THE AMERICAM BEE JOURNAL. 



213 



of the combs would remain cold, or 

 warmed at the expense of large con- 

 sumption of stores, if not in comfort- 

 able winter quarters. With this view 

 of the matter I made a frame with 14 

 inch top bar, makingaframe 8J<xlli>^, 

 inside measure. For top bar and ends 

 I use *8 stuff, Jig inch wide. I have 

 used them 2 years, and can say that 

 for both winter and summer I am 

 liighly pleased with them. I have at 

 present 35 of my colonies in short 

 frames. They are simply the Lang- 

 stroth frame shortened. 



I do not write witli the view of hav- 

 ing any one adopt the size I have 

 mentioned; neither do I claim that 

 it is the size, but 1 will venture to 

 predict that for all localities where it 

 is necessary to economize the heat of 

 tlie hive for 7 months of the year (as 

 is certainly the case in this locality), 

 shorter frames tlran the original 

 Langstroth will grow more and more 

 in favor with bee-keepers. There are 

 economic reasons for the use of short 

 frames even in warmer latitudes, 

 which I may mention in the future. 

 The Rev. George Raynor riglitly says : 

 " The size of the frame does not nec- 

 cessa'rily fix the size of the hive. 



Youngsville, Pa. 



For the American Bee Journal, 



Reply to Messrs. Uem.aree and Casson. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



Probably the discussion of the bee 

 question, and best way of getting bet- 

 ter ones, has gone as far as the read- 

 ers care to go with us. We have had 

 a good time, and I, as one of the dis- 

 putants, have enjoyed the discussion, 

 if no one else has. 1 like to read all of 

 Mr. Demaree's articles, because they 

 possess that vigor of expression that 

 the lover of literature relishes. I can- 

 not, however, refrain from making a 

 statement, the trutli of which is only 

 equaled by its plainness, which is, 

 that it seems to me Mr. D. is lacking 

 in clearly understanding my premises 

 and drawing logical deductions from 

 them. Perhaps I do not make myself 

 clear enough : 



1st. I believe the best bees that 

 have ever been imported to this coun- 

 try are Italians, and that tliey are the 

 longer-bodied, darker-colorecl variety. 



2d. I believe that while these bees 

 are the best, all things considered to- 

 gether, the brown German bees are in 

 several leading and important pecu- 

 liarities, superior to them and all 

 others. 



3d. I believe that traits in bees are 

 hereditary, and that the better way to 

 get the best bees quickest, is to cross 

 these two races, and in so doing breed 

 in the desirable, and out the undesir- 

 able qualities of each, to the best of 

 our ability. 



4th. If 1 can understand the sen- 

 tences penned by Messrs. Doolittle, 

 Root, Langstroth, Newman, and last, 

 but not least, Chas. Dadant, these 



fentlemen think about the same, 

 'rusting to the memory of the reader, 

 I do not think it necessary to quote 

 from these writers. True, Mr. Davis, 

 a gentleman of integrity ' and experi- 



ence, has returned to the goldens, but 

 yet, it he has not some goldens of far 

 more illustrious habits than the.^nes 

 I purchased from him some ten years 

 ago, he has yet something of great 

 value to leani. 



This country is full of experienced 

 men, such as" E. J. Oatman, and the 

 Dadants, who would be very hard to 

 convince that Mr. Davis, or any other 

 man, liad any bright Italians equal to 

 the leather-colored variety. He un- 

 doubtedly thinks so. but I do not, and 

 cannot, though it is ever so true. I 

 have not liad the evidence, and owing 

 to the fact that I have had such a good 

 chance to have it, I doubt its exist- 

 ence. Back numbers of the Bee 

 Journal show that Mr. Dadant 

 understands the argument of Mr. 

 Demaree to be against the virtues of 

 the leather-colored or dark Italians ; 

 so do I. Whether these dark bees are 

 pure or liybrids, that they are the 

 best, is the claim that Mr. Dadant 

 and others of us urge. In .speaking of 

 Mr. Dadant and myself, Mr. Demaree 

 savs : " The only wonder is that a 

 man of his (Dadant's) experience, 

 should be slow to learn that the im- 

 ported Italian is a hybrid. It is not 

 so surprising, however, that a person 

 holding sucli views as those propa- 

 gated by Mr. lleddon should be found 

 in darkness." I shall have to say to 

 this, as the Chicago Times did of J. 

 Cook's lecture : "One hundred dollars 

 reward is offered for any man that 

 can tell what Mr. (Demaree) is talking 

 about." 



