Us«i'.' 



OLEANINMiS IN HKH ClI/rrUH. 



53 



Now. if Wf i>l:ii'i' :i lliiii li();ir<l iluwn Noliil mi t In 

 1<tl)-lmrs of (Mil- l)r(io(l-fi"imcs i-,i\\\ cnoiiyli inllic 

 fall for tin- l)rfS lo rIiic up the <Tcvii-c>, tuid 

 tluis prt-vt'iit all air cmnMils fioni passiiiif up 

 tliroiivrli <»ir liivi-s, wo nyaiu rcI even with 

 our box - hive hrrtliion; and wIutc wc prcMMit 

 all ra<liatioii of lical is by plariiiK a iMisliiou 

 on lop of tlii> board llio sanii' as we do the sido; 

 and. fiiitlicr. in spiiii>r and caily stininicr wlicn we 

 >rivf our bco jnsi i he vciil ilalioii ii-quiicd b> lais- 

 inKlliis board we an- anollicr loiijf step iilioad of 

 tluMU. This board should be lliin. so that it will 

 warm thi-oujrli i|uickl\' whrn wo i-cinovt' lln' ousli- 

 ion, and lot tlio stin's rays stiiko it. His just as 

 >roo(i. or l>ottor, an absorbont of nioisi uro than tlio 

 Hill dovico. or stioks and cluilV cushion. 



[Y(>s, tluit is (|iu"t(' ill liiiowitli our i'\[)(M-i- 

 nioiits. S'oii afo not t lie tirsloiic to make pub- 

 lic this niattt-r of sciiicd covers imdor pacising. 

 Tiiis is ji vory old. old idea, and was made pub- 

 lic yi'urs ago! Wo have not takoii tine to look 

 ov<'f the tiles of the hpe-joufiials. but we call to 

 iiiiiul Mr. Francis l)aii/.eiil)aker. now of Wash- 

 iiii^toii. 1). r.. who wrote an article some two of 

 tiiree v<'afs ago. emphasizing this point very 

 strongfv. .\ftor all. it does not matt(>r very 

 much as to who lirst made the iiiatt(>r public. 

 The real (iiiestion should be. " Are absorbents a 

 iletriment? and if so. is a .sealed cover, or a 

 board over the frames, better?" .So far we 

 agree with you that it is. Mr. IMerce. you will 

 remember, has tx'oii working on this same idea 

 for the last four or live years. Probably this 

 will call forth information as to who made the 

 iiiattei- pulilic sonn- years ago. There may be a 

 satisfaction in knowing, even if there is no 

 (H'ai'tical importance attached to it. J 



RAMBLE NO. 51. 



pets. I pushed on to a rear room, and was met 

 by a large, well-regulated, benevolent-looking 

 nian. with sandy hair ami beard, who informed 

 me that .Mr. Ile'ddonwas not only out. luit out 

 of town, bul would soon return. This was en- 

 couraging ni'ws: and after a lunch at the hotel 



At I)0\VA(il.\C 



My friends, did you ever see an emery wheel 

 at work ? Of course, you have: and you have 

 seen what a smart wln^el it is too. An emery 

 wheel at work means business. .Mark a point 

 back on your piece of hard steel, and apply 

 pressure, and the wheel soon gets there. To 

 get theri' is second nature to an emery wheel: 

 uiid what a reckless way it has of showering 

 stars, comets, and whole constellations around 

 it! how the streams of tire scintillate, glow, and 

 snap ! and iiow we admire them I 



\Ve have to go to the material world some- 

 times for a comparison for certain men we meet. 

 Should you meet the man I met in Dowagiae, 

 Mich., and call him a sitting hen. everybody 

 would laugh at the preposterous comparison. 

 Some men are called foxy: but this man is not. 

 for he is not after things that do not belong to 

 him: neither is he a snake in the grass. All 

 know just where he stands: so the brilliant 

 scintilations of the emery wheel remind me of 

 the remark of a i)rominent bee-keeper in Mich- 

 igan, that I would meet the smartest bee-keep- 

 er in -America in Dowagiae. My comparison is 

 I'orrect. and .lames Ileddon is the man. Ifliis 

 inventions, his writings. and the discussions and 

 stir caused by them during the past few years, 

 have not been a sort of pyrotechnic display. 

 then our comparison is vain; and whatever 

 may b(» said of the man or his methods, there 

 lias certainly l)een an ad\ ance in pi'actical bee 

 <-ultiire since the display commem-cd. 



I found Mr. Heddon a prominent factor in the 

 pretty little town of Dowagiae. As a live edit- 

 or of the leading news|)api'r of the county he 

 has a d<'e|) interest in tin' welfares and develop- 

 ment of the town. It was to this oftice I wend- 

 ed my way after alighting fiom the train, find- 

 ing the office occupied only by writing-tables, 

 type-writers, and a profusion of books and pa- 



IIIK t!.V.MHl.i:i! .\NI) Ills JC.MIOI'.V WHKKI,. 



I found Mr. Ifeddon. or. rather, he found the 

 Rambler, and in a short liine thereafter we 

 were doing the town behind a horse that was 

 7.5 per ceift fasti^r than that "slow poke'" of 

 E. R. Root's. We were bowling along over the 

 level roads, taking in the beauties of the town, 

 when a young man was oviM'taken and invited 

 to ride. This was Mr. IIeddoii"s apiarist. Mr. 

 McNiel. The young man looked lonesome on 

 the rear s<>at alone, and another man was called 

 in to keep him company: and it was that be- 

 nevolent-looking man I first saw in the print- 

 ing-office. The introduction given here in the 

 wagon awakened a lively interest in my 

 thoughts towai'd the m:iti. It was Mr. Her- 

 bert A. Rtirch. Mr. Hitrch a few years ago, as 

 will be remembered by the older bee-keepers, 

 was an apiarist, and an instructive writer upon 

 the various phases of be(\ culture. Winter 

 losses, confidence in those; unworthy of it. and 

 perhaps mistakes in business calculations, 

 threw a cloud over his name, and he retired 

 from the business. That he is now Mr. Iled- 

 don"s trusted manager of the Uowagiac T'lmea, 

 and has done all he could to straighten out the 

 tangles of the past, the Rambler believes 

 should be known: and I otter this as a slight 

 tribute to a man who may have suffered silent- 

 ly, but who deserves the sympathy of the many 

 who have made mistakes and had misfortunes. 



In the evening our party was increased by 

 the ijresence of Mr. St(jlley. a bee-keeper, and 

 .Mr. II. 's two sons: and under the lirillianl- elec- 

 tric lights we listened to the past, present, and 

 future conditions and methods of bee culture. 



Mr. Ileddon is rapid in the use of language, 

 positive in expression, and emi)hasizes his words 

 by muscular action. .\ rocking-chair is made 

 for ease and cotnfort: it was proljaiily a com- 

 fort to Mr. H.. but the chair had a hard time of 

 it. It was well made, howevi-r. iind stood the 

 racket. Mr. II. is a universal genius, .\mong 

 other trades he has been a shoemaker, tinsmith, 

 blacksmith, carpenter, teacher in dancing, 

 and .Sunday-school superintendent. The latter 

 occupation iiiitst have occupied attention sev- 

 <'ral years ago. I judge so from the nature of 



