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21 



I»lr, X. I'. BIMCJHAM. APIARIST 

 AWI> H^H-ENTOR. 



Many desire to know sometliing more con- 

 cerning tlie principal apiarists and inventors 

 of the world, than can be obtained in the 

 current literature concerning tlie develop- 

 ment of the industry. In most eases this 

 can be obtained more conectly, and in better 

 form from the persons themselves than from 

 any others. In the case of our present 

 sketch, we concluded that this was particu- 

 larly the case, and so, at our request, Mr. 

 Bingham has furnished the following con- 

 cerning his life and inventions : 



My father's as also my mother's ancestors 

 emisrated from England early in Colonial his- 

 tory. My niother^s name was Kent ; her 

 ancestors settled in Connecticut, while my 

 father's settled in Massachusetts. My grautl- 

 father moved from Massachusetts to New 

 Hampshire, where my father was born. My 

 fatlier, when a young man, moved to Ver- 

 mont, where he married and became a 

 fanner. My grandfather Kent was a farmer, 

 and also kept bees, and made very handsome 

 straw-liive-s— the time-honored kind now 

 shown in print, to denote " industry." He 

 gave my fatlier a colony of bees in such 

 a hive. "Those bees and their progeny my 

 fatlier kept during the remainder of his life— 

 about M years. 



The subject of this sketch was born Jan. 

 23, ISJO, in Woodstock, Vt., and early be- 

 came accustomed to and familiar with the 

 management of bees, and also the current 

 bee-literature of the times. When 18 years 

 of age I was invited by a watch-maker to 

 learn the watch and jewelry business. Three 

 years were so spent, and then being desirous 

 of further perfecting my business, I accepted 

 a position in a Boston house ; after which I 

 was employed as a watch-maker in New 

 York, Petersburg, Va., Columbus, Ga., and 

 Cincinnati,©. I then commenced the jew- 

 elry and watch business for myself in 

 Gowanda, N. Y. 



Thinking that some out-door employment 

 might prove a recreation and a reward also, 

 I bought S-T colonies of bees and transferred 

 them to Langstroth hives. Soon after that 

 I purchased 7.5 more in logs, barrels and 

 5>oxes, which were also transferred at once 

 to Langstroth hives, to work for comb honey, 

 Vvhich tiien (three years after the American 

 war began) was worth 40 cents per pound by 

 the ton or car load, gross weight, without 

 crating, in the bee-yard. 



Invention of a Bee-Hive. 



A few winters and summers led to the be- 

 lief that bee-keepers had not yet all that was 

 needed for the easy and successful jjroduc- 

 tion of comb honey, and the safe wintering 

 of the bees. 



Experiments had shown that a flat hive, 

 having 4 inches of comb, and a large upper 

 surface for supers realized much better re- 

 sults, but it was regarded impracticable to 

 try to winter bees in such hives with or 

 without protection. 



I then decided to make a frame of triangu- 

 lar fonu, each of the three sides measuring 

 2.3 inches, two of the sides having a jiiece IW 

 inches wide attached to hold the frame ivf- 

 right, and to furnish a shoulder, against 

 which the .surplus boxes should rest. This 

 arrangement gave ample space for eight 6- 

 pound boxes, in close proximity to the 

 brood ; while, at the same time, only eight 

 large frames were required for honey for 

 winter and otlier use. These frames were 

 clamped together by a wire loop across the 



wide ends of the frames, and the movable 

 sides — the whole making a hive as com- 

 pact as any box-hive, yet easy to manipulate 

 under all circumstances. Either movable 

 side had a long entrance (S3 inches) and a 



f)ortico. Around the whole was a bottom- 

 e.ss box having a loose cover. This served 

 as a cover to the surplus in season, and to 

 hold chaff in winter. This hive was a radi- 

 cal affair, and attracted considerable com- 

 ment among bee-keepers. 



Many hives were brought out in different 

 places embodying the same principles, but 

 of different form. Among these may be 

 mentioned the "Qiiinby improved," which 

 had a series of large, rectangular, tight-end 

 frames, clamped together and setting in a 

 loose box, which served as a cover to the 

 surplus in season, and to hold packing for 

 winter. 



The triangular frame, however, was soon 

 abandoned, and at once remodeled, so as to 

 use the same outside cover and front and 

 rear sides. This was done by nailing the 

 tight-ends to a strong top-bar 32)^ inches 

 long, forming a rectangular frame holding a 

 piece of comb .5x233i inches. 



