1S8S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



315 



a load, and the latter when they were going 

 after a load.— I agree with you in regard to 

 the short hand writing. Practice has dem- 

 onstrated exactly what yoi have stated 

 above. I would now almost as soon think 

 of dispensing with almost any of our modern 

 improvements in the way of saving time and 

 hard labor, as to dispense with this one 

 great help in my labors. Our stenographer 

 criticises you a little in regard to the time 

 taken to acquire it. She thinks it would be 

 hardly possible for even "a smart girl" to 

 learn so as to take down even slow dictation, 

 by daily lessons for six weeks. 



COMBINED CASE AND CRATE. 



HEDDON S EXPERIENCE ON SEVERAL POINTS. 



M T the first advent of sections, I one day asked 

 rj8^ myself, " Why can we not have one recepta- 

 ' cle that will answer the doubl!> purpose of 

 storing on the hives, and shipping to market?" 

 Many were the hours I spent studying this problem, 

 and then gave it up as impracticable. My mind was 

 next called to the subject b}' seeing a cut and adver- 

 tisement of a case for the same purpose, in one of 

 your circulars. I examined it closely, and, from my 

 experience, studied the matter over again thorough- 

 ly, again abandoning the idea. In Feb. Gleanings, 

 page 59, friend Walker comes forward with the same 

 old idea. I have studied the article closely, have one 

 of friend Walker's sections, and still I can not accept 

 his arguments as valid, or his section as a good one. 

 Said section has not the strength of good, all dove- 

 tailed work. The style of the projections, as illus- 

 trated on page 61, makes a very homely section, and 

 one more difHcult to manipulate in and out of its 

 case. I am radically opposed to any thing tending 

 backward toward the old dauby slip-shod system; 

 and from conversation with honey merchants in our 

 larger cities, I am convinced that nothing presents 

 a more distasteful appearance than propolis stick- 

 ing to the sections. Any receptacle that can be any- 

 wise comfortably manipulated on the hives, will 

 cost much more than a new clean shipping-crate, 

 and not answer the purpose nearly as well. Our 

 sections, when crated, will stand any jarring that the 

 same will in the case in which it was stored. I have 

 had only two cases of honey broken, since I can re- 

 collect, and they were promptly paid for by the rail- 

 road company. 



Mr. Walker speaks of so placing the slats that 

 they exclude the queen from ascending Into the sur- 

 plus department, and Mr. Myers, on page 116, March 

 No., thinks " Friend Heddon uses strong language 

 regarding his queen-excluding honey-board." I do 

 not call mine a queen-excluding honey-board, and 

 I have laughed, when reading, at the ideas some 

 have, that wooden slates can be so adjusted as to 

 strain out the coarser bees in a reliable manner. 

 My honey-board is simply so arranged that it dis- 

 courages the queen from going above. 



In the use of some 600 28-section cases last season, I 

 remember of only 5 or 6 sections being entered by 

 queens, though in a great season for breeding. My 

 experience teaches me that the zinc queen-excluding 

 honey-board is impracticable and useless. Further, 

 that there is no labor that we perform in our busi- 

 ness, that pays a greater dividend than that of neat- 

 ly cleaning our sections, and recasing them in a 



new clean crate. A nice attractive section at $10.00 

 per 1000 is cheaper in the end than poorly made 

 homely ones, as a gift. 



GETTING BEES OUT OF THE HONEY-BOXES, ETC. 



On page 115, friend Myers tells us how perfectly 

 the Doolittle plan of getting bees out of boxes will 

 work. I used to use a double-walled wintering room 

 (with walls 1 ft. thick), in which to receive my honey, 

 till the bees left the boxes. The sides of the build- 

 ing (counting both stories) were 16 ft. high. The 

 only light came from a small revolving sash. The 

 outside was boarded up and down, and battened with 

 Ja bats. Over this window I tacked wire screen i 

 making it fast at ends and bottom, but extending it 

 up the bats some 2 or 3 feet, it lying off from the 

 boards 7a of an inch. As bees have a tendency up- 

 ward, those retiring from the boxes passed out read- 

 ily. Success seemed mine. 



EDUCATED BEES. 



Soon, however, they learned the way back. I 

 then extended the flue upward to the top of the 

 building, some 12 ft. above the window, by the use 

 of burlap tacked on above, and the same as the wire 

 cloth. The exit of the bees was as complete as be- 

 fore, "and now let's see you find the way back." 

 Rut they did it, descending the whole 12 ft. with the 

 bravery of an old country chimney-sweep, and that, 

 too, bees that had never practiced with the wire 

 cloth alone, before the burlap extension was adjust- 

 ed. A second trial of the same fi.xture proved that, 

 for memory and business habits, the bee has no liv- 

 ing equal. With our present tiering-up method we 

 smoke nearly every bee down cut of the supers, be- 

 fore removing from the hives. The few that re- 

 main fly on a window, and are revolved outdoors* 

 Robbing is thus absolutely impossible. 



James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., Apr. 4, 1883. 



Your ideas are good, friend Heddon ; but 

 are you not overlooking the fact that these 

 pound cases and crates are very extensively 

 used all over the country, and that tons of 

 honey have been marketed in them to the 

 satisfaction of all parties concerned ? You 

 remember, too, that friend Walker told us 

 how readily his honey sold, and states that 

 he has already made a practical success of it. 

 I know there are objections, as well as good 

 points, in both ways of putting up honey ; 

 but friend Walker's plan has the merit of 

 being very much less expensive in both time 

 and money, if I am correct.— Tour educated 

 bees are about what I expected we should 

 find if we adopted Doolittle's plan to any 

 great extent. However, the plan may an- 

 swer in the majority of cases, or until the 

 bees " get the hang of it." 



WHY SHOULD BEE - KEEPING BE KE- 

 STKICTED? 



OR, WHY SHOULD ANY ONE BE DISCOURAGED FROM 

 ENGAGING IN IT? 



^S^RO. HEDDON, in an article begun in March 

 J™ Gleanings, and concluded in the April No., 



gives voice to the idea that no one should 



keep bees in any locality where some one else has 

 started an apiary first, and intimates quite forcibly 

 that the supply dealers have injured the occupation 

 of bee-keeping by selfishly urging parties to engage 

 in it, presumably that more sales of goods might be 



