646 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



OctoUr 13, 



additional comb between the others, and that he has a lot of 

 cutting down to do before he can again place 10 frames in his 

 hive, he will not be likely to want to try this experiment 

 again. We have occasionally had to handle hives of bees in 

 which an inexperienced person had placed 8 frames only 

 where 10 really belonged, and we have always found that the 

 bees managed to fill all the space according to their natural 

 habits. I had almost as lief handle a hive in which there 

 were too many frames as one that contained too few. This 

 reminds me of a bee-keeper who filled his hives entirely full 

 with frames % inches thick, putting 13 of them in an 8- 

 frame hive. It was a nice job to remove them, and I would 

 rather have box-hives than hives arranged in this way. 



Ever since we have begun using loose bottom-boards and 

 raising the hives in front in hot weather, we have avoided the 

 breaking down of combs by heat. I must say, however, that 

 the straw mat inside of the cap over the combs or the supers 

 is a very good adjunct as a preventive of the action of the 

 sun's rays. 



We can see no advantages whatever in the tight bottom. 

 If one wants to transport hives they can easily be fastened by 

 a cleat on the side which will fasten the cap or the cover at 

 the same time as the bottom ; or if for transporting them 

 about the apiary, one can resort to the Van Deuzen clamp, 

 which makes a tight or a loose bottom at will. 



The only purpose for which we have seen any use for bot- 

 toms nailed fast to the hive is in shipping or transporting. We 

 have transported thousands of hives from one apiary to 

 another, and have sometimes nailed the bottoms to the hive 

 for that purpose, but we have never hesitated in taking the 

 nails out afterwards, and we usually leave them to project a 

 little for that purpose when they are driven. 



If there are advantages to the tight bottom which counter- 

 balance the disadvantages, I for one have surely not found 

 them. Hancock Co., III. 



Do Italian Bees Produce Better Honey? 



BY A. W. HAKT. 



Mr. Bevins, on page 518, says he is sorry I took his 

 " squib " so seriously. Well, I am not feeling very badly over 

 the matter, but how would he have me take it? I should 

 have made no reply had there not been criticism and ridicule, 

 and an effort to disparage and impugn my motive In asking 

 . the question. 



The first sentence, in my first communication, reads : 

 "We sometimes see the statement made," etc., and I have 

 shown that prominent bee-men do entertain and promulgate 

 the doctrine that Italian bees produce better honey than 

 others, etc. I askt the question as to how It is, when all have 

 access to the same sources of supply, and this, as Shakespeare 

 says, is the whole " head and front of my offending ;" and for 

 this I am called in question, my motive ridiculed, and I made 

 to appear as " putting up a job on the bee-keepers." 



Mr. Bevins says: "I would like, as well as Mr. Hart, to 

 know why Italian bees store a better honey than others," etc. 

 That is what I wanted to know, and why I askt the question 

 of those supposed to know, and why did not he, or was he 

 afraid some other sharp critic would arise and accuse him of 

 " putting up a job on the bee-keepers ?" 



He says what he said was not an answer to my question, 

 was not intended to be. Then why was it written ? Surely, 

 my question was fair, and sought a fair answer, and not the 

 ridicule he gave It in trying to make me pose as fooling with 

 the bee-keepers. I have proven my position, given my au- 

 thority for the "opinions and statements," and yet Mr. Bevins 



must fire a parting shot, saying, " 'Tis still my belief 



that Mr. Hart has started the bee-keepers In pursuit of an 

 ignus fatuus." I may be afHicted with a little mental obtuse- 

 ness, unable to comprehend the logic of things, but I fall to 

 fathom the motive of such flings, unless it be for "distinc- 

 tion," or, may be, a challenge to cross swords. If it be the 

 former, he is welcome to all there is on both sides ; if the lat- 

 ter, I shall not dodge, tho it would doubtless be uninteresting 

 and unprofitable to the readers, and of necessity lead beyond 

 the limits of apiarian literature, and consequently Inadmissi- 

 ble to the columns of the American Bee Journal. Neverthe- 

 less, the legend "At Home " may be found on the " lintel." 



