326 



THE AMERICA2J BEE JOURNAL. 



of honey. Now what is there about 

 this that will " ruin an apiary in an 

 average season," or that •■ costs the 

 life of a colony V" Just as much, or, 

 at least nearly as much brood has 

 been reared, and the only difference 

 is that the honey has been stored 

 above the brood-nest instead of in it. 

 What is there about this that is detri- 

 mental to the " life of the colony V" 

 There are just as many, or at least 

 suflBcient bees, and they are healthy 

 and strong, and exactly as good in 

 every respect as though they had 

 stored all their honey in the brood- 

 nest. Why then say: "The apiary 

 is ruined?" 



Of course they must be furnished 

 with food. There is usually enough 

 in the corners of the frames to last 

 them until fall. I have been practic- 

 ing the contraction system now for 

 four years, contracting to five Lang- 

 stroth frames or their equivalent, and 

 have never yet been obliged to feed 

 my bees through " the heated months 

 of summer." Before cold weather 

 sets in, all that is necessary is to put on 

 feeders and feed sugar syrup, which 

 is not only unvarying in character, 

 but as a winter food for bees is equal, 

 if not superior to the best honey ; and 

 at present prices, can be used at a 

 profit. And right here I wish to 

 again quote from " The Production 

 of Comb Honey :" 



" Those who for any reason do not 

 wish to use sugar, may still take ad- 

 vantage of this system by putting the 

 unfinished sections back on the hives 

 in time for the honey to be carried 

 down and stored in the brood-nest for 



■winter As some may ask what is 



to be gained by this management, I 

 will explain that the number of 

 finished sections is increased thereby ; 

 in other words, it enables us to vir- 

 tually exchange the honey in our un- 

 finished sections for nearly its weight 

 in finished sections, leaving us the 

 combs to give the bees a ' send off ' in 

 the spring." 



I do not say it boastingly. but few 

 bee-keepers have experimented more 

 than myself in " feeding back " ex- 

 tracted honey, and one thing that I 

 have discovered is, that the loss in 

 weight, when the bees have empty 

 combs in which to store it, is compara- 

 tively slight. If the bees have to con- 

 struct combs in which to store the 

 honey, there is then a decided loss in 

 weight, so much so that it is unprofit- 

 able. When bees are gathering honey 

 in the fields, there are times when 

 they may build combs to advantage, 

 but when they get their honey from a 

 feeder, paradoxical as it may appear, 

 they must have combs in which to 

 store it, if the work is done at a profit. 



The idea advanced by Mr. Demaree, 

 that the labor and excitement caused 

 by feeding the bees for winter causes 

 a great loss of life and vitality, does 

 not agree with my experience. The 

 feeding of from 10 to 15 pounds of 

 syrup occupies, upon an average, 

 about two days' time ; it is done at a 

 season when brood-rearing is on the 

 wane ; and it is so soon over that it 

 has no great stimulating effect : but, 

 far better than all theorizing, colonies 

 so treated winter better, as a rule, 



than those that have nothing but 

 natural stores. Each year I have left 

 some colonies uncontracted and un- 

 fed, and they have shown no superi- 

 ority over those that had been con- 

 tracted and fed in the fall, while the 

 profits have been considerably less. 

 My only object in leaving some colo- 

 nies in this manner was to make a 

 comparison. A neighbor living two 

 and one-half miles away, who did not 

 "believe in contraction," nor in 

 " starters only," bought my empty 

 combs one year ago, and hived his 

 swarms in 10-f rame Langstroth brood- 

 nest, and left his bees their natural 

 stores, now mourns over a loss nearly 

 twice as great as my own. 



