502 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



tlie pains to do so. It simply got ;i start 

 along the roadsides, and has been following 

 along year after year. I do not know tiiat 1 

 ever saw a patch of it anywhere in cultivat- 

 ed fields, and 1 ne'ver knew it to do any Inut. 



CANADA THISTLES. 



Now, while I am on tliis subject I want to 

 say that we have lecently found a patcli of 

 real genuine Canada thistles on our grounds. 

 Tiiey were first found close to the fence on 

 the opposite side of the road from our coun- 

 ty fair-ground; and the supposition is. that 

 somebody unpacked some goods, or fed his 

 horsevS some hay up against our fence, and 

 this hay contained the thistle-seed. They 

 are scattered for a rod along the road under 

 the fence, and had got, perhaps, ten or twelve 

 feet over into our field. The minute I found 

 them I dug up every plant visible ; but in 

 ten days after, although we have not had a 

 drop of rain, they are coming up as thick as 

 spatter. Sometimes a new strong plant will 

 be found fully six feet furtlier out in the 

 field than any other had been before. It 

 looks as if it might make a power of trouble; 

 but 1 rather like the fun of trying my hand 

 on such a foe. Will some one who has had 

 experience tell me how long it will live if I 

 chop up the plants every ten days all sum- 

 mer long y The roots seem to run in the 

 ground like moles ; but the question is. How 

 long will the roots live if they don't have a 

 chance to make leaves V 



MARKETING COMB HONEY. 



HEDDON S METHOD. 



TN your loot-notes at tho close of my article, page 

 (Mp 513, on " Getting Bees out of Sections," you re- 

 ]|t guest me to follow up the sections to market, 

 "*■ and I will gladly comply with that i-C(iuest; lor 

 my experience in the matter, together with 

 conversation with commission men, has convinced 

 me that it is a serious mistake to send honey to 

 market in the same cases or crates it was stored iu, 

 on the hives. 



On page 854 of Gleanings for 1885 is illustrated 

 and described the shipping-crate of my own inven- 

 tion and choice. In this crate, friends Hutchinson 

 and Taylor market their fine comb honey, and in it 

 they have carried off the liberal ijrcmiums offered 

 for best display of comb honey, by tho Michigan 

 State Agricultural Society, ever since it offered 

 them. I might further state, that the honey was in 

 414 X 7-to-the-foot, 4-piece, dovetailed, white-poplar 

 sections, and stored in my non-separator case. 

 Now, do you think any person could have success- 

 fully competed for these pi-emiums by showing 

 ever so nice comb honey in the same crates the 

 bees built it? 



Our honey-house is a large airy room, made and 

 kept as neat and clean as a dwelling-house. From 

 the screen-house, mentioned on page 543, l<S8(i, we 

 carry the storing-cases to the honey-house, piling 

 them up crosswise, that the air may freely circulate 

 through them. As soon as we need the cases, and 

 spare time admits, avc invert them on our honey- 

 table, push out the sections in a minute, and, holding 

 them over a box, with the point of a njediura-sized 

 blade of a pocket-knife we scrape aU the glue from 

 their edges and place them iq the shjppiiig-crate 



above referred to. The glue being now quite cool, 

 readily lets go the wood. With a little practici; the 

 apiarist will hold tlie blade between thumb and fin- 

 ger in such a manner as to rarely, it ever, mar a 

 capping, and will do the work very quickly. 



Once, in conversation with K. A. Burnett, of Chi- 

 cago, who hiindles large quantities of comb honey, 

 alter telling him how much time it required to 

 clean and crate the sections, he said that tho differ- 

 ence in price and attractiveness would pay us enor- 

 mous wages for the labor performed; one or two 

 dollars per hour would be a low estimate, I think. 



We now pile our crates up in the honey-house, 

 keeping them there any length of time we desire, 

 never having any trouble from worms, fermenta- 

 tion, nor granulation, if not kept all winter without 

 fire. These little crates cost less, and look much 

 more attractive, than storing-cases. As stated in 

 my article on page 8.54, 1885, these small crates ship 

 safer, and sell more readily. They also cost less 

 than storing-cases. A dealer who has once handled 

 honey in these crates will be loath to receive it in 

 cases as it comes from the bees. For convenience, 

 let us agree to call storing-cases cases, and shipping- 

 crates, crates. 



REVERSING. 



I have been interested in reading Ernest's apiary 

 reports on page .5.50 and 551. Yes, sir; he is right; 

 reversing has come to stay. If he will experiment 

 on a comprehensive scale with myall-wood revers- 

 ing device he will like it, I think, much better than 

 the Simplicity, shown in the cut. It is not attach- 

 able to old frames, I admit; but I feel sure ic is 

 much the best when constructing new ones. We 

 have had considerable practice in reversing the 

 whole hive at once; so has Mr. J. M. Shuck, of Des- 

 moines, la., and 1 believe that neither of us have as 

 yet observed any detrimental effect whatever from 

 such reversal. 



Heferring to page 5;J7, 1886, 1 would say to Mr. Hit- 

 ter that we can not practice his modification of 

 modern transferring, for our bees usually have 

 brood in spring, before they fly; but we have sever- 

 al times performed it in autumn, after brooding 

 had ceased, as mentioned by the editor in his foot- 

 notes. 



Referring to page .530, on " Preventing Increase," 

 it is quite easy to see why Mr. Kobbins failed of 

 success, while Mr. Hutchinson, myself, and others, 

 have never met with failure. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., .July 5, 188G. 



Thank you, friend II. You have given us 

 just exactly what I wanted you to give ; and 

 even if some of the matter has been given us 

 before, it comes now right connectedly, and 

 in practical shape, and in just the season 

 when we are ready to use it. I know some- 

 thing about the difference it makes in hav- 

 ing the sections clean. Our boys on the 

 wagon told us a short time ago that there 

 were calls for honey, made this year. I re- 

 marked, that it woiild not make much differ- 

 ence whether it were new or old, but we 

 would trv to give them some just from the 

 hives. The first lot we got hold of was nice, 

 white, clear honey, but it was darkened by 

 being left on the I'live too long, and some of 

 it was stored in sections that had been on 

 the hives the year before. It did not sell a 

 bit better than the old honey. Finally one 

 of our progressive young men from a neigh- 

 boring town brought in some new honey 



