152 



THE AMERICAJSI BEE JOURNAL. 



Oneida County Agricultural Society 

 in reference to making exhibits of 

 honey at the County Fair, asked for 

 an extension of time, which was 

 granted. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Feeiliflg Siiar-Reversilile Hives, 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



First allow me to thank Mr. Dadant 

 for his frankness as shown on page 

 75; next, please allow me to explain 

 that those who force the honey into 

 the surplus receptacles by " contract- 

 ing, reversing, or by using small 

 hives," have no intention of feeding 

 back again to the bees the honey that 

 has been forced into the surplus re- 

 ceptacles, but expect to replace it 

 with the cheaper and safer food, cane- 

 sugar ; or, if thev find that some par- 

 ticular kind of " honey is safe for 

 winter stores, the "contracting, re- 

 versing, and small hive" method 

 will enable them to choose this par- 

 ticular kind of stores for winter. This 

 method does not compel us to feed, 

 but enables us to do so if we wish 

 without first extracting the honey 

 from the brood-combs. 



Considerable is now being said 

 against the use of sugar for winter 

 stores. The low price of honey has 

 been attributed to this practice. Some 

 have accused it of being the founda- 

 tion upon which has been built the 

 sensational stories in regard to adul- 

 teration ; and those who have prac- 

 ticed it have been accused of build- 

 ing up the sugar trade at the expense 

 of the honey market. When our com- 

 mission merchants quote low prices, 

 I believe they never mention this as a 

 reason— it is always " owing to sev- 

 eral carload lots from California," or 

 something of this kind that is given 

 as a reason for low prices. If no 

 more sugar should be used for winter 

 stores, or fed for any purpose, for 20 

 years, these same stories would live 

 and be repeated. The truth of the 

 matter is, that when small brood- 

 nests are used and the bees given but 

 little more honey than enough to last 

 them until liouey can be gathered in 

 the spring, there will be ijractically 

 none of it left by the time of the com- 

 mencement of the white clover 

 harvest, which is about the first from 

 which we secure a surplus. 



The talk about "building up the 

 sugar market," even if there were 

 any objection to so doing, is all 

 " bosh." The sugar fed to bees is not 

 even a drop in the bucket so far as 

 the sugar market is concerned. That 

 the practice puts more honey upon 

 the market is a more reasonable idea, 

 but it falls upon a deaf ear when told 

 to the man who would have no honey 

 to sell at any price unless he winters 

 his bees ; and can only succeed in so 

 doing by feeding them sugar for 

 winter stores. VVe may argue as long 

 as we please, and bring forlli the best 

 of arguments, yet our arguments will 

 be useless, if the bee-keepers who now 

 lose their bees during winter learn 

 that they can winter them success- 

 fully by substituting sugar for natural 



stores ; and when they come to this 

 decision they will welcome the hive 

 and system that will enable them to 

 bring out the bees in the fall in nearly 

 a starvation condition, and it will 

 only be necessary to put on the feed- 

 ers and feed,' the work being done in 

 a few hours. 



THE NEW KEVERSIBLE HIVE. 



I would like to say a few words in 

 reply to Mr. Alves' questions concern- 

 ing the new reversible hive, on page 

 72: 



1. There is no more machinery 

 about the Heddon hive than about 

 an ordinary one, except the thumb- 

 screws, and these are fast and seldom 

 used. 



2. Yes, it does require exact work 

 in manufacturing, but this is made 

 up many, many times when we once 

 get them right and begin manipulat- 

 ing them. 



3. Four dollars is only the price of 

 a single sample hive ; they can, of 

 course, be made much cheaper in 

 large quantities. If a high priced 

 implement enables us to dispense 

 with labor to a sufficient extent, it is 

 profltabU. 



4. Mr. Heddon's principle can be 

 used with two shallow Langstroth 

 hives, and the advantage of inter- 

 changeableness will be secured, but 

 the advantage of reversing each sec- 

 tion is lost ; as well as some of the 

 advantages of manipulating hives 

 instead of frames. 



Criticisms from Mr. Alves are al- 

 ways valuable, because he appears 

 fair, and willing to accept the truth. 



Mr. Demaree, in his article on page 

 102, claims to have used sectional 

 brood-chambers for some time past ; 

 and as proof, refers to his articles in 

 several defunct bee-papers, and also 

 in the American Bee Journal. 

 With the exception of the American 

 Bee Journal he mentions no pages. 

