THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



73 



ens housed during stormy weather, 

 they can be raised without difficulty 

 even if they liave no feathers, and they 

 can be Icilled for the early fall market. 



" I think there will be a decided 

 advantage gained in raising feather- 

 less chickens, on account of the vast 

 amount of labor saved in picking 

 them, for thus we shall be able suc- 

 cessfully to compete with farmers 

 who raise them the usual way. We 

 can sell them mucli cheaper than they 

 can, and still make a good profit. 



" It may be a matter of curiosity to 

 the editor of the Leader to know how 

 the life giving principle is imparted 

 to these eggs. The human mind is 

 ever reaching forth and grasping for 

 new knowledge. After the inventor 

 of these eggs found that they would 

 answer nearly all purposes for which 

 eggs are used, he began a series of 

 experiments to bring them to such a 

 state of perfection that they would 

 hatch. He studied Huxley," Darwin 

 and many other writers on the origin 

 of life, all in vain, and after spend- 

 ing much time and money in his re- 

 searches and experiments he had 

 nearly given up in despair, when he 

 found a certain ' wily ' professor who 

 was an ostute scientist, remarkable 

 for his wonderful attainments and 

 profound scholarship. He also posses- 

 sed the remarkable faculty of perpe- 

 trating ' scientific pleasantries ' to a 

 greater extent than any otlier man. 



" Upon corresponding with this re- 

 markable man, he learned that he also 

 had been experimenting in the same 

 direction, and had been successful; 

 that he had actually fertilized the 

 carrotic and albuminous substance of 

 which these eggs are made, before it 

 was placed in the shells, by subject- 

 ing it to a similar process to which 

 fish-eggs are subjected in order to 

 fertilize them. It was only after 

 many trials that this ' wily ' professor 

 succeeded in accomplishing his ob- 

 ject in a cleanly way, but at last his 

 efforts were crowned with success. 



" It is wonderful to read the Pro- 

 fessor's discription of this experiment 

 upon this albuminous and carrotic 

 mass. He says ' that at the very 

 beginning of the operation the carrotic 

 and saffronic ingredients begin to 

 separate from the albumen and as- 

 sume the spheroidal form, and in a 

 moments the whole mass has the 

 same appearance that eggs obtained 

 the usual way would have, if care- 

 fully broken and emptied from the 

 shells into a vat. Immediately after 

 the formation of the yolks, the lime 

 particles commence uniting in the 

 form of slender white rings which 

 float on the surface of the albumen. 

 These rings grow both upward and 

 downward, but more rapidly down- 

 ward, by attracting to themselves the 

 particles of lime which are floating 

 in the albumen; and much quicker 

 than I can describe the operation, 

 about two-thirds of the shells are 

 formed, the lower ends being com- 

 plete and containing a sufficient 

 amount of albumen to float the yolks, 

 which at this stage of the process, as 

 if possessed of life, glide quickly over 

 the edge of the shells and fall into 

 the receptacle prepared for them. 



Immediately after this part of the 

 operation is completed, the attraction 

 of the shells for the particles of lime 

 is transferred to their upper edge 

 which grows rapidly until the perfect 

 egg is formed, liy a slight change in 

 someof tlie manipulations, eggs can be 

 made to ditter somewhat in size.' 



" A stock company has already 

 been formed, a site purchased, and as 

 soon as the weather will admit, a 

 building will be erected, and the eggs 

 manufactured on an extensive scale ; 

 we expect to employ about .500 hands 

 in the operation. We have $;.',0U0 

 worth of stock, the unsold part of 

 which the editor of the Cleveland 

 Leader can have at par. Without 

 doubt there will be " millions in it.' 

 Poulterer." 



[We are astonished that such papers 

 as the Cleveland I^eader and Chicago 

 Advance should give publicity to such 

 fabrications, particularly the Advance, 

 a religious paper of the Congrega- 

 tionalists. The author of the false- 

 hoods about the manufacture of comb 

 and filling and sealing it by machin- 

 ery, in the Advance, is a clergyman, 

 and one of the managers of that 

 paper — one who ought to be above 

 doing injury to an honorable pursuit, 

 by giving publicity to such a slander- 

 ous falsehood. See page G7. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



TliMs"lw''aiia"01fl,"etc, 



.IA3IES HEDDON. 



