1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



445 



COMBINED CASE AND CRATE. 



ALSO SOME OTHER MATTERS. 



jjf N reply to Byron Walker, page 368, 1 will say that 

 I will, of course, never refuse the task of try- 

 ing all new things sent me by friends, gratis. 

 I have not, however, forgotten the Deano case, 

 which no sooner breathed than it died. Though il- 

 lustrated and praised by its inventor, and by Prof. 

 Cook, where is it? A sample was sent to me. I 

 think of no words fitting with which to express my 

 dread of such complication. I like friend W., and 

 his honest zeal; but my honey-dealers have made 

 me believe that they could never get my price on 

 comb honey sent to market with the glue on the sec- 

 tions. I still believe that we shall gain by giving all 

 our sections a cleaning before sending to market. 

 I think the glue " combined " looks too antiquated on 

 our markets of to-day. Friend Walker's compari- 

 son on the Given press is not appropriate. Had he 

 tried wires imbedded in the septum of fouudation 

 in as perfect a stylo as any machine could put it 

 there, and then could not make it work, well might 

 he exclaim against the press, though he had never 

 seen one. Now, 1 have seen gluey sections rejected, 

 and we know the combined case and crate does not 

 prevent gluing. I think it a mistake for any one to 

 think that either of us write the praises of our 

 preferred sections because wc sell them. Friend 

 Walker has no patent on his, and 1 have not one 

 cent, even, invested in the manufacture of mine. I 

 buy them to sell again. It would be no loss to me 

 to find out that the one-piece section was best, for I 

 can buy that cheaper. Let us not be so uncharita- 

 ble as to shut our eyes to reason, which says, we 

 use and sell our style of goods because we like them 

 best; not, "like them best" because we use and 

 sell them. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I was never more shocked than 

 to read your comment on my article in the last 

 number; most, at your closing sentence, where you, 

 after your prejudicial remarks, infer that your col- 

 umns are closed against any explanatory defense; 

 also shocked at your lack of knowledge pertaining 

 to the quotation I made, or terrible one-sidedncss in 

 giving all great men their due. My quotation was 

 not from the book that you revere, the Bible. Such 

 words are not there; and though the same senti- 

 ment was put forth in other words by the lo\ing 

 and sacrificing Christ, that does not detract any 

 from the merits of the great and noble Confucius, 

 who exclaimed them 500 years B. C. I consider it 

 very wrong for men to idolize one great reformer, 

 to the utter ignoring of another. If you really 

 thought this well-earned compliment to the heroic 

 dead was going to hurt any one's feelings, why did 

 you not draw the editorial pen across the part that 

 was of no special importance to the subject, and 

 which would not change the sense of the matter, 

 rather than hurt my feelings as you have? 



*** k ft * * * 



In regard to your list of names, if you furnish 

 them at 50 cents per 1000, you virtually give them 

 away, and 1 have not one word to say regarding any 

 exclusiveness in the matter on your part. 



James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., July 4, 1883. 



Friend Ilecldon, it was tlie words " glad 

 tidings of great joy " that I objected to, and 

 not the golden rule. I did not cross it out 

 of your letter, because I did not feel §ure 



that you would want me to publish your ar- 

 ticle with a part omitted. Since you have 

 been so kind as to give me this liberty, I will 

 take you at your word, and cross out a little 

 over a page of your present article, which I 

 think much better left out. Now to come 

 right down to the point, decidedly but kind- 

 ly, I can not think it my duty to let any 

 thing go into print, taking the ground that 

 Jesus Christ the Son of God was a " great 

 reformer." I know there are those who 

 claim to have a different opinion in the mat- 

 ter ; but as for myself and the journal which 

 God has seen fit to put into my hands to 

 guide and direct, God helping me, all men 

 shall know that 1 am on the side of Christi- 

 anity and the Bible. Any words or writing 

 that would seem to encourage the idea of 

 putting Christ on a level with Confucius, or 

 any other human being, I shall consider out 

 of place in Gleanings.— 1 am very much 

 obliged to you for your kind words in regard 

 to our printed list of customers. We cer' 

 tainly agree on that point. 



DRONE FOUNDATION FOR SECTIONS, 



SOME PRETTY HEAVY EVIDENCE AGAINST ITS USE, 



eINCE W. D. Higdon, in June Gleanings, has 

 written so emphatically in favor of drone fdn, 

 for sections, I think it is time for a little evi' 

 dence on the other side of the question. 



In August, 1881, 1 sent to you for 5 lbs. of thin fdn., 

 without specifying which kind I wanted, as in your 

 price list you say that worker will be sent unless 

 drone is ordered. You sent drone fdn., however; I 

 presume because you were out of worker. Now, I 

 did not want drone fdn.; but as I needed foundation 

 at once, I concluded to give it a fair trial, so put it 

 all on the hives. 



There was little fall honey, however, and but a 

 small part of it was worked out. In the spring, these 

 sections were put back on the hives, thoroughly 

 mixed with sections containing fresh worker fdn., 

 and starters of natural comb — about one-third of 

 each kind in most hives. Now for results: 



The worker fdn. was drawn out and finished ^rst; 

 the natural comb next, while the bees seemed very 

 averse to working the drone fdn., drawing- much of 

 it out but a short distance, and then contracting the 

 mouths of the cells with heavy rims of wax, as 

 though they wanted to make worker comb out of it. 

 At the close of the white-clover season, a large part 

 of the Ecctions containing drone fdn. remained un- 

 filled. 



In the fall we had such a yield of honey that I was 

 unable to take it away as fast as the bees gathered 

 it, being also short of sections, fdn., and other sup- 

 plies, and nearly every swarm had the spaces bCT 

 tween upper and lower frames, and between the 

 ends of frames and sides of hives, filled with honey. 

 Out of over 40:0 sections on the hives, less than 300 

 remained unfinished at the close of the season. 

 Among these unfinished sections were many con- 

 taining drone fdn. still ifnworked; and in preparing 

 for this season's work I ci;t out a great deal of this 

 fdn , which had been in the hives during the whole 

 of an excellent honey season, and which the bees 

 had done nothing moro than to propolize a little. 



It may that the reason the bees did not work it 

 better wa?, tbat it was old and hard; In fact, I thiaU 



