1SS6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



699 



with iny swiirm, carryinj;' it belorc iiu', and sucli 

 a licat tliey g"ivc off I They are blac-ks, and I don't 

 know where they eamo Ironi. In six days they 

 tlllod ID empty Piallup Iranies, and are unconiinonly 

 doelle. I think the whole business was pretty well 

 done lor a hoy ol' (ilJ summers, not iiavin^ a veil or 

 hat on, nor being- stung- oiiee. 



MELILOT IIONEV SMOKY, AND WIIV. 



Tiie atmosphere of lar^e cities is heavily ehars'ed 

 with coal smoke, which sjireads for miles around in 

 such small impei'ceptible i)articles that one often 

 dt)es not notice it till he inisses his hand overa leaf or 

 liowcr, when it will become colored black, especial- 

 ly when a little damp. Is that not the cause of 

 your melilot honey being- smoky, as we do not 

 know any tliinj;- about its being- smoky around 

 herei' F. J. M. Orru. 



Sandusky, ()., Auy-. W. IbSG. 



PREVENTING INCREASE, AGAIN. 



.MU. lIlilJDON S CltlTiClS.M. 



N page 0(5;, Mv. lleddon sajs: " Referring- to 

 'I^J page .'joO, on 'Preventing- Increase,' it is quite 



j'^l easy to see why 5Ir. Kobbins failed of suc- 

 ci'ss," etc. Ever since reading that, I have 

 been wondering' wliat it is that can be so 

 easily seen. 1 know belter now than I did when I 

 wrote the article referred to why 1 failed; but 1 

 gave no intimation of it there. Is it because 1 

 was careless, or I'.i I not follow the method i>rop- 

 crly^or was it because of the swarming nuinia of 

 my bees? Please do not be afraid to s|)eak out, 

 Mr. Heddon. I might add here, that I have not 

 known a failure of said plan when propei'ly fol- 

 lowed this year, although the swarming instinct 

 of my bees s-t'cme;! about tripled, more or less, but 

 1 have been unable to practieo it much. 



Wc are too ajjt to render "snap .ludgmeiit" 

 concerning- these things. 1 have faith in this 

 method; and because some cf us may lail with it, 

 or any other such devices, is no proof that the 

 principle of it is not correct. My mother can lake 

 Graham Hour, an egg, with some sail, soda, a?id 

 buttermilk, and make Graham gems that will fair- 

 ly melt in one's mouth. I might lake those same 

 ingredients and follow her directions, and nuikc 

 nothing good but a good failure. Should 1 con- 

 clude that flour, salt, soda, buttermilk, and egg, 

 will not make good gems'/ Nonsense! Yt)U see, 

 it all depends U|)on how it is done. 



Wliile I am on this sub.ject 1 would say that a 

 great deal depends upon adaptation. Our gifts, 

 habits, and conditions, are so diverse that wc can 

 not all do things best the same way, and we must 

 have systems adapted to our ways. My mother 

 can uuike the best gems, her daughter in-law the 

 best cake. 1 certainly do not believe that the 

 Simplicity is the licU hive, but A. does. It suits 

 him — it docs not suit me. iVdaptalion, usage, con- 

 ditions, these apply to little things as well as great; 

 and if we woulil bear this in mind we would not 

 make so many contident assertions in the contro- 

 versies over methods and systems in aineulture. 

 This is not all, but 1 shall sto]) here. You see 1 

 have wandered; but I have done so because one 

 thought Buggcsted another. 



TU.\.T yUlilON-lSXCLUUING HONEY-ltOAUl). 



I am bound to have a (lueen-e.vcluiler of some 

 kind, find 1 bJ)ieve thiit thu oiio illustrated oi) page 



Oi:} is, just the thing. 1 have not been nearly sat- 

 isfied with any thing of that kind that I have seen 

 yet, except that one. But the board, as Mr. 

 Heddon describes it, has the bee-space all on one 

 side, and is not adapted to the reversible hive. 

 On p.-ige IW of " Success in Bee Culture," he says: 

 "The queen-excluding metal works into these one- 

 half bee - space houe.y - boards admirably; and for 

 all 1 can see at present wc had better use the metal 

 when we use quecn-cxcluding honey-boards." Is 

 Mr. Heddon or any oae else manufacturing such a 

 honey-board.-' 



K.MI'TY IJItOOD-NESTS. 



1 do not intend that friend Hutchinson shall 

 carry this iiroblcm (juite all alone. If my help is of 

 any advantage he shall have it. I am contident 

 that his system of hiving swarms upon a limited 

 number of frames — empty fi-ames at that— with 

 surplus room above and (lueen-excluders between, 

 is as near just the thing- as we can get. The sys- 

 tem llts in every part. Tlieoi-y and my e.vperience, 

 I take it, both conttrm it. True, many of my bees 

 will build drone-comb, however 1 may work them; 

 but this I attribute to their everlasting irrepressi- 

 bli; disposition to swarm. If I can ever control 

 that, I think I shall practice that system altogeth- 

 er. 1— Geo. F. ilouiiiNs, .Ti— 03. 



Mechanicsburg, 111., Aug., 18^6. 



Friend 11., wv staml reatly to make any 

 kind of a Iioney - board aiiyl)ody Avanls 

 —part metal, i)art wood, or" all wood or 

 all metal, and we will put ;i bee-space on 

 one side or both sides; but tis the matter 

 now stands we don't dare to make up 

 ahead (pieen-exeluding honey-boards of tiiiy 

 kind, I'or they are changing all the while. I 

 for one should be very glatl indeed to iind it 

 were possible to settle down on some deli- 

 nite iirraiigeinent. 



MISLEADING STATEMENTS. 



IS IT TltUE, THAT CEIITAIN IIIVES GIVE A liARG- 

 Ell YIELD OE IIO^fKY THAN OTHER HIVES'!* 



^^^ EKOKE me lie.5 a letter from an inventor and 

 jui su|)ply-de'.iler in which are these words: " The 

 f^ use of my hives and surplus-cases will give 

 ^^ you more honey th.in you now produce, with 

 one half the labor;" while further on, in this 

 same letter, thesa words occur: " My methods will 

 beat yours two to one." In one of the bee-papers I 

 noticed it said, not long ago, that more tluDi dmihlc 

 the honey could be obtained by using certain inven- 

 tions; and as I consider such statements fallacious, 

 I desire to explain my position in this nuitter. 

 While I believe there is little ditference regarding 

 the labor recjuired in the manipulation of one hive 

 ab(jve another, where a term of years is taken into 

 consideration, still it is not from the labor point 

 that I take exception, but to the greater jn-oduction 

 of honey. Can it be possible that any man can be 

 so blinded as to think that a bee-hive of his in- 

 vention can gather or produce honey? Elislia (ial 

 lup once said, very truthfully, that, " other things 

 being cciual, a colony of bees will build as nuieh 

 comb and ])roluce as much honey in a nail-keg as 

 in any hive, and they will i)roduce as much honey 

 in my nail-keg as in yours." From this we see it is 

 the bees that produce the lumey, not the hive; and 

 any of the good liivcs now in use that meet all the 

 reijiiii'LUienls of the bees will give as much honey 



