770 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



NOTES OF TRAVH. 



I BY A.liFJOOT . 



^m 





CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE. 



St. Louis, Mich., near Alma, is a won- 

 derful place, or it has been. Some 25 or 30 

 3'ears ago its reputation was almost world- 

 wide for its medical spring's or wells for 

 the cure of many diseases. I think thej' 

 called them the magnetic springs, and it 

 was claimed that the water was so strong- 

 13^ charged with magnetism that it would 

 magnetize knives, scissors, etc. If I am 

 correct, these knives and scissors received 

 their magnetism by touching the iroa" pipe 

 where the water runs out ; and any iron 

 pipe driven into the ground possesses this 

 property. Never mind. St. Louis is a 

 thrifty place with its wonderful water- 

 power. We were very pleasantly enter- 

 tained by Mr. J. N. Harris, who has sever- 

 al hundred colonies of bees in various out- 

 apiaries. 



From St. Louis we had a very nice road 

 through Mt. Pleasant and on up to Clare, 

 in Clare Co. At Clare it began to look very 

 much as though we were getting out into 

 the wilderness. Sandy plains took the 

 place of good roads; and in order to get 

 through from Clare to Far well we had to 

 pass through a piece of woods where there 

 were seven gates to open and shut. You 

 may remember I described this state of af- 

 fairs in Cuba. The land was owned by 

 people who possessed immense farms, and 

 the fence was only around the outside. 

 The traveling public were obliged to open 

 and close the gates or else build fences each 

 side of the road to keep in the stock; and 

 this sandy road twisted around between 

 the trees in a way that seemed as though 

 we should never get anywhere in a straight 

 line. The auto, however, did splendidly, 

 and even made prett3' fair speed. At one 

 point, in consequence of some improvement 

 the road was shut up by a field, and we 

 were compelled to go around the field 

 through the woods where almost no vehicle 

 had ever passed; but we made it all right, 

 and got out of the woods. When we arrived 

 at Farwell we were rewarded for our trou- 

 ble with sandy roads by meeting Mr. T. F. 

 Bingham, the man of smoker fame. Mr. 

 B. is a watchmaker and jeweler, and I be- 

 lieve he still works at his trade more or 

 less. We might expect from this that he 

 would be a careful man and a fine mechan- 

 ic. His smoker-factory is in the back part 

 of his jewelry store, and he has some very 

 nice machincy for making the celebrated 

 Bingham smokers. Besides this he has a 

 very prettj' home, and, I think I may say, 

 one of the finest apiaries in Michigan or 

 any other State. His exceedingly nice and 

 convenient cellar for wintering bees has al- 

 ready been pictured and described in this 

 journal; but the Bingham hive, as he uses 



it now, deserves more than a passing no- 

 tice. I believe he has changed the dimen- 

 sions of his frame from what they were 

 3'ears ago. It is not as shallow as it used 

 to be. The hive is made up of the frames 

 like the Ouinby hive and many others of 

 that class; but I think friend Bingham is 

 the man who first originated a hive made 

 up of frames having no outer case. All the 

 others are copies of his idea. Very likely 

 some of the makers did not know of Bing- 

 ham's hive at the time. The frames are 

 close-fitting end-bars. The first and last 

 frame have a cleated panel to close up the 

 hive. A nail is driven into each of these 

 panels, with the head projecting; then a 

 wire loop something like the letter O is 

 hooked over these nail-heads. To squeeze 

 the frames up together, and make it so it 

 can be handled like a solid hive, a stick of 

 the proper length is put into this wire loop, 

 spreading the sides, making the O in the 

 shape of a diamond. This is all there is 

 to it. These light simple hives are placed 

 one over another; and as friend Bingham 

 doesn't take oft" his honey till the season is 

 over, he has them piled up, not only three 

 or four high, but sometimes five or six. If 

 you want a sample of the Bingham hive, all 

 j'ou need is one frame and one of the out- 

 side panels. Just make more like your 

 sample, and 30U can pile up hives as fast 

 as you wish, with the wire loops to hold 

 them together. As he makes and uses 

 them, the idea is exceedingly fascinating. 

 It is simplicity itself. Of course, you can 

 use any kind of bottom-board j'ou choose. I 

 did not look particularly in regard to the 

 entrance; but to have the hives made of 

 perfect frames, without any cutting, I would 

 suggest that the entrance be made in the 

 bottom-board. The cover, I think, is sim- 

 plj' a cleated board. It projects a little all 

 around the hive, if I am right; and he has 

 a novel idea of shading the hive from the 

 direct sun by attaching a sort of night- 

 gown or mother Hubbard to those project- 

 ing covers. His arrangements for comb 

 honey are not particularly different from 

 others in use, except that he has one of the 

 cutest observation glasses I ever saw. One 

 side of the section-case, or super, contains 

 a strip of glass ordinarily concealed from 

 view; but a little door running the whole 

 length of the end-board opens out very eas- 

 ily, and shows you when the bees are at 

 work in the sections. The hinge to this 

 little door i? made by driving a slender 

 nail clear down through the door, and all 

 near one corner of the super. Ernest says 

 there is an illustration of this hive in the 

 ABC that shows it verj' well. I should 

 also like one of the covers with the " night- 

 -gown " attached. 



Friend Bingham and his good wife al- 

 most insisted that we should stay over 

 night, and not go further that day. When 

 we assured him that we couldn't possibly 

 spare 'the time, he declared we jHusi visit 

 the Wilkins sisters. Our older readers will 

 remember the papers that made such a stir 



