1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



187 



OUR FRIEND D. A. JONES. 



THE GREAT CANADIAN 1!EE-3IAN. 



fOR some time many of the friends have 

 ' been asking for pictures of noted bee- 

 men, and many have wanted to know 

 why they were stopped so suddenly. Well, 

 friends, the reason is, I think, that they 

 won't send me their pictures. I asked Doo- 

 little for his, and he said he had not time to 

 get one taken. Others had their excuses, 

 and linally I got discouraged. Friend Jones, 

 however, has finally let me have his, for I 

 asked for it a second time, and here he is. 



D. A. JONES, BEEION, ONTARIO, CANADA. 



So much has been said about friend Jones 

 already, that it seems almost idle for me to 

 attempt any sort of history or biography. 

 He is a whole-souled, good-natured kind of 

 man, who generally does as he pleases. If 

 folks don't like it they can go somewhere 

 else. lie sometimes runs against people's 

 prejudices ; and where they go through the 

 world with sharp corners sticking out, as it 

 were, friend Jones might give them a brush 

 occasionally. There . may be times when 

 friend J ones is not courteous, but I have 

 never yet seen such a time. When you 

 want- any assistance he is always ready, and 

 will do for you all in his power. But where 

 he has a great amount of business on hand, 

 he has sometimes a sort of off-hand way of 

 giving replies that many people might con- 

 sider reckless ; and if you should be inclined 

 to take him to task for his small discrepan- 

 cies, especially if you did it in a fault-finding 

 sort of way, very likely he wouldn't trouble 

 himself much about it. I do not know but 

 I admire this very trait in him. One must 

 know him altogether to appreciate the great- 

 ness of his character. I say greatness, for he 

 is one of nature's noblemen. The way in 

 which he has labored for the good of the 

 bee-keeping world, and especially for the 

 bee-keepers who live here in the tetates, 

 where he can have but little hope of reaping 

 a reward in the shape of any thing he might 



have to sell, to offset the time and trouble 

 he takes, is really wonderful. Although I 

 know pretty well in regard to what people 

 call his faults and failings, after having 

 studied him well I feel the more sure that 

 there are few in the world like him. He is 

 emphatically a man who loves his fellow- 

 men, and who loves to do mankind a ser- 

 vice ; and under the term '"mankind" he 

 would include all men and all nations. Mr. 

 Jones has an unusual perception of the ri- 

 diculous in this world, as well as of the sub- 

 lime, and it were almost worth a lengthy 

 trip to see him in his happy way take off oc- 

 casionally some of the laughable things that 

 we oftentimes meet in this world of ours. I 

 hardly need say that he holds, and has all his 

 life held, a warm place in the hearts of his 

 countrymen ; and I am glad to see, as the 

 years pass on, that he is getting to be es- 

 teemed by bee-keepers in the same way al- 

 most the world over. 



TWO SlfSTEMS OF SURFIiUSAGE. 



SOMETHING GOOD FROM FRIEND HUTCHINSON ON THIS 

 SUBJECT. 



^11 INCE the invention of section honey-boxes there 

 ^^ have been in use two systems of surplusage; 

 '^-^ the case, or crate method, and the wide-frame 

 system. Nearly all of the crates, or cases, have 

 been more or less complicated; some had movable 

 bottom-boards, others movable sides; and in others, 

 the sections were held in place or clamped together 

 by wedges or wires; hence the more simple wide- 

 frame systeni was very generally adopted. The 

 greater adaptability of the wide frames to the em- 

 ployment of separators is probably one reason why 

 that system has been so popular; but recent devel' 

 opments, however, have demonstrated that, if cer- 

 tain conditions are complied with, separators are 

 not needed. This fact, combined with the late im- 

 provement in cases, has led many bee-keepers to 

 discuss the advisability of discarding their wide 

 frames for the improved cases. 



Briefly stated, the objections to the wide-frame 

 system are as follows: Both edges of each piece com- 

 posing the sections are propolized where the sec- 

 tions touch each other or the sides of the frame; 

 the difficulty of removing the sections when filled; 

 an upper story filled with wide frames the same size 

 as the regular brood-frames is too much room to 

 give at one time in the surplus department; the 

 lower tier of sections being finished first, and be- 

 coming travel-stained before the upper tier is com- 

 pleted. With the tiering-up method allowed by the 

 case system, these two troubles are entirely avoid- 

 ed; but with wide frames containing two tiers of 

 sections, travel-stained honey is usually the result, 

 unless the sections are looked over quite often, and 

 removed as soon as finished. Of course, wide frames 

 only one tier of sections high can be used; but the 

 method of manipulating them is necessarily more 

 complicated. Wide frames also admit of side-stor- 

 ing; but how much more simple and better it is to 

 annihilate this side space; make the hive so small 

 (not more than eight frames, and I am not certain 

 that six would not be better) that an ordinary queen 

 would keep it full of brood ; then if honey is brought 

 in, it must be carried up stairs. AsProf. Hasbrouck 

 says in his article, " Bee - power or Man - power, 



