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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



matter and it would be just as true as some 

 of the stuff that is pubhshed. 



THE MICHIGAN STATE BEE-KEEPERS' CON- 

 VENTION. 



This was held at Jackson, Feb. 1 and 2, 

 and it was one of the most successful meet- 

 ings I ever attended. Something over a 

 hundred of the most representative bee- 

 keepers of the State were present, includ- 

 ing several from Ontario and a few from 

 other States. There were only two or three 

 papers read, and these were short and to 

 the point, calculated to incite discussion, 

 which they did. The rest of the meeting 

 was made up of off-hand discussions based 

 on a series of questions carefully prepared 

 by the officers in advance. These questions 

 were sent out with the announcements so 

 that every bee-keeper would have time to 

 think them over and come prepared. 



The sensation of this meeting was the As- 

 pinwall non- swarming hive, which was in- 

 deed a curiosity. When any one has claimed 

 that he had a non-swarming hive for the 

 production of comb honey I have been in the 

 habit of saying to myself that he had a 

 whole lot to learn yet about bees. But 

 when Mr. Aspinwall first gave an inkling of 

 his idea at the National convention in Chi- 

 cago, and later exhibited the principles in a 

 hive which he had been testing for a couple 

 of seasons, and which had not only enabled 

 him to control swarming but to double and 

 treble his comb-honey crop, I felt satisfied 

 that here was an exception, and that he had 

 struck on to a line that was new as 

 well as valuable. Some of the best and 

 most expert bee-keepers were present; but 

 none of them were inclined to believe that 

 it was the same old story over again — a 

 will-o'-the wisp. 



Mr. Aspinwall is very conservative, and 

 draws his conclusions with the precision of 

 a trained scientist; and when I say that he 

 is probably as familiar with the general sub- 

 ject of swarming, and the causes that lead 

 up to it, as any other man in the United 

 States or perhaps in the world, I do not feel 

 that I am far from the truth. 



If you could see the hive and note its odd 

 construction you might almost wonder if it 

 was not an incubator, a creamer, or, may- 

 hap, a bee-hive. Indeed, when I saw it car- 

 ried upstairs, and knowing the dairymen 

 were in session, I concluded it was some new 

 dairy contrivance, little dreaming that it 

 was a bee-hive until I saw it among the bee- 

 exhibits in the convention room. 



The principles that Mr. Aspinwall has in- 

 corporated in his hive are decidedly new. 

 Yes, I am sure that nothing like it was ever 

 designed before; and until the real theory 

 of it is explained, if you did not know the 

 "man behind the gun" there would be a 

 sort of feeling mingled with pity for the 

 poor dupe who would waste any time or 

 money on it. But I wish to say to our read- 

 ers in all seriousness, I believe Mr. Aspin- 

 wall has something that will come nearer 



solving the problem by mechanical appli- 

 ances than was ever placed before the bee- 

 keeping world. It would be useless to at- 

 tempt to give a detailed description of it at 

 this time. Later on I hope to give illustra- 

 tions with descriptions from the author that 

 will explain the whole thing. For the pres- 

 ent I will merely state that the hive proper 

 is a good deal larger than the ordinary hive, 

 but uses actually no more brood- frames. 

 Each frame is separated from every other 

 frame by what I might call a bee spaced 

 dummy. Perpendicular cleats | thick and f 

 apart, one inch wide, edges toward the 

 combs, are secured to the top and bottom- 

 bar of a frame. This makes a clustering 

 space for bees one inch thick between each 

 two combs of brood, except for the perpen- 

 dicular cleats referred to. The inventor ex- 

 plains that with this hive there will be no 

 clustering out, for there is plenty of room 

 between the brood-frames in a space where 

 the bees will not build combs unless they fill 

 up a multiplicity of bee-spaces, which of 

 course they will not do. The same general 

 plan, the same kind of bee- spaced dummy, 

 is placed between each row of sections. 



There, I will not attempt to describe it 

 further, any more than to say that the hive 

 will cost a good deal more than regular 

 hives; but, as Mr. Aspinwall says, if you 

 can thereby double your honey crop without 

 swarms, you can well afford the extra ex- 

 pense. 



The whole hive and system have been 

 made the subject of several patents, and in 

 any event I think the bee-keeping world will 

 respect Mr. Aspin wall's rights. He has 

 spent hundreds of dollars in developing his 

 idea; and if it should continue to show up as 

 well in the next two or three years he will 

 have it ready for the public. In the mean 

 time he says to one and all alike that he has 

 no hives for sale. For the present, at least, 

 he will perfect the hive; and then when he 

 has thoroughly demonstrated that it will do 

 all he claims for it he will furnish it to the 

 bee-keeping world. 



Mr. Aspinwall is already a successful in- 

 ventor, and his name has been attached to a 

 potato- planter, as well as some other useful 

 devices that are well known. He was one 

 of the first to recognize the value of plain 

 sections, and he is still a user of them, for, 

 indeed, they are a part of his new hive; 

 only, instead of using fences or separators, 

 he uses his beeway dividers, or dummies, as 

 before explained. 



There were many interesting things that 

 occurred at this convention. While the As- 

 pinwall non-swarming hive was the sensa- 

 tion of this meeting, there was a great deal 

 of valuable discussion which, if it had been 

 put in shorthand, would have made about as 

 interesting bee matter as one can often find. 



President Hutchinson and Secretary Hunt 

 did much to make this meeting a success. 

 The former drew out discussion while the 

 latter had done a vast amount of work in 

 working up the convention. Both were re- 

 elected, as they deserved. 