Mr. Demaree says : " But when it 

 comes to running an apiary from year 

 to year as a business, comb founda- 

 tion and empty combs cannot be dis- 

 pensed with in the majority of the 

 apiaries in the country, and their 

 judicious use must be profitable every- 

 where." (Italics mine.) Although 

 this was probably intended as a criti- 

 cism, I must say that I agree with 

 him entirely. So many seem to mis- 

 understand my views upon this sub- 

 ject; they seem to think I would 

 banish foundation and empty combs, 

 while I only plead for a " judicious" 

 use of them, and it was to make clear 

 what I considered, and what my ex- 

 perience taught, was a judicious use 

 of them, that I wrote my little book, 

 the last paragraph of which, preced- 

 ing the " Conclusion," reads as fol- 

 lows: 



" In my locality, and with my man- 

 agement (and I can see no reason why 

 the same rules and laws wiU not hold 

 good in other localities), I know that 

 the use of full sheets of foundation in 

 the brood-nest, when hiving swarms, 

 is attended with loss ; and I do not 

 think the matter stops here. I think 

 there are still more advantages to be 

 gained by utilizing the natural wax 

 secretion, and it is possible that it 

 would be profitable to encourage wax 

 secretion and comb-building. What 

 is needed is, I believe, an abundance 

 of empty comb in the supers at all 

 times, and the bees at the same time 

 allowed to indulge in comb-building." 



RogersvUle, d Mich. 



you should fail in getting returns in 

 time, get a competent lawyer to col- 

 lect for you, with an understanding 

 that he shall have such a per cent, on 

 the hundred for collecting. Never 

 take a note from a commission man, 

 as it is a State's prison offense to sell 

 on commission and refuse to pay over 

 the money and keep it to do business 

 with. 



When sending the honey, give in- 

 structions as to what price you are 

 willing to take for it, and if it does 

 not sell for that, say you will not take 

 less than a certain price, but to get 

 all they can for it. We have never 

 had trouble but once, and then we 

 gave the case into the hands of good 

 lawyers, and they had a few talks 

 with the commission men, and told 

 them they had committed a State's 

 prison offense, and the commission 

 men were glad to pay up without 

 going to law with it. It cost us some 

 |30 to collect the $550, but the law- 

 yers threw off, in our case, ten or 

 twenty dollars from their usual fee. 



Write kind letters to your commis- 

 sion men occasionally, get their con- 

 fidence, as it is to their interest to do 

 business honestly. We never pay but 

 5 per cent, commission, and always 

 send our honey by freight. We never 

 had but two cases lost by railroad, 

 and it was in due time paid for. At 

 home we have to give 2 cents per 

 pound for selling. 



Roseville,*o Ills. 



For tlie American Bee Joumat 



SMping Honey to Commission Men. 



MRS. L. C. AXTELL. 



We have for perhaps ten years 

 shipped honey to Chicago to be sold 

 by commission men. One year 30,000 

 pounds went from our apiary to Chi- 

 cago. In our state of health it is 

 almost impossible to sell all our honey 

 at home, but Mr. Axtell and I believe 

 in developing our home market all we 

 possibly can. 



As to commission men, I fear we 

 think too harshly of them. No doubt 

 some of them are dishonest, as there 

 are those in all kinds of bnsiness who 

 are dishonest; but there are good. 

 Christian commission men, as well as 

 rogues. Send your honey to them, or 

 to men with a good reputation, and if 



GleaniDge. 



Mr. James Heion-BiograBliy. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



1 am very glad to accede to the re- 

 quest to give a brief account of the 

 life and work of Mr. Heddon. True 

 merit should always be rewarded; 

 and as I am acquainted with no more 

 able, thoughtful, studious, and hard- 

 working bee-keeper in the United 

 States than Mr. Heddon, it is with no 

 little pleasure that I call attention to 

 his life, his work, and to the valuable 

 results of his careful experiments and 

 thoughtful, studious labors in the 

 apiary. 



Mr. Heddon was the first specialist 

 in bee-keeping in Michigan, and one 

 of the first in the country, and thus 

 his fertile, active mind has ever been 

 directed toward the "pocket-book" 

 side of bee-keeping ; and so, as we 

 should expect, all his work, experi- 

 ments, and influence are in the spirit 

 of this intensely practical age. Best 

 of all, from a long and intimate ac- 

 quaintance with him I feel assured 

 that all his labor, both of hand and 

 mind, has ever been impelled by an 

 honest purpose and sincere desire to 

 advance the vocation of his choice. 



He was born in Genesee Valley, N. 

 y.,Aug. 28, 1845. Thus he is now 

 42 years of age. In stature, Mr. 

 Heddon is below the average, while 

 his form is slight and wiry. He is 

 extremely nervous, and has akeen, in- 

 tense expression. He is gaunt and 

 lean, because he has a twenty-horse- 

 power nervous organism in a ten- 



