1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



229 



his bench is one of them. The bench above 

 is also his work. He hives his own swarms, 

 places them on their stands, prepares them 

 for winter, etc. 



I have several yards of bees about Hills- 

 dale, and the last two years he has been do- 

 ing considerable shop work for me. The 

 last season he prepared ready for the bees 

 5000 sections, putting a top and bottom 

 starter in each of them, and arranged them 

 in the supers ready for use. By the way, 

 he has discovered a kink in this work that 

 those with good eyes may well follow. You 

 will notice a board projecting from the front 

 of his chair. This is a foot-rest on which he 

 places his foot and operates the spring of the 

 Daisy with his knee, thus allowing him more 

 free use of his hands for the other work. He 

 has nailed up for me nearly 100 Langstroth 

 hives, 500 shipping-cases, besides much other 

 work. 



As to the quantity and quality of his work, 

 it will go without saying that a blind man 

 can hardly be expected to excel in speed, 

 but there are those who do less. He pre- 

 pares ready for the bees from 50 to 60 sec- 

 tions an hour. As to quality, his work needs 

 no inspection, and I never have work done 

 better. He will saw a board straighter 

 than the average man can see; and with a 

 hammer there are very few nails that go 

 amiss, and every thing is put together cor- 

 rect and square. 



Some may wonder how it is possible for a 

 blind man to hive bees; but it is a motto of 

 Mr. Hill's that, where there is a will, there 

 is also a way; and in his case, when he once 

 sets out after it the way is usually found. 



In front of his bees are some low bushes 

 on which his swarms usually cluster. For 

 his convenience he has prepared a light 

 bench, having a chute in which the entrance 

 of the hive just fits. He has always a hive 

 ready; ard when he detects the familiar hum 

 of an issuing swarm he seeks the assistance 

 of one who can see, usually his wife, who 

 takes the empty hive while he carries the 

 hiving-bench to a convenient position. The 

 hive is placed in position on the bench, and 

 he is directed to the position of the cluster. 

 Whfn found, his attendant seeks shelter 

 while he does the rest. In this he is more 

 than ordinarily successful, hardly ever los- 

 ing a swarm or having me do his work the 

 second time. 



He owns a farm of 30 acres, and does most 

 of the work of repairing and building fences, 

 repairing buildings, hanging gates, doors, 

 etc., himself. He saws and splits all his 

 own wood, shaves himself and hones his 

 own razor. While Mr. Hill is totally blind, 

 it is difficult for passers-by who see him at 

 work to believe that he can not see. 



Prophetstown, 111., Dec. 28. 



[Any man who can overcome difficulties 

 as he is doing, commands our sincerest ad- 

 miration and respect. You tell him that the 

 editors of Gleanings would like to give him 

 a good hearty shake of the hand.— Ed.] 



WHY ALEXANDER DOES NOT SHADE HIS COL- 

 ONIES. 



In answer to Dr. Miller's third Straw, 

 Jan. 15, I will say, no, doctor, we don't like 

 any shade among our bees, and for these 

 reasons: First, we find the colonies that 

 stand in the shade do not commence work 

 within an hour in the morning of as soon as 

 the colony that gets the morning sun; nei- 

 ther do they work as late in the afternoon; 

 and if the air is somewhat cool for bees to 

 fly in the shade, as is frequently the case 

 here during our buckwheat bloom, then we 

 can see hundreds of them that have dropped 

 on the grass in the shade around their hives 

 that are heavily loaded with honey, and not 

 able to rise and fly to the entrance. Many 

 times a cold rain will catch thousands of 

 them outside of their hives, where they will 

 become chilled, and never fly again. This is 

 the principal reason why we never get as 

 much surplus from our colonies that are so 

 handicapped as we do from the colonies out 

 in the sun. We also lose a larger propor- 

 tion of our young queens when they take 

 their fly to mate, from hives which are un- 

 der trees, than we do from those in the sun. 

 Then another reason is, that invariably the 

 colonies in the shade give us much thinner 

 honey than the hives that have the sun all 

 day. This, with us, is the principal reason 

 why we dislike shade in the apiary; for we 

 must have our honey just as thick as we can 

 get it without puttmg our bees to the use- 

 less trouble and expense of capping it be- 

 fore it is extracted. I might give still more 

 reasons for disliking a shade for bees, but I 

 trust these will suffice. 



Delanson, N. Y. E. W. Alexander. 



DOUBLE-WALLED HIVES BETTER FOR COMB- 

 HONEY PRODUCTION IN THE NORTH. 



Having just read the article by Mr. Sim- 

 mins, pages 1238, 1239 respecting comb-build- 

 ing in single v. double walled hives, I here- 

 with give jou something of mine, as you in 

 a footnote ask for the experiences of others 

 along the same line. If you will turn to 

 page 309 of the American Bee Journal you 

 will find an article by me touching upon this 

 same subject, though the matter of produc- 

 ing comb honey with and without separators 

 was the more prominent thought. Please 

 read the statement there made, and I think 

 \ou will readily see why the double-walled 

 hive is preferable for comb-honey production, 

 especially in the North, where we are liable 

 to have chilly nights even in June, when the 

 work of comb-building is at its height. I 

 have often secured a fair crop of honey in 



