no 



(JLIOANIKGS IN JJKK CUl/rUHK. 



Mar. 



to their wants. Wedid not g'o to the trouble to exam- 

 ine all the hives in a. yard. We would open about 

 10 or 13, take a look at them, and make up our mind 

 how much they wanted, and then feed all the colo- 

 nies in the j'ard alike. Be sure to give them enoug-h. 

 It is much better to feed in the fall than in the 

 spring-. 



Now just a word about hives. T very much pre- 

 fer aq uadruple hive, four colonies; then have it 

 doubled-walled, and fill in between the walls with 

 chaff. We are making and using my improved 

 Metcalf hive and some Langstroth hives; but for 

 our own use we put theL. hive in a quadruple form, 

 two or more stories high, lined all around the out 

 side with a chatf cushion. The cushions are put in- 

 side of the hive. We winter all our bees outdoors, 

 and we have to give them all the protection we can. 



Platteville, Wis. E. Fkance. 



Thanks, friend F., for the valuable facts 

 you give us. The matter you mention in re- 

 gard to extracting just enough and no more 

 is indeed a tine point. AVe once had a simi- 

 lar experience. During the last of my ex- 

 tracting, the robbers got so bad we stopped, 

 and the last half of our apiary was not tin- 

 ished at all. They wintered nicely, while 

 the half that had been extracted, a good 

 many of them starved, and others had lo be 

 tinkered with. Now, let me suggest that 

 taking out heavy combs and setiiug them 

 awav will iix this nicely. 1 know it is some 

 trouble, but I tlnnk it is more trouble to 

 throw honey out of combs, and then feed it 

 back again. From the experiments recently 

 given in feeding back extracted honey to get 

 sections finished, it looks as if from one- 

 fourth to one-half of your honey is lost where 

 you throw it out and then feed it back, com- 

 pared with the plan of just lifting full capped 

 combs from the hives and setting them back 

 when needed. I may suggest to our readers, 

 that friend France is the one who gave us 

 the idea of the pepper-box feeder, shown in 

 our price list, page 13. I am ghid to hear 

 that somebody is using tenement hives, and 

 likes them. 



NOTES FKOM THE BANNER APIARY. 



NO. V5. 



MR. HEDDON'S new HIVE .»ND SYSTEM. 



'HEN Mr. Heddon explained to me, a year 

 ■'' ago, the beauty and originality of his new 

 hive and system, I was fairly captivated. 

 I then felt, and still feel, that his invention 

 is second only to father Langstroth's. I 

 firmly believe, in fact I know, from actual experi- 

 ence with the hive, that Mr. Heddon has given us a 

 movable hive, in the sense that we before had a 

 movable frame. I Iniow that almost every manipu- 

 lation in an apiary run for honey can be performed 

 without i-emoving a single frame. It is a grand 

 step. Although well satisfied of what could be 

 done with his hive, Mr. Heddon did not patent it 

 until he had proved, by two years' actual work with 

 it, that it was worthy of a patent. Naturally, Mr. 

 Heddon expected, when he made public his inven- 

 tion, that there would be some "pooh-poohing" 

 done; and then, when its value was finally recog- 

 nized, he expected to hear the assertion that it was 

 not new. He was mistaken in only one particular. 



and that is in the amount of "pooh-poohing" that 

 would be done. The cry of "worthless" was 

 scarcely breathed ere it died upon the lips that ut- 

 tered it, and was dropped for the one of " Oh! it's 

 old, it's old. It's old "—the very same cry with which 

 father Langstroth was " dogged." Now, all bee- 

 keepers rise up and call him blessed. Let us not re- 

 peat the mistake of our fathers. 



Let us not first assume that Mr. Heddon's hive is 

 "old," and titen ransack the Old World as well as 

 the New for proofs of our assumptions; let us not 

 desire to arrive at a certain conclusion, but rather 

 to learn the tridli. 



Mr. Heddon does not claim to be the inventor of 

 shallow frames, of revei-sible frames, of reversible 

 hives, nor of " thumbscrews;" but he was the first 

 to invent and make public the construction of a 

 brood-chaniher, not "liive" (here is where those who 

 cry "old," "old," make their mistake) in two hori- 

 zontal, separable sections. While he claims them 

 only when invertible, he has a moral right to them 

 in any shape; and let any supply-dealer now adver- 

 tise Langstroth brood chambers in two horizontal, 

 separable, intorchmgeable sections, and the moral 

 sense of the community will at once recognize the 

 thelt. That Mr. Heddon had in mind the fact that 

 many advantages would accrue from using shallow 

 Langstroth frames, and interchanging them, is 

 shown by the third paragraph on (jage !I6 of "Suc- 

 cess in Reo (Culture." It reads as follows: " Having 

 the brood-chamber in two horizontal sections, or 

 parts, admitting of interchanging the upper with 

 the lower portion at will, for the purposes specified, 

 placing the part below containing the most honej', 

 putting both in a new i)osition, produces many of 

 the same results and advantages given us by inver- 

 ting. . ." 



Those who are thinking of evading Mr. Heddon's 

 patent by using half-depth Langstroth frames 

 should know that they are losing many advantages 

 by so doing. A single section can not be inverted, 

 which is an advantage when only one case is used, 

 as in contracting the brood-nest. The frames will 

 never be solid full of comb. Queen-cells can not be 

 so easily clipped without removing frames, and the 

 bees can not be shaken from the case, as the 

 frames are loose. 



I am well aware that many of our inventions are 

 the result of many minds. It is seldom that one in- 

 ventor makes such a jump as did father Lang- 

 stroth; but each space covered by a "little jump " 

 belongs to the man who cleared it, and is patenta- 

 ble. Perhaps many of the readers of Gleanings 

 do not know exactly what Mr. Heddon has invent- 

 ed. For their benefit I will give some of his most 

 prominent claims. 



1. Arranging comb-frames within a case which is a 

 bee-space deeper than the frames, in such a manner 

 as to hold them securely at will in a central posi- 

 tion, leaving half a bee-space on each side, or readi- 

 ly shifting the whole bee space to either side. 



3. He was long since the inventor of a honey- 

 board containing one or more bee-spaces, or parts 

 thereof, on one or both sides, and he now claims 

 such a board when used in comhination with a hive 

 whose Jirood-ciiamher is constructed in two or more 

 horizontal, separable, and interchangeable sections. 



3. The use of a set-screw, when comhincd with 

 closed-end frames, in a case, md>sta7iLially as he uses 

 it. 



i. The projecting tin rests, when used in cnmhi- 



