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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 21, 



For the Americun Bee Journal. 



Mr. Heddon and "That Coming Bee." 



E. L. BKIGGS. 



While reading Mr. Heddon'a article 



in the last Journal on" That Coming 

 Bee," I waa peculiarily struck with 

 that beautiful, graceful smile which 

 lighted up his countenance, or rather 

 his •■ pen," at the method of Mr. 

 Briggs, in the late prize effort in pro- 

 curing the best slock of queens to 

 breed from. Alter saying: "While 

 1 sympathize with the end in view, [ 

 must say that the method he employs 

 to reach' it causes me to smile with my 

 pen, and is not at all the one 1 follow, 

 advocate or believe in." lie says, "I 

 will explain." 



As Mr. Heddon had been compelled, 

 forced, urged by his pent-up forces, 

 and drawn out by his sense of the pub- 

 lic' good, to utter the above important 

 dissent to Mr. IS.'s method, will he 

 please to tell us what method" hedoes 

 follow, advocate, and believe in ?" 



Well, here is the response: "First, 

 let us consider the four points of ex- 

 cellence that Mr. IS. makes the test: 

 'The largest in size, herself, and pro- 

 ducing the largest worker progeny.'" 

 Mr. Heddon does not "follow, ad- 

 vocate or believe in " procuring the 

 largest queens and workers at all, for 

 he continues: "I have seen small 

 queens that produced large, gentle and 

 industrious workers, and such queens 

 should not be reckoned as second- 

 class." Therefore, the " lirst smile 

 was penned." Mr. Heddon has 

 smiled with his pen, therefore, if bee- 

 keepers want the largest bees, such as 

 can work on red clover, they should 

 get one of the smallest queens when- 

 ever they buy a queen, for remember 

 Mr. II. 's experience— remember his 

 smile! lie don't "believe in, advo- 

 cate or follow " the method of breed- 

 ing the largest queens for the largest 

 workers. 



Second. Producing the brightest 

 colored workers. Mr. II. pens his sec- 

 ond smile and dissents as follows: 

 •■ The experience of the most exten- 

 sive importers and honey producers 

 is. that the dark Italians are superior 

 to the bright ones." Therefore, as 

 Mr. II. docs not follow, advocate or 

 believe in producing light-colored 

 bees, when you desire queens, order 

 small dark ones; it will be so much 

 more convenient for any one to fill 

 your orders without any question 

 arising afterward as to the purity of 

 the queens you receive. 



Third. " Producing a progeny the 

 most peaceable in handling, and ad- 

 hering to the combs the closest." Af- 

 ter saying he does not follow, advocate 

 or believe iii mv method at all, it 

 seems a little singular to hear him 

 say, " We agree exactly about the 

 peaceableness, but I consider the ad- 

 herence to the combs of minor consid- 

 eration compared with other points of 

 merit." Well, it makes me glad to 

 find that Mr. II. and myself are in 

 exact agreement on this third point of 

 excellence, for 1, too. deem adherence 

 to the combs of minor importance, as 

 compared to some other points. For 

 instance, industry, size, proliflcness 

 and gentleness. Yet it is very con- 

 venient and agreeable while handling 

 a frame, not to have the bees rush to 

 some corner of the comb, ball up there, 

 and tumble off in a mass upon your 

 boots, or the ground, and from thence 

 crawl up your ankles and legs, espe- 

 cially if they gel next to the skin. My 

 smiles are apt to all vanish on such 

 occasions. Nor is itmuch moreagree- 

 abletohave them take wing as the 

 dark, brown and hybrids do, and dab 

 into your neck, eyes and ears every 

 second or two. So, whether of major 

 or minor importance, I choose to cul- 

 tivate for instinctive and tenanacious 

 adherence to the combs while hand- 

 ling them. 



Fourth. " As far as it can be ascer- 

 tained this fall, the most prolific 

 breeder, and honey gathering off- 

 spring." Mr. Heddon again dissents 

 to the first named quality, "prolific 

 breeder," but agrees with the latter. 

 " prolific honey gatherers." I always 

 smile with gladness, when, at the be- 

 ginning of honey harvest, I find my 

 apiary consisting of colonies from 

 which are pouring out and in tens of 

 thousands of large, golden, industrious, 

 gentle and vigorous honey gatherers, 

 and nurses of the brood of a queen 

 which keeps every vacant cell tilled 

 with eggs, larvae or bees ready to issue. 

 But here are his somewhat contradic- 

 tory remarks: "I deem it a great 

 mistake in bee-keepers to cherish and 

 encourage this quality of proliticness 

 * * I find that the most profit lies in 

 using a hive of that size that the very 



lerately prolific queen always keeps 



full of brood. Small hives for sur- 

 plus." But this is the hive question, 

 Mr. Heddon, and not the queen-breed- 

 ing qualities, liut even then it is a 

 good thing to have this " very moder- 

 ately prolific queen" keep her hive 

 " full of brood," as admitted above. 



To sum up, Mr. II. follows, advo- 

 cates and believes in— 1. Small queens. 

 lie has seen some which produced 

 large workers. 2. Very dark queens. 

