1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



713 



PRUNIXG OFF THE COKX-TASSELS FKOM EVERY 

 OTHER ROW. 



We have beon practicing this until we are 

 satisfied there Is no question but that it really 

 will do all the experiment stations claim. Two 

 small boys go out nearly every day in our Held 

 of Shoepeg corn, right opposite tiie factory, 

 with a wheelbarrow, some half-bushel m.irket- 

 baskets. and a couple of ten-cent pocket-knives. 

 They cut every tassel out as soon as it makes 

 its appearance. As the boys are small they do 

 not work many houi-s a day, and the tassels cut 

 out are worth nearly if not quite what we pay 

 the boys for doing it. I suspect the tassels are 

 worth a little more for horses and cattle than 

 the other part of the corn-fodder. Now for the 

 result: The pruned hills have developed great 

 stocky plants, with ears that stand out, both in 

 silk and size, in a marked degree in contrast 

 with those in the other rows that are suffered 

 to mature the tassels. 



HOUSE-Al'IARIES; HOW TO MAKE THEM A 



SUCCESS. 



The last Bee-keepers'' Revieio is an excellent 

 number. It discusses the subject of house- 

 apiaries. In our judgment, the best article on 

 the subject is from the pen of James Heddon, 

 and it covers every point. Among other good 

 things, he says, *' Never let any one advocate 

 tlie use of any hives, frames, cases, or brood- 

 chambers that are fixed within the building." 

 You are quite correct, INIi-. Heddon; and you 

 might have added, that they prevent the bees 

 from escaping into the room, for all outside 

 hives are supposed to be bee-tight. One great 

 reason why the house-apiary was abandoned 

 was because the hives or compartments for 

 holding the frames are fixed to the sides of the 

 building, and it is pot easy to make these so 

 they are bee-tight. Again he adds: "The an- 

 noyance fi'om robb^^rs is tiie one great cause of 

 irritability among the bees of an apiary: and I 

 want to tell you that, if you have a colony that 

 is so confounded mean that you expect to be 

 stung even when using the smoker, put them 

 into the house-apiary and the bees will behave 

 perfectly." I have noticed this very thing my- 

 self: and. in fact, it is a very rare thing indeed 

 for bees to sting inside of a building. To sud- 

 denly find themselves indoors takes all the fight 

 out of them. In winding up. Mr. Heddon con- 

 cludes: '"On tlie whoh', 1 think the house-apiary, 

 when rightly made and managid, is, in many 

 localities, a thing of comfort and profit. It is 

 an easy thing to pack colonies in for winter: 

 and after being packed. I can see what splendid 

 advantages can be gained from stove heat dur- 

 ing extremely cold weather." 



WHAT KIND OF PACKAGES SHALL WE PUT EX- 

 TRACTED HONEY IN TO SHIP? 



From our experience, we say emphatically, 

 60-lb. square cans, not kegs or barrels. Several 

 years ago, when the square cans were first 

 brought prominently before bee-keepers as a 

 convenient package in which to ship extracted 

 honey, we were continually having trouble by 

 the barrels and kegs springing a leak: and be- 

 fore we knew it the bees would find it out and 

 be set to robbing. We had so much of this that 

 we well liigh made up our minds that we would 

 not buy honey in kegs or barrels at all, or, if we 

 did, we would transfer it into cans as soon as it 

 arrived. About a year ago. inquiries were sent 

 to the commission men to find out what kind of 

 packages they preferred for honey, both comb 

 and extracted. Some few favored the cans; 

 but the majority said that, while they preferred 

 cans for California honej^ (because they could 

 not get it in any other way) they would rather 



have extracted honey, so far as possibl(>, in kegs 

 and barrels. From these reports we concluded 

 that, may be, we wore prejudiced, and have 

 gone so far as to offer honey-kegs for sale. This 

 year we have received five or six lots of honey 

 in kegs and barrels, and in every instance they 

 w(>re leaking on arrival, while we very seldom 

 have a case of leaking with the cans. Is this 

 merely accidental, or are the cans really better ? 

 We certainly have good grounds for thinking 

 so. And if we put aside this lu after of leakage, 

 are not the cans a much more convenient pack- 

 age for the retailer to draw from than a keg or 

 barrel, especially if he uses the screw-top hon- 

 ey-gate? For storage the cans take less room: 

 and though they can not be rolled around like 

 kegs or barrels, yet on the whole they are con- 

 venient to handle. We are much inclined to 

 think that the commission men or their cus- 

 tomers prefer the barrels, for the same reason 

 that some of us stick to old things and notions 

 tliat we are used to. simply because we ai'e used 

 to them and dislike to try new things: and yet 

 if they have had the same experience we have 

 with leakage, it would seem as if they would 

 welcome something better. Leaky kegs and 

 barrels can usually be remedied for the time be- 

 ing by driving on the hoops; while if a can 

 springs a leak a tinner has to be called in. or 

 the can emptied to stop the leak. May be this 

 is the explanation of it. We greatly prefer to 

 contend with an occasional leaking can than to 

 be continually tinkering with leaky barrels and 

 kegs. 



HANItLING HIVES INSTEAD OF FRAMES— WHO 

 WAS THE PIONEER ? 



Mr. Hutchinson copies the article from Mr. 

 Gravenhorst. which appeard in Gleanings for 

 July 15. In a footnote he is glad that the edit- 

 ors of Glp:anings accord to Mr. Heddon the 

 credit for fujiUiting the question of handling 

 hives instead of frames: but he thinks we do 

 not give him sufficient credit. All right; we 

 shall be glad to give him more if we can. Our 

 Dowagiac friend has certainly done much to- 

 ward making the idea popular; but it has been 

 mostly in connection with his new patented 

 hive. He has said vei y little in regard to han- 

 dling hives instead of frames when applied to 

 hives of other construction. Mi'. Hutchinson 

 asks. '■ If Mr. Heddon is not the pioneer- (in the 

 matter) who is?" We still think Mr. Heddon is 

 not the pioneer in its advocacy or its use. and 

 we will mention a few whom we think precede 

 him. For instance, we will here mention our 

 much-lamented friend M.Quinby; then follow- 

 ing soon after. L. C. Root. Capt. J. E. Hethering- 

 toii, and P. H. El wood; Julius Hoffman, too, 

 has long carried into practical ap{)lication the 

 scheme. Tlieir system of manipulation enables 

 them to perform many of the operations by 

 handling hives in halves — in other words, 

 splitting their hives perpendicularly instead of 

 horizontally, a la Heddon. So far as the main 

 principle is conceriied, it is just the same 

 whether we handle th(! hives in perpendicular 

 or horizmital halves. Then, again, in early 

 times there was Barnett Taylor, of Forestville, 

 Minn., whosays he has long practiced the plan; 

 and then we must not forget our much-respect- 

 ed friend C. J. H. Gravenhorst, editor of the 

 Bienenzeitung. Mr. G. has been advocating 

 this ever since he has been a bee-editor, and 

 how much longer we do not know. Now. even 

 if Mr. Heddon did advocate the handling of 

 hives instead of frames in early times, the ref- 

 erences to that idea are very obscure; and we 

 are inclined to the opinion that Mr. Hutchin- 

 son, catching on to its possibilities in later 

 years, gave it more prominence than Mr. Hed- 

 don himself. But suppose that these men did 