I wish to publicly thank the Kev.W. 

 r. Clarke for his article on page 37, 

 containing so many kind expressions 

 and plain and vigorous words. It is 

 pleasant to know that there are those 

 with whom we have entered the arena 

 of sharp contest in our own search 

 for truth who still remain our friends, 

 ever willing to give honor to whom 

 they think honor is due. I must also 

 thank nearly a hundred honey-pro- 

 ducers who have privately expressed 

 nearly the same sentiments. 



1 wish to publicly correct a few 

 misapprehensions which time and 

 nervous strength forbid my doing by 

 private letters. 



I will say Hrst, that the new hive is 

 not a " small one." the brood-cham- 

 ber being equal to that of the 10-frame 

 Langstroth hive, when not inten- 

 tionally contracted to one sectional- 

 case, upon the system which I prefer, 

 at the proper season. 



2. I Hnd its top surface (which is 

 the same as the standard .S-frame 

 Langstroth hive) ample for this 

 locality, but it can quickly be in- 

 creased to double that surface by 

 placing the cases side by side. 



3. It is not true, as many supposed, 

 that the hive must necessarily be 

 reversed or any of its parts inverted. 

 In fact, tlie double-interchangeable 

 brood-chamber system is the only one 

 well adapted to secure most of the 

 advantages gained by reversing. 



4. It is a mistaken idea that this 

 hive and system demand fall feed- 

 ing for winter : on the contrary it is 

 eminently adai)ted to wintering bees 

 on natural stores, and that, too, of 

 any preferred variety, and without 

 any tedious manipulation ; all of 

 which is fully explained in my book. 



'). Regarding the invention and 

 patent : Several bee-keepers have 

 written me that they have used sub- 

 stantially the same thing; full ex- 

 plauatioii, however, plainly revealed 

 a mistake, and I predict that this will 

 be repeated in every similar case. 



I wish it understood that I do not 

 claim the use of tightening-screws of 

 all sorts, and adjusted in all manners ; 

 nor invertible, closed-end frames in 

 all manner of adjustments; nor two- 

 story brood chambers of all kinds, any 

 moi* than I claim an exclusive right 

 to the use of wood, nails or paint in a 

 bee-hive, simply because I use them 

 in this one ; but I do claim a certain 

 number of arrangements which I con- 

 sider the very best with which to 

 construct a hive so that any frame 

 can be reversed at will, or any num- 

 ber of frames may all be reversed 

 together at will, without any addition 

 or subtraction of parts or extra 

 manipulation ; so that we may accom- 

 plish the great bulk of necessary 

 work by manipulating a number of 

 frames at once, instead of singly ; that 

 we may cut out queen-cells or intro- 

 duce the same ; shake our bees nearly 

 all clear from the combs with a single 

 motion ; find queens almost instantly; 

 and many other useful manipulations 

 which I will not repeat here ; in fact 

 my claims cover any hive mechan- 

 ically constructed like mine in one or 

 more of its essential features for the 

 purposes specifled. We discover 

 principles, but we patent the mechani- 

 cal arrangement by which these prin- 

 ciples are applied ; not in all their 

 details, however. 



While I have not endeavored to 

 cover all methods of constructing one 

 brood chamber in two horizontal sec- 

 tions, the idea was original with me, 

 being the outgrowth of a conception 

 of an improved system of manage- 

 ment. If it is worthless, it will fall, 

 together with my opinions regarding 

 it ; but if it is what a trial of two sea- 

 sons compels my students, Mr. Hutch- 

 inson and myself to believe. I shall 

 rest content with the thought of being 

 the first to systematize it, impress it 

 upon the minds of ray fellow bee- 

 keepers, as well as putting it forth 

 clothed in what I believe to be the 

 best general mechanical construction, 

 the minor details of which may change 

 at any time, for this invention is con- 

 fined to no particular size, shape or 

 number of pieces. 



ilany letters received prompts the 

 following words of caution : Do not 

 hastily adopt this or any other im- 

 proved hive, at a sacrifice. My colo- 

 nies in improved Langstroth hives, 

 on straight worker-combs (a majority 

 with reversible frames) will not be 

 transferred soon. The new hive will 

 be adopted in my apiaries only as fast 

 as increase and other changes in 

 harmony with economy will warrant. 

 This course I consider best for all. 