 " These are superior to bright ones." 

 Three. Very restless bees and queens 

 while being handled, is a matter of 

 minor importance. 4. " Very moder- 

 ately prolific queens," because they 

 can only fill small hives. 5. He agrees 

 that the honey gathering instinct and 

 peacableness are qualities rather de- 

 sirable, but he does not follow, advo- 

 cate or believe in my method of pro- 

 curing mothers of such instincts to 

 breed from. 



It was precisely because Mr. Hed- 

 don and some others were not " fol- 

 lowing, advocating and believing "in 

 the method of breeding only from the 

 very best selected stock, from among 

 the very best variety of bees, that I 

 chose the method I did to get a half 

 dozen of the very highest grade of 

 queen bees from among the Italian 

 race, to be found in America or else- 

 where. I could have sent to Mr. II. 

 or any one else, and procured hapha- 

 zard queens, such as described, for a 

 couple of dollars each, and when pro- 

 cured, they would not have been as 

 good as those I had already, in one 

 case in ten. But the result was, in 

 five cases out of the six, I received a 

 superior queen— selected by her 

 breeder with the special idea of out- 

 ranking all her competitors. 



So confident am I of its successful 

 result, that I hereby offer a prize of 

 $20 for a queen sent me by any one 

 which will out-rank the ones I have 

 received in the several points named, 

 provided that if she falls below, the 

 sender receives nothing for her, as a 

 price, for I do not wish to be bothered 

 with inferior stock in receiving and 

 inserting and caring for them when 

 no better, or not even as good as my 

 own. 



In conclusion, I give Mr. Heddon 

 my very best bow and smile, in return 

 for his criticism, and hope he may 

 pursue that method which will result 

 in producing " that coming bee," 

 which can work freely on red clover, 

 be the gentlest to handle, and the 

 greatest honey producer in the world. 

 Wilton, Iowa, Nov. 17, 1881. 





Honey Cough Medicine.— The follow- 

 ing is a recipe of a valuable remedy 

 for obstinate coughs. It is especially 

 .valuable for long-standing coughs in 

 elderly people, and useful in all cases 

 unattended with a hot skin and very 



frequent pulse : Extracted honey : 

 Linseed oil; Whisky, of each, 1 pint; 

 mix. Dose,— one tablespoonful 3 or 4 

 times a day. 1)K. G. L. Tinker. 

 New Philadelphia, U., Dec. G, 1881. 



Couib Honey in Sections.— Will Prof. 

 Cook please give in the Weekly Bee 

 Jouknai. the new method of obtain- 

 ing section honey explained by him to 

 the Michigan Central Convention, and 

 given in report of same in the Bee 

 Journal on page 382. 



J. C. THOM. 



Streetsville, Can., Dec. 5, 1881. 



Every Number Worth a Dollar.— I 



semi the money for the Weekly Bee 

 Journal for the next year. I would 

 not lose any number for a dollar bill. 

 D. Higbee. 

 Avoca, Iowa, Dec. 9, 1881. 



Labeled Pure.— I have tried to prac- 

 tice the teachings of the Journal, 

 I love so much, and find it pays to 

 warrant every pound of honey I sell to 

 be pure honey. I did this last year, 

 putting on labels, and I think from 

 the way my old customers return, and 

 new ones ordering honey, that it gave 

 good satisfaction. I have not been 

 able to supply one-half of our home 

 demand. John Meadek. 



Delaware, Iowa, Dec. 13, 1881. 



[You are quite right ; it does pay to 

 warrant all your honey to be the gen- 

 uine and pure article, and to label it 

 so. It inspires confidence, and aids 

 the general work of increasing the de- 

 mand for and consumption of honey. 

 —Ed.] 



Bees in Fair Condition.— Bees went 

 into winter quarters here in fair con- 

 dition. Last fall I had 21 colonies of 

 black bees; had 5 left in spring ; have 

 10 now, 5 of them Italians. Success 

 to the Bee Journal. 



Thomas J. Ward. 



St. Mary's, Ind., Dec. 13, 1881. 



Four Years' Experience. — In the 



spring of 1878 I bought 3 colonies of 

 bees— 1 in box and 2 in movable frame 

 hives : I increased them to 0, caught 1 

 wild swarm, and bought and sold some 

 in the winter. I began the spring of 

 1879 with 10 frame and 3 box hives ; 

 the latter swarmed 7 times, and gave 

 but little honey; the 13 averaged 03 

 lbs. per colony ; from one I obtained 

 120 lbs., and from another 112 lbs. I 

 think I increased to 22. and sold down 

 to 10. In the spring of 1880 I sold 1 

 and exchanged queens fori, as I was 

 interested iii Italianizing all around 

 me. This was the no-honey year, and 

 I reared and sold queens enough to 

 pay expenses. 1 winter in a cellar, 

 and my loss has been 1 colony and 1 

 nucleus, which starved through my 

 neglect last winter. My bees showed 

 some signs of dysentery, but came 

 through in good shape; 1 took 17 out 

 of the cellar, and before honey began 

 to come in I had sold down to 10 extra 

 good colonies. It was dry here early, 

 and bees did not begin in earnest till 

 about June 10, when it was lively; it 

 made me smile to seethe little fellows 

 bring in the nectar. From my 10 col- 

 onies in the spring I obtained 1,040 

 lbs., or 164 lbs. per colony, about '., 

 extracted, and the remainder comb 

 without using separators, the most of 

 which I can pack in crates. I used 

 whole sheets of foundation. My best 

 yields were from my best Italians; 1 

 colony giving me 237 lbs. of comb and 

 extracted, another 140 lbs. of comb. 

 and a third OS sections;", 1 ixii 1 ., of comb 

 honey. Thelastcolony 1 divided, and 

 with its increase gave me 105 sections. 

