size and 

 habits), and ivhen they had flred their guns ofl', and 

 were reloading, his companion said to him, " Wlien 

 we get our guns loaded we will have a bait of 

 honey." 



My brother was surprised, for he had not, during 

 all his stay in that country, §cen citber bces or 

 honey; but when thcjr gruns were reloaded his com- 

 panion looked him straight in the face, and, smiling, 