 Will Mr. D. please state the pages 

 and volumes where he has mentioned 

 using a hive the brood-nest of which 

 is, or can be, divided into sections 

 longitudinallv ; or, better still, quote 

 some of the passages bearing upon 

 the subject, as many of us may not 

 have files of the papers mentioned. 

 The article on pages 370 and 371 of 

 the American Bee Journal, Vol. 

 XIX, shows conclusively that Mr. 

 Demaree used the ordinary Lang- 

 stroth frame in the brood-chamber, 

 and that the shallow combs were used 

 in the supers only for securing ex- 

 tracted honey. Mr. Heddon does not 

 claim to have originated the idea of 

 "tiering-up" hives, but of "tiering- 

 up " brood-chambers ; and althougli 

 he has no patent upon this, lie does 

 claim that, whether "prior" as an 

 inventor of this process of not, he 

 was original in its discovery and use, 

 and the ^)-st to make it tmhlic, clothed 

 in practical shape, and presented as a 

 system of management, after testing 

 and finding it good. Mr. D. may 

 have accidentally gotten his queen 

 and brood into one of these shallow 

 supers, or he may have put them there 

 purposely, and is now wintering them 

 there, but it amounts to nothing ; as 

 everybody knows that whoever used 

 or did not use a two-story brood- 



chamber, Mr. Heddon was the first to 

 place the idea before the public. It 

 is now a year since I knew of Mr. 

 Heddon's new hive, and I have used 

 them one season ; all this time I have 

 watched closely to see if the same 

 idea was advanced by any one else. I 

 have watched in vain. 



Mr. D. says: "When we hive a 

 swarm in the lower story or hrood- 

 department (V) (italics are mine) of a 

 hive, we call it a ' hive ;' when we add 

 another story to it to give the bees 

 more room, we still call it a hive, 

 because it is a hive in sectional parts. 

 Now the mere difference in the depth 

 of the sectional parts can never 

 change an old idea into a new one." 

 Why does Mr. D. apply the term 

 brood-chamber to the lower story 'f 

 Because it is the brood-chamber, and 

 the upper story is not added for brood 

 but for surplus ; and the idea of mak- 

 ing this brood-chamber in longitudi- 

 nally sectional parts that can be inter- 

 changed at will, is oriqinal with Mr. 

 Heddon, and was first published by him. 

 Mr. Demaree attempts to defame 

 the hive by saying the case is simply 

 a shallow box, etc. In so doing he 

 inadvertently praises it. Its " sim- 

 plicity " is really wonderful, consid- 

 eringhow much can be done with it. 

 Mr. Alves is respectfully referred, for 

 an answer to his first query, to para- 

 graph 5 of Mr. Demaree's article. 



Mr. Demaree further says : " It is 

 proper to say that the frames are 

 adjusted in the case, so as to leave a 

 shallow bee-space both at the top and 

 bottom of them, and the case will 

 work either side up or down ;" and he 

 dismisses this grandest of all the 

 grand features of the hive with, 

 " comment is unnecessary." Perhaps 

 he meant that it would be unwise, 

 for there can be no imaginary ques- 

 tion as to the newness of thus arrang- 

 ing frames so as to have the bee-space 

 on either side, or divided between 

 both at will. 



When reading the paragraph m re- 

 gard to the use of thumb-screws, 

 which ends with, " No device is more 

 commonly used than a ' set-screw, 

 I could not help exclaiming, " Why 

 didn't he say, Mr. Heddon's hive is 

 made of wood, and no material is 

 more common out of which to make 

 hives V" . . 



riease allow me to relate an inci- 

 dent: Last week, at Adrian, Mich., 

 I had the unexpected pleasure of 

 meeting Dr. A. B. Mason, of Toledo, 

 O. Not having read " Success in 

 Bee-Culture," he did not exactly un- 

 derstand how Mr. Heddon's hive was 

 made, and questioned me concerning 

 it. As one feature after another was 

 explained, his genial face lighted up 

 as a face will only when its owner is 

 hearing pleasant news ; and his 

 tongue belied not his face when it 

 said: "Is that so V" "That's it. 

 that's it." "Well, well!" or similar 

 expressions. It was new to the Doc- 

 tor. Now, when a man like Dr. 

 Mason, who reads the bee-papers, 

 attends conventions and fairs, and is 

 a practical, well-posted bee-keeper, 

 learns of the features of this hive 

 with a burst of pleased surprise; 

 when such men as Wm. F. Clarke 



