THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



Explanatory.— The figures before the 

 names indiciite the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring- and fall, or fall and spriuH-, 

 as the time of the 5'ear may require. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre ; 9 south ; 0+ east ; 

 *Owe8t; and this 6 northeast; ^northwest; 

 o^ southeast; and P sovithwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



ror the American Bee Journal 



Mr. James HeioE's Bee-Bool, 



WM. F. CLAKKE. 



It is entitled " Success in Bee 

 Culture; as practiced and advised 

 by James Heddon, Dowaa;iac, Micli." 



Ttie appearance of tliis work marlvs 

 a new epoch in bee-literature, and 

 heralds a revolution in bee-cultiire. 

 These are strong words, but they are 

 well-weighed, and thrown fearlessly 

 down in the arena of public debate. 

 Any gladiator, who is disposed so to 

 do, is welcome to pick up the gauntlet 

 for a frienrtlv tilt over them. " Come 

 on, Macduff."" 



Hitherto we have had only primary 

 text-books in apiculture. I do not dis- 

 parage them— far from it. They are 

 excellent and valuable, as are the va- 

 rious issues of the first six books of 

 Euclid in mathematics ; but we have 

 long needed something for the more 

 advanced class of bee-keepers. Now 

 we have it. Mr. Heddon's book does 

 not jostle any other. It occupies a 

 niclie of its own. The tyro cannot un- 

 derstand it. A man must be a long 

 way ahead of the pons asinonim in 

 apiculture, or he had better let this 

 book alone. Above all things, let no 

 novice presume to criticize it! 



Among the first things that strike 

 one in reading these pages, is the trans- 

 parent frankness of the author. Evi- 

 dently he has no secrets. He owns his 

 great indebtedness to others for ideas 

 and suggestions. These have passed 

 through his mental mint, been tested 

 practically, and are now issued, along 

 with his own original conceptions, in 

 the form of gold and silver coin for 

 free circulation among bee-keepers. 

 There is a cool audacity as well as a 

 charming frankness about this which 

 I admire. It is like a general reveal- 

 ing his plans and tactics, and then 

 saying to all comers, " I am ready to 

 try conclusions with you at any time 

 or place." It is a question, not of 

 superior knowledge, but superior skill. 

 The " best man" will " win." This 

 is to run the race of life on the fairest 

 and most honorable principles con- 

 ceivable. 



At a time when the honey market is 

 low, and the prospect is that it may 

 go yet lower— when some prominent 



apiarists tell ns they can hardly pro- 

 duce honey at a profit at all, it is a 

 real boon to have a practical and suc- 

 cessful producer come forward and tell 

 us how to minimize cost, and lessen 

 labor. This, Mr. Heddon does with a 

 minuteness of detail and force of rea- 

 soning which carry conviction right 

 home. It is not too much to say that 

 we have here a new and original sys- 

 tem of bee-culture. I frankly own 

 that it has burst upon me as a wel- 

 come and glad surprise. 



Mr. Heddon's new book and new 

 hive m\ist be judged together. When, 

 at the Detroit Convention, I listened 

 to his description of the hive he had 

 invented and recently patented, I was 

 interested in some features of it, but 

 the thing as a whole did not take any 

 special hold of me. There were so 

 many things at that memorable meet- 

 ing calculated to set one thinking ! I 

 began to revolve that hive in my mind 

 on the return journey. First one fea- 

 ture of it, and then another loomed 

 up. each pleasing and satisfactory, un- 

 til I said to myself, " Shouldn't won- 

 der if this is "that ideal hive I was 

 dreaming about so often last sum- 

 mer ! " When the circular arrived, 

 giving descriptions and illustrations 

 of the hive, I said, "Eureka!" in 

 earnest. And now that I have got 

 the book I am ready for the spring 

 campaign ! 



In common with many others, I 

 have become sick of such everlasting 

 manipulation of frames, lost faith in 

 any and every system of management 

 that involves a constant disturbance 

 of the broodnest, and when I wrote 

 that '■ rime " for the American Bee 

 Journal, entitled, " A discontented 

 bee," I felt that there was more truth 

 than poetry in it. The idea of manip- 

 ulating hives instead of frames, 

 though it may seem very simple to 

 some, and superficial thinkers may 

 hastily conclude that there is nothing 

 in it, is just going to revolutionize bee- 

 keepii\g, ' imd "don't you forget it," 

 Mr. Pooh-pooh, whoever you are ! 