 Others done quite as well ; I had to 

 extract from the brood chamber to 

 give the queen room. I increased to 

 17 colonies and "• nuclei, which 1 put 

 in the cellar on the 14th inst. 1 have 

 tried the Cyprians some, and can see 

 nothing superior in them except pro- 

 liticness. Unless I was working for 

 bees instead of honey, I can see no 

 advantage in them. A good portion 

 of the time this summer, there was 



brood in the 9 frames, and some that 

 had on second stories laid in 2 or 3 

 frames there. I will try all the races, 

 but shall breed most of my queens 

 from my best Italian stock. 



R. CAMMON. 



Rockton, 111., Nov. 22, lssl. 



Feeding in Winter.— Please let me 

 know through the Bee Journal the 

 best way to feed bees in the winter — 

 whether candy made of A sugar or 

 syrup V I have a colony I think I will 

 have to feed. R. P. Williajis. 



Goldsmith, Ind. 



[If in a good cellar, or if at the time 

 of feeding the weather be so warm 

 that the bees can put the feed where 

 they can use it. then thick syrup will 

 be best; but if too cold, then use the 

 candy, laying '.4 inch square sticks on 

 top of the frames, the candy on these, 

 and carefully covering with blanket, 

 mat or quilt. The exhalations from 

 the bees will moisten the candy so 

 they can consume it. Give them suf- 

 ficient to last till moderate weather, 

 as the candy will attract all the bees 

 to the tops of the frames, and they 

 cannot be again fed without much 

 disturbance. — Ed.] 



Good Honey Crop.— I lost all of my 

 bees last winter except 5 colonies; 

 they were rather weak. I lost the first 

 swarm ; then I divided, and with the 

 addition of one new swarm increased 

 to 12. They gathered in all 1,000 lbs. 

 of honey. "I packed them in leaves 

 and cornstalks for the winter. 



E. C. Crane. 



Burlington, Iowa, Dec. 12, 1881. 



Betterthan Bee-Books.— I have care- 

 fully filed every number of the Bee 

 Journal for the past 2 years, and will 

 have them bound. They are really 

 better than bee-books, and I do not 

 see how a bee-keeper can get along 

 without the Weekly. Send it along 

 for next year, and next, and next; yes, 

 as long as I live and keep bees I shall 

 want the American Bee Journal. 

 B. F. Carroll. 



Dresden, Tex., Dec. 12, 1881. 



Alfalfa Clover.— Is alfalfa clover a 

 honey plant, or do bees gather honey 

 from it? A. S. Edson. 



Brooklyn, Mo., Dec. 12, lssl. 



[ Yes ; it is said to be an excellent 

 honey producer, but we have had no 

 experience with it, and cannot speak 

 from personal knowledge. — Ed.] 



Bee-Keeping in North Carolina.— 

 There are about 300 colonies in frame 

 hives in this county, but no intelligent 

 management, as our people will not 

 read. I commenced the spring with 

 30 colonies, increased to 50, and took 

 2,300 lbs. of honey, mostly extracted. 

 1 sell in Baltimore at 12 to 15 cents per 

 pound forextracted, in tin cans, mostly 

 in 3 and pounds. I have purchased 

 15 colonies from a neighbor, and will 

 buy more. I expect to commence the 

 spring with 75 colonies. We have not 

 as good honey resources as in some of 

 the Northern and Western States, 

 our season of surplus commencing 

 about April 15 and ending June 1st; 

 but in good seasons we get a fair yield 

 of honey, and then we are free from 

 the fussing and fearful losses attend- 

 ing wintering as in the colder North- 

 ern climate. So, upon the whole, 

 there is nothing to prevent the intelli- 

 gent bee-keeper from making the 

 business pay at least moderately well. 



Clinton, N. C. W. 1'. Wemyss. 



ig^The Nebraska State Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will hold its annual 

 meeting in Ashland, Neb., on the 12th 

 and 13th of January. 1SS2. A cordial 

 invitation is extended to all who are 

 interested in bee-culture. Members 

 will be returned to their homes by the 

 railroad companies at 1 cent per mile. 

 T. L. VonDorn, Pres., Omaha. 



G. M. Hawley, Sec, Lincoln. 



(gg° The eastern New York Bee- 

 Keepers' Union Association, will hold 

 their ninth Convention, Tuesday, Jan. 

 10, atlO a,m., at Central Bridge. Scho. 

 Co., N.Y. W.D. Wright, Pres. 



N. D. West, Sec. 