Then he warns me that hundreds of 

 bee-keepers are going right on breed- 

 ing up to the highest point of excel- 

 lence, regardless of my opposition. To 

 this I reply: You who have read my 

 views on this subject, tell me, is this 

 lawyer insane V 



I can hardly suppose it would be- 

 come one who believes the golden 

 Italians to be " hybrids in character," 

 to make such a dreadful fuss about a 

 little more liybridizing with so valu- 

 able a bee as the brown German, 

 especially when governed by tlie wis- 

 dom of American bee-keepers of the 

 nineteenth century. I did not say that 

 I was " aware " that leather-colored 

 bees were hybrid ; I said I suspected 

 it, and wrote so among the first, or 

 was the first. I thought best to leave 

 it to such explorers and experi- 

 menters as Mr. Dadant, to become 

 " aware." 



Mr. Demaree objects to my wit- 

 nesses, ostensibly because their names 

 were not given, but perhaps because 

 they do not testify to suit him. I 

 have known lawye'rs to do just such 

 things. I may have failed, but I have 

 sought to gain a reputation for com- 

 mon honesty where there was nothing 

 at stake at least, and I was led to 

 think that if I said that these men 

 were of experience and well known to 

 be such, and wished their names kept 

 private to save postage stamps and 

 time, that my word would suffice. I 

 think so stiii. In this res))ect I am 

 willing to grant to otiiers all I ask for 

 myself. I see no proper comparison 

 between the precision of witnesses in 

 this discussion and a case tried in a 

 Justice court. Does Mr. Demaree 



not hold some stories as divinely true, 

 whose witnesses lost the cheerful habit 

 of living in this world, some hun- 

 dreds of years ago V I see no proof sus- 

 taining jlr. D."s premises, from his 

 "live witnesses." 1 have met and 

 talked with Messrs. Jones and Pop- 

 pleton, and I have corresponded and 

 heard something semi-occasionally 

 from Messrs. Davis and Doolittle, and 

 truly, I should be surprised if I found 

 on iiispection, tlieir bees more yellow 

 than my own. Messrs. Poiipletonand 

 Jones run for extracted honey, and 

 they do not miss the lack of comb 

 building (jaalities in their brightest 

 yellow bees, which they may possess 

 to some extent. None of these men 

 had any special strain of crossed bees 

 to compare side by side in the same 

 tield and season. 



In what I quoted verbatim from ^ 

 man of close observation and study, 

 and one who makes honey production 

 liis entire business and support, and 

 not a side issue, I showed to all who 

 are willing to credit me with that com- 

 mon honesty which would not fabri- 

 cate something from nothing, that 

 well bred crosses can " gather a large 

 yield," where there is "but little 

 nectar," or " none to be gathered " by 

 the golden Italians of the amateur. 



I wish to thank Mr. Casson for his 

 kind words and manner of giving 

 timely caution, in regard to high 

 board fences, and no one can doubt 

 that his experience in regard to the 

 house proves that house shade on cer- 

 tain days is dangerous to some loaded 

 bees ; but it also proves that there is 

 a difference between houses and 

 fences, because, though I have kept 

 my bees for more than one-half of my 

 time in yards surrounded with high 

 board fences, I have never seen the 

 loss of a single bee result from it. 

 We are told that bees make from 4 to 

 10 trips daily, each ; that they can fly 

 from 1 to 4 miles per minute, and that 

 the time is mostly used np in loading 

 and unloading, etc. Now, if you have 

 a vard of j-i acre in size, and a bee 

 starts from one fence and Hies over 

 the opposite one, the elevation is so 

 slight that I think it hardly worth 

 our mention, and those near the fence 

 that is between them and their ilirec- 

 tion, pass out and into the yard by a 

 circular motion that loses not more 

 than one-thousandth part of the time 

 occupied in tliat trip. So far as I have 

 ever been able to determine the losses 

 by rise and fall of lines, and shade in 

 cool weather, has been tenfold offset 

 by the gain of shade in hot weather, 

 and more especially by time saved 

 from idle gossipers and thieves, child- 

 ren and stock getting stung, and 

 nervous iieople fearing the .same. 

 When I start another aiiiary out in the 

 country, perhaps I will omit the fence 

 and use barbed wire, and then if I 

 get twice as much honey, I will let 

 you all know it, by the " brandishing 

 of my little pen." 



I am just making into kindling- 

 wood 100 bottom-stands that had 

 slanting alighting-boards. I used 

 tliem till they were too old to be of 

 service. I used them because 1 had 

 them. I have made none but square 

 ones for the past 7 years. My bees 



