770 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



but I think there is not one who reaches the 

 2000 mark, and certainly none that reaches 

 the 3000, except that veteran who, in the civil 

 war, rendered his country such distinguished 

 service. 



His record as a soldier is fully set forth in 

 the A B C of Bee Culture, in the Biographical 

 Department, and I need not dwell here par- 

 ticularly upon that, any more than to state 

 that he was captain of a company of sharp- 

 shooters — a position that means a great deal 

 more than to be captain of an ordinary com- 

 pany of infantry. Three times he was wound- 

 ed, and finally was discharged on account of 

 the disability from his wounds. At the close 

 of the Gettysburg campaign his name was sent 

 up to the War Department as one who had 

 rendered gallant service for his country. 



But it is of his record as a bee keeper that I 

 wish to speak more particularly. It may not 

 be generally known, but he was the originator 

 of the no-drip shipping-case that is now used 

 almost universally throughout all civilized 

 beedom. When we first introduced this case 

 five years ago, it was brought to our attention 

 by the commission houses, who urged upon 

 us the importance of making our cases on the 

 no-drip plan. Where it originated we did not 

 then know ; but after we gave bee-keepers a 

 chance to get them they jumped almost into 

 instantaneous popularity. I learned later 

 that it was Capt. Hetherington who first began 

 using them ; and some commission houses, 

 seeing the cases that the captain used, no 

 doubt began to urge their customers to adopt 

 them here and there, but before any bee- 

 keeping-supply establishment had come to 

 know very much of their merits. 



Almost in the same way the tall section 

 came into prominence. Where it came from, 

 no one really seemed to know ; but Mr. Dan- 

 zenbaker, when he called at Medina, said he 

 saw it first at Capt. Hetherington's. That the 

 captain was the first to introduce it, I think 

 there can be no question, for all the evidence 

 points that way. Mr. Danzenbaker was so 

 well pleased with the section and its selling 

 qualities on the market that he immediately 

 adopted it, and threw aside the A l / 2 square sec- 

 tion which he had previously used in what he 

 then called his Dual hive. 



Indeed, after Mr. D. visited the captain he 

 came back with a number of new ideas, and 

 among them was closed-end frames ; and in 

 this connection I would say that Mr. Hether- 

 ington was the first man to make a really 

 practical thing of closed-end frames. True it 

 is that Mr. Quinby invented them, and came 

 very near adding to them their finishing 

 touches. But as Mr. Quinby originally used 

 them in his particular form of hive, the frames 

 were by no means as easily handled as in the 

 particular form used by Capt. Hetherington ; 

 and from this originated the Hetherington- 

 Quinby frame and hive that are used so much 

 in certain sections of New York. 



In these days, when the matter of trans- 

 parency in foundation is so highly prized, it 

 may be well to remember that Mr. Hethering- 

 was probably the first to get out what was 

 really the first transparent foundation. Those 



of us who bought the Vandeusen flat-bottom 

 article years ago will remember how beautiful 

 and transparent it was, and that nothing has 

 been made of late years that was any clearer 

 or more beautiful. Whether it had the same 

 pliable qualities that are found in the Weed 

 transparent foundation, I can not say. 



It was Capt. . Hetherington also, I believe, 

 who first conceived the idea of incorporating 

 fine wires into the foundation itself. A patent 

 was granted, and for years the Vandeusens 

 made what was called their wired flat-bottom 

 foundation under royalty from Mr. Hether- 

 ington. 



In the matter of fishbone in comb honey, it 

 was Capt. Hetherington who first saw the 

 importance of reducing the amount of wax in 

 the base and putting as much as possible in 

 the wall. We have talked a good deal about 

 this of late, but really Mr. Hetherington was 

 ahead of all of us in this. 



Super springs, a device for pressing sections 

 together while on the hive, and which have 

 recently come into prominence, were the in- 

 vention of Capt. J. E. Hetherington — at least 

 he used them away back in 1872, and has used 

 them continuously till this time. This one 

 fact alone speaks volumes for their practica- 

 bility; and it is strange that we of these latter 

 days did not discover their value sooner. Mr. 

 Danzenbaker first saw them used in Califor- 

 nia, in the apiary of Mr. Mendleson ; but the 

 springs he used were a little different from 

 those Mr. Danzenbaker had placed in his 

 comb-honey supers. And now it appears that 

 E. P. Churchill was another one who had 

 prior use of them; but Capt. Hetherington 

 comes ahead of them all in point of time. 



Notwithstanding the fact that the captain 

 probably produces the largest crops of honey 

 of any bee keeper in the world, there is prob- 

 ably no other bee-keeper on the face of the 

 earth who puts out a higher-grade article of 

 comb honey than he. There are certain buy- 

 ers who will take his honey every year at 1 or 

 2 cts. a pound above the market ; and the rea- 

 son of this is plain. His comb honey is 

 always in tall boxes, and put up scrupulously 

 neat and clean in no-drip shipping-cases such 

 as he himself originated. 



Although he is now quite well advanced in 

 vears, I think I never met one who is more 

 enthusiastic about bees and bee-keeping than 

 he. A charming conversationalist, he fairly 

 bubbles over with ideas. When he is present 

 at a convention I always regard it as a rare 

 treat to meet him. 



I have felt for some time that this prince of 

 bee-keepers was not receiving the recognition 

 that he really deserves, and that some of the 

 inventions we now so highly prize, and the 

 product of his genius, should now be duly 

 credited. 



With all his other qualities the captain is an 

 exceedingly modest man — rather shrinking 

 from notoriety, and yet perfectly willing to 

 contribute and help to elevate the pursuit ; a 

 busy man, he has no time to write letters ; for 

 his extensive business, unless he kept a sten- 

 ographer, would hardly permit him to do 

 much in that line. 