Mr. B. says: "Mr. Hart mistakes." Now, I might use 

 the boy's argument, and say, " You're another." He says he 

 did " not say, or intimate, that his [my] question was entitled 

 to no consideration." Mr. Hart did not say he did. Mr. B. mis- 

 takes. How does he read ? Let me quote from Mr. Hart, 

 page 457 : " Mr. B says I came at them with another ' If,' 

 which Is entitled to no more consideration than the other." 

 Is it not clear that It is the two hypotheses to which he 



alludes — the aforesaid " Ifs " — of which I said he intimated 

 they were entitled to no consideration, and not of the "ques- 

 tion." 



Mr. B. is right when he thinks I thought so, too, nor did 

 I use them as my reasons, for did I not say " if as some say," 

 showing they were quotations? Then, why attack me on that 

 line? I have shown that men do have the opinions, and state 

 them, that Italians produce better honey. May be they are 

 right. I did not see it, and askt for light. I think a man 

 ought to always be " able to give a reason for the faith that is 

 in him." I askt a question touching that faith, and for this 

 question Mr. B. tells you his belief still is, that Mr. Hart has 

 started the bee-keepers on a " jack-o'lantern " chase, then 

 meekly and cheekily says, " Let us have peace." It seems to 

 to me there was peace till he made war. Who " puts up a 

 job ?" The one who states or affirms or erects a structure, or 

 the one who merely interrogates, Why doest thou thus? 



Mr. B. may have thought that after the explosion of the 

 14 inch shell from his biggun I would be demolish t, and placed 

 hors du combat, hence the " Let us have peace." Yes, by all 

 means, let there be peace, and when the terms are arranged 

 on the basis of fairness, right and justice, I am ready at any 

 time to sign the " protocol ;" but I shall " yield no territory," 

 and Mr. B. must pay his own " transportation." 



' Stephenson Co., 111. 



MR. CHAS. IV. WHITE. 



This week we have the pleasure of introducing to our 

 readers, by pictures of himself and apiary, Mr. Chas. N. 

 White, of England, whose series of nine articles on bee-keep- 

 ing appeared in this journal during July, August and Septem- 

 ber. The picture of his apiary we use by the courtesy of 

 Gleanings, that paper having copied it from the British Bee 

 Journal, from which we take ihe following paragraphs con- 

 cerning it and its scholarly owner: 



Our bee-garden picture shows the apiary of Mr. C. N. 

 White, and is situated in the village of Somersham, Hunts., 

 in which place he has resided for the past 18 years. In re- 

 sponse to our request for a few particulars regarding himself 

 and his work to go along with the picture, Mr. White says: 



" My first lessons In bee-keeping were taken from my old 

 friend and schoolmaster, Mr. Winter, of Caistor, Lines., with 

 whom I lived while apprenticed as pupil teacher. Here, 28 

 years ago, I first saw bees kept on a humane principle, for my 

 bee-master (tho hardly progressive or scientific enough to fairly 

 give him a claim to that distinctive title) preferred an econo- 

 mical as well as humane system of bee-keeeplng. From 1875, 

 when I left college, to 1879. when I settled at Somersham, I 

 was gleaning information on bees, and learned much from Mr. 

 W. B. Jevons, of Market Rasen, who was then an expert bee- 

 keeper. Here, then, I formed the nucleus of an apiary that 

 eventually became my pride, and did not lack the admiration 

 of friends. The work and worry inseparable from scholastic 

 duties in a rural school of 250 children at first prevented me 

 from doing very much with the bees; but since I have been 

 able to turn to the hobby in grim earnest, I have by practical 

 work, and by the use of my pen, endeavored to show other 

 rurals that bee-keeping is a source of interest and profit, and 

 tends to promote good health and the power to work hard. 

 For myself and the benefits it has conferred in this line, the 

 multiplicity of duties I have performed and still attend to, 

 fairly well shows." 



Few will dispute Mr. White's claim to be.called a worker 

 when we learn that he is Hon. Sec. Hunts, and Cambs. 

 Teachers' Association, and In this capacity has been represen- 

 tative at annual conferences of teachers in London and else- 

 where. He is Hon. Sec. Hunts. B. K. A., and of the Cambs. 

 and Isle of Ely B. K. A., while locally he is secretary to trus- 

 tees of local charity, Hon. Sec. Technical Education Commit- 

 tee, collector of taxes, church choirmaster, conductor of con- 



