18S6 



GLEANINGS IN JJEE CULTUKE. 



211 



nation with the set-screws, I'nxme, and case (any 

 claim holds its e(iuivalent), and these tin rests are a 

 grand thing- in comhinaton with the screws, wedges, 

 or levers, or anything- of the l<ind. 



5. The cDinhination, with said comb-fraino cases, of 

 a cover containing- a bee-space, or partial Ijcc- 

 spacc in one or both of its surfaces. 



6. The comhinatiDH, with one or more iiivertiblo- 

 hive sections, of the bottom-board, arranj-cd as de- 

 scribed and illustrated. 



And now comes a broad original claim. 



7. In a bee-hive, a }>rood ch%)iVicr, composed of two 

 or more horizontal, separable, intorchang-cable, and 

 iavertible sections, each section containing- within 

 itself a set of brood-comb frames wliosc depth is 

 one bee space less than the depth of the case. 



There i^ one or two more less important claims; 

 but the above are enough to show our intelligent 

 public that no one can make a hive half as good as 

 Mr. Heddon"s without infringing. 



I should like to have it e.vplaincd how it can be 

 that things dead can be "just like " valuable living- 

 things, just born, that everybodi' now wants. Why 

 did they die? There mu.st have been a difference. 

 There is a difference, and it is this: Before modern 

 beeculture divided hives into two radically ditfer- 

 ent apartments (brood and surplus), tiering sections 

 were sup-gested; but all these ideas perished, and 

 have no more to do with invalidating- Mr. Hoddon's 

 patent than has one of the lost arts. In other 

 words, making- hiocs in horizontal sections is mil 

 new; but the making- of a hnuid-rhamhcr of " two or 

 more horizontal, separable, interchangeable, and 

 invertable sections," is new. 



W. Z. Hl'tchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



Friend H., it may be I have not gone deep 

 enough into the matter; l>ut to my compre- 

 hension it seems to me tliat the "following 

 answers completely your last paragraph and 

 pretty much all of the above article. 



KRETCHMEES ALTERNATING HIVE. 



THE PRINCIPLE SOT NEW; IN USE AS EAULY .\S 188.'). 



TT seems to me that James Heddon's claim on his 

 /£|f new hives is rather sweeping at this late day. 

 ^r His hive is in substance the same asmy"Al- 

 -*■ ternating hive," made by me in 18(3.5; patented 

 .luly 23, 1867, No. 67,123, and given for free use 

 to the public about ten yeai's ago. 



It consisted of three equal tiers, each tier about 7 

 inches deep, and containing each 10 frames. The 

 upper tier was used for surplus honej', and the two 

 lower tiers for brood; after the two lower tiers 

 -were filled, and the surplus-honey tier added, 

 the two brood tiers were " alternated;" that is, the 

 middle tier was placed at the bottom, and the hot 

 tom one placed in the middle, so that by this ar- 

 rangement the centerof the brood-nest was brought 

 close to the surplus-honey chamber, into which the 

 bees did very readily enter. Combs had frecjuent- 

 ly been started by having this surplus tier at the 

 bottom for a short time; the top of the original 

 brood-nest was by this alternating process brought 

 in the center, and most of the honey removed to the 

 surplus-chamber; and for swarming artllicially, 

 either half could bo taken for a new swarm, on the 

 plan of the old section straw hive, once so much in 

 use jn Germany. 



In proof of the assertion, I refer to the patent 

 above named, and from which I copy a few lines to 

 show more fully that some of friend Heddon's de- 

 vices are quite old. 



"The vertical pieces, M M, are nuide wide enough 

 to have the edges of the several frames touch each 

 other;" and, " Between the sides of the case and the 

 movable fi-ames 1 insert a wedge-shaped piece of 

 lath for the purpose of closing the crevices between 

 the several frames;" and, "The hive consists of 

 three or more equal sections, of which two form 

 the brood-chamber, for the purpose above named." 



Now here, friend Boot, we have the several tiers, 

 the closed end brood-frame. Iield together liy a 

 wedge (equivalent to a screw), all in shape to alter- 

 nate, reverse, or invert at pleasure, and allot which 

 belongs to the public. E. Kretchmek. 



Coburg, Iowa, Feb. 13, 188ti. 



IMPORTED ITALIAN QUEENS AND 

 THEIR PROGENY. 



ALSO SOMETlHNn ABOUT FRIEND BENTON S SUC- 

 CKSS IN SHIPPING BY MAIL. 



JN reading- friend Doolittle's article on imported 

 queens, or their daughters, in Gleanings for 

 Feb. 15, I am aroused to speak just a word in 

 their favor. My experience in bee-keeping is 

 very small, and mucli less with imported stock; 

 however, I like to speak once in a while, whether 

 my few words are of any importance or not. In the 

 fall of 1881 I wrote to Mr. Benton (at Munich, Ger- 

 many) for sample workers of his Italian and Cypri- 

 an bees, and inclosed 10 cts. to pay postage on 

 them. About a month later I received the bees in 

 good shape; and on opening the cage I found a me- 

 dium-sized Italian queen, rather dark in color, 

 though bright and lively, after her llday journey. 

 They were accompanied by a letter, stating that he 

 feared the bees would worry themselves to death if 

 shipped alone, so he picked the poorest-looking 

 queen he had, and sent her with them. He said her 

 progeny had not hatched, so he could not tell what 

 her bees would be; but he said, if I thought her 

 worth f 1.00 to me I might send him the additional 

 90 cts., which I did at once. He said her mother 

 was imported from Bologna, Italy. 



I introduced her at once, and in less than twelve 

 hours she was depositing eggs. This was about the 

 20th of September, so her bees did not have a chance 

 to fly mucli. They were like her, rather dark, 

 though all three-banded. I put them in the cellar 

 the 18th of November, and took them out the 35th 

 April. She was bright as a dollar. The bees were 

 mostly old when put in, in consequence of which 

 they were reduced to two frames of bees, both of 

 which were partly filled with brood. I fed them 

 nothing, nor gave them any additional brood, and 

 from that lime till the latter part of June I took 

 from her 11 frames of brood, with all adhering bees, 

 to help build up others that were just as strong 

 when set out. They were strong enough by this 

 time, so I divided them and made two good colo- 

 nies in lOframe hives. 



The latter part of July I extracted from the arti- 

 ficial colony (after raising their own queen), 50 lbs. 

 of fine hone.v. I weighed the hive early the next 

 morning, and again the following morning, and 

 found a gain of 11 lbs., and a one-story hive at that, 