I intended to review Mr. Heddon's 

 book, but I find that I can only call 

 attention to it just now. I do not en- 

 dorse it all, by any means. There are 

 many things in it from which I dis- 

 sent, and I shall do so, giving reasons 

 therefor, in due time, in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal. I felt it, how- 

 ever, ? simple, as it is a very pleasant 

 duty, to put on record my sense of the 

 great service which Mr. Heddon has 

 rendered to the interests of practical 

 apiculture in the publication of this 

 volume. Let this acknowledgment 

 embrace that other bee-keeper of 

 large experience and eminent ability 

 who has contributed many of these 

 well-filled pages, and to whom Mr. 

 Heddon constantly refers as " My 

 Friend," because " he is somewhat 

 averse to publicity." This title is 

 only a kind of bee-veil, however, 

 which does not altogether conceal the 

 wearer. It is rare sport when two 

 such Nimrods go out to hunt! If one 

 misses, which he rarely if ever does, 

 the other is sure to hit, and most of 

 the game has two rifle balls in it ! 



I am glad to be able to write strong- 

 ly in praise of Mr. Heddon's book, 



because he and I have fought so many 

 hard battles on the printed page. 

 We still disagree as to some phases of 

 "the pollen theory," and I scarcely 

 think he has done full justice to my 

 theory of hiljernation in the chapter 

 on that subject, but I too have faith 

 in " Father Time " and can afford to 

 wail. It is gratifying to know tliat 

 we are both in pursuit only of the 

 truth. 



It may be that some one who reads 

 this article, and is not very well ac- 

 quainted with me, will say, " What a 

 big puff ! " Now, I have been an 

 editor for many years, and as such I 

 have written ail sorts of articles on all 

 manner of subjects, but there is one 

 thing I have never yet penned, and 

 that is—" a puff." It is 22 years since 

 I began to write on bee-keeping, and 

 in all that time I have never had " an 

 axe to grind " for myself or any one 

 else. I have never been the hired 

 scribbler for any man, clique, ring, or 

 party. I have several times given of- 

 fence by declining to write up merely 

 personal and selfish interests. I once 

 sacrificed a tempting and prominent 

 position because I could not and would 

 not write " to order." I can honestly 

 say, that in all my rather voluminous 

 contributions to the apicultural peri- 

 odicals, I have never written a line 

 except in the interest of the general 

 bee-keeping public. This article, 

 whatever its errors or defects may be, 

 is a spontaneous tribute to what I re- 

 gard as real merit. 



Guelph, Ont. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Small Hives ?s, Large Hiyes, etc. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



Labor is the most expensive factor 

 in the production of honey ; and if, 

 by having 60 hives instead of 40, the 

 labor is thereby sufficiently lessened, 

 there will be more profit even if 60 

 small hives do cost more than 40 large 

 ones. Perhaps some will wonder at my 

 assuming that the labor will be less 

 with many small hives, than with few 

 large ones ; if the large hives are so 

 large that one man cannot handle 

 them with ease, and two are required, 

 or else one man gets a lame back by 

 handling them, the 60 lighter ones 

 may be handled with less labor than 

 the 40 heavier ones. Let us not forget 

 the time is rapidly approaching when 

 we shall manipulate hives more and 

 frames less, and when this time comes 

 the advantages will all be in favor of 

 the small hive. 



On page 774 of the American Bee 

 .Journal for 1885, Mr. Dadant says, 

 that the man with the small hives will 

 have more increase of bees, and con- 

 sequently his expenses for new hives 

 will be greater. Granted; but is not 

 this increase worth hivingV If we 

 cannot afford hives for our bees, we 

 might as well " hang up our fiddle." 



With the exception of one season, 

 when the honey-flow was early and of 

 short duration, I have received more 

 surplus from a colony and its increase 

 than from a colony that did not swarm ; 



