1S86 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



G13 



year or more ago. I may name Dr. G. L. Tinker, 

 who wrote about it not long since; C. E. Boyer, my 

 foreman; W. Z. Hutchinson and myself, neither bc- 

 ing aware of the other's device, and all giving' it to 

 the public. Here we are using it as follows: We 

 make our wood slats the same width and thickness 

 as ever, leaving the spaces between them the same 

 three-eighths inch, and slide in metal strips having 

 one row of openings only, and these strips we get 

 made to order, with their edges all smooth and 

 whole, and I can not see how smooth edges are se- 

 cured by cutting strips containing " two rows" of 

 openings, any more than a strij) of only one row, 

 which leaves the jagged edges, which work just as 

 well in the boards, but are more trouble to insert. 

 My experience and observation with bees fully con- 

 vinces me that one row of openings over the center 

 of each top-bar, below will give far more than am- 

 ple passage room for the strongest colonies. I will 

 tell you why 1 object to using metal strips wide 

 enough to contain two rows of openings: It necessi- 

 tates, as in friend Hall's case, five-eighths space be- 

 tween the slats. Now, if the bec-si)ace is right be- 

 tween the surfaces of the slats and the surfaces 

 above and below them, of course it is about one- 

 eighth of an inch larger between the surfaces of 

 this metal and the .sXirfaces above and below it. I 

 think we should be more apt to be troubled with 

 brace-combs where we used two rows of openings, 

 than where we used one, as I have it. 1 am not 

 sure but quarter-inch between the slats would be 

 better than our three-eighths. I can tell at the 

 close of this season. I have used brood-frames 

 with top-bars three-eighths inch thick, and varying 

 in width from thirteen-sixteenths up to one and 

 one-eighth inch, and I have found brace-combs built 

 between their edfjes to a greater extent in propor- 

 tion as the bars were wider aiy:! the spaces narrow- 

 er; but this kind of bracing is between the edges of 

 the bars, and not between their surfaces and other 

 surfaces above and below them. In testuig some 

 thirty all-wood queen-excluding honey-boards, made 

 so by widening our quarter-inch slats till the spaces 

 between them were the same as metal openings, in 

 width, we were astonished to find that the bees 

 built comb in these sjiaces till two thirds of the 

 passageway was stopped. We tried them two sea- 

 sons, realizing this and other disastrous results, and 

 have discarded them entirely. 



HEDDON'S nONEV-BOAKU. 



"What is it?" I receive many questions like this. 

 Will you kindly let me reply to many at once? An 

 implement, machine, or manufacture, may take its 

 name from him who constructed, devised, or invent- 

 ed it. A device mayor ma3' not be an inveniion; 

 and it is a question as to whether placing these 

 strips of metal in grooves in the slots can be called 

 an invention or not; but whether it is or is not, it is 

 certainly a device, and preferable to nailing it on 

 to one side as before. My honey-board contains 

 two important features, each ot" which performs 

 very useful functions, and which 1 invented some 

 eight or ten years ago. 1. Arraufjing slats within a 

 frame or rim, in such numtier that one of their sur- 

 faces shall be even with oik^ surface of the rim, 

 while their other surface shall be a bec-si)ace lower 

 than the other surface of said rim. This gives us a 

 honey-board containing a bee-spaco within itself. 

 The rim gives it solidity, wlien the slats are made 

 as thin as quarter-inch, as wc make them. 3. Ar- 

 rangiug slats, forming a honey-board, in such man- 

 ner that the center of each slat shall run parallel 

 with, and rest directly over, the space between two 

 brood-frames below, and the center of the toivbars 

 below shall come directly under the spaces between 

 the said slats. Any honey-board that contains 

 neither of these principles is not a Heddon honey- 

 board; but one that does contain either of them is. 

 Extensive and repeated experience with these 

 boards not only gives me the knowledge that their 

 usefulness by far outweighs their cost and manipu- 

 lation, l)Ut they are in no way whatever anydeii'i- 

 ment or hindrance to the bees and their woi-k. ^'ou 

 will notice that, by fitting your hives and supers to 

 a honey-board containing a bee-space, the same can 

 be used without the honey-board, all beespaees re- 

 maining as perfect as when used in connection with 

 it. This honey-board has never been iiatented, ex- 

 cept in combination with my new hive, as described 

 in past numbers of this journal, ft is used and 

 highly prized bv such ^jrodueers as Dr. C. C. Miller, 

 R.L.Taylor, W. Z. Hutchinson, Prof. A. J.Cook, 

 and scores ot other equally expert beo-kcepers, less 



known to the public. 1 am confident that it has 

 come among us to stay. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



Below we give an engraving of a honey- 

 board mad'^ on Ileddoti's plan, fitting the 

 Simplicity hive. 



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QVEEN - EXCr.UDINfi IIONEV-HO.VRI), ARKANGED 



SO AS TO HAVr. 'JHE OPENINGS JUST 



OVER TFIE TOP-BARS OF THU 



BUOOD-FKAMES. 



The engraving shows the honey-board with 

 the smooth or level side uppermost. The 

 woodeti slats are 1 incli wide, and a little less 

 than i inch tiiiek. The spaces between 

 them are i* inch. The end-pieces to which 

 the ends of the slats are nailed were original- 

 ly 4 X 9-l(). A rabbet is made in one corner 

 of this strip, i x f. For use on the Simplici- 

 ty hive there is no frame clear around tlie 

 honey-board, as Heddon has them ; that is, 

 the honey-board is composed of simply the 

 end-pieces and the slats. It is ])ut ofi the 

 hive with the bee-space downward; and as 

 our crates are all made with bee-spaces un- 

 der the sections, when the case is set direct- 

 ly on the honey-board it comes all right. 

 The price of these honey-boards is il cents 

 each ; S'i 00 fot 10, or $18.00 per 100. If 

 wanted by mail, add '2-2 cents additional for 

 postage. 



CARNIOLAN BEES GREAT \^rORKEHS. 



AltE THEY A PURE RACE ? 



UNE 3d I put a swai-m of Carniolan bees into a 

 two-story Simplicity hive with 20 frames filled 

 with wired Van Deusen foundation. In eight 

 days after that I extracted, from the upper 

 story, 413 lbs. of v; hite clover honey, and left 

 the lower ten frames filled with honey. On the ITth 

 of June I extracted, from the same combs, 38 lbs. 

 more; and then to see if Carniolans would get tired 

 of drawing out foundation I gave them ten frames 

 again, filled with \'an Deusen flat-bottom founda- 

 tion. Yesterday, July 8, 1 extracted .50 lbs., cai)ped, 

 as white as snow, from these same frames of foun- 

 dation, and the ten combs below arc still full of 

 brood and honey. 



TU.VT yUKKN OK II. A .MIC'IIK.N EK'S NOT PURE CAK- 

 NIOI.AN. 



Your publication of UaMichcner's letter gives me 

 a light to a reply. I do not believe he has a Carnio- 

 lan (luecn, and some time since I wrote him to this 

 effect. 1 may have made a mistake, and sent him a 

 hybrid Italian last year. If 1 did, it was not the re- 

 sult of any less care in breeding queens than is ex- 

 ercised by the inost careful. As an instance of how 

 such a mistake may occur: A few weeks since, I 

 put u» after swfiiui jiito a nucleus hive with (oua- 