The above changes converted a hive made 

 before the extractor became much used. 



T. F. BINGHAM. 



(having frames impractical for extracting 

 purposes), into a hive peculiarly adapted to 

 tienug-up — the extractor just then coming 

 forward as an implement or machine of 

 value to apiculture. 



In conventions in Michigan and elsewhere 

 this hive was much discussed, but was re- 

 garded as too flat for practical use. It has, 

 however, held exclusive possession of my 

 apiary for a period of 30 years, without a 

 wish to change it. It embodies the princi- 

 ple in a high degree on which my first ex- 

 periments were made ; viz : large upper sur- 

 face for surplus comb honey in close prox- 

 imity to the brood. 



Invention of a Smoker. 



While the hive experiments were pro- 

 gressing, I was also trying various devices 

 for the production and easy management of 

 smoke, which experience had shown to be 

 absolutely necessary to the easy and rapid 

 handling of bees in movable-combs or 

 otherwise. 



My first experiments were the production 

 of a light tin tube having a fire grate and 

 two cork ends, in each of which was a small 

 wooden-tube, to be held in the mouth and 

 to direct the smoke. This proved to be 

 very handy, as both bands remained free 

 for use. They were used quite extensively. 

 They were not, however, all that I desired, 

 and continued sxperiments were persever- 



ingly made. These experiments led to a 

 comparatively handy smoker held in the 

 hand, but operated by the mouth, through a 

 small, flexible tube, one end of which was 

 held in the mouth while the other furnished 

 the smoke tube with air and blast. This 

 was a great advance on any other mouth 

 smoker, but the same old weakness clung 

 to it, that had clung to the others— if you 

 stopped blowing, the fire died out. 



But this smoker demonstrated many fine 

 points, as well as its own weaknesses — the 

 latter of which proved the most valuable. 

 They led to the establishment of the natural 

 draft between the blast-pipe and the 

 sinoker-stove, continuous, unobstructed, re- 

 liable and direct. The principle was now a 

 fixed and established reality— needing only 

 a few ingenious experiments to render it 

 what it has proven itself to be, viz : one of 

 the greatest aids to easy practical apiculture 

 in every country where enlightened methods 

 prevail. 



Had Father Langstroth possessed such an 

 implement for managing bees, while his 

 patent was in his own hands, it is safe to 

 say that his hive and system of manage- 

 ment would have been more easily intro- 

 duced to bee-keepers, and that intelligent 

 apiculture would have been very greatly 

 promoted. 



Invention of an Uncapping-Knlfe. 



It has been said that " necessity is the 

 mother of invention." The necessity of 

 uncapping combs to extract the honey with 

 unscientific uncapping knives, clieaply 

 made of poor material, led to experiments 

 which developed the peerless Uncapping 

 Knife, now known as the Bingham & Heth- 

 erington Uncapjiing Knife, wherever the 

 honey extractor is known. 



Our family and the Hetherington family, 

 if these inventions are of value to the bee- 

 keepers and the world, have not lived en- 

 tirely in vain. It has been claimed that bee- 

 keeping to be a success must be the special 

 pursuit. In answer, it will be borne in 

 mind that in the Kent-Bingham family bees 

 have been kept consecutively for at least 

 one hundred years. Also that in no one 

 ease have they been other than a side issue 

 or pursuit. If, then, the introduction of 

 shallow, tight-end frames, the invention of 

 the direct draft bee-smoker, and the single 

 beveled uncapping-knife may be reasonably 

 called successes, bee-keeping simply as a 

 side-issue in our family, at least, may be 

 regarded as a success. 



Briefly yours, T. F. Bingham. 



Abronia, Michigan. 



Long Pre§ervation. 



A Case of remarkable preservation of 

 apples comes to us from Pokeepsie, N. Y. 

 The "Evening Enterprise" remarks thus 

 concerning it : 



We received to-day from the hands of Mr. 

 George H. Knickerbocker, who keeps a bee- 

 farm in the town of Pine Plains, specimens 

 of two varieties of apples— " russet " and 

 "lady sweet"— that were grown on his 

 farm in 1886. They are in an excellent state 

 of preservation, and look as if they might 

 be Kept for an indefinite period of time. Mr. 

 K. informed us that they were kept in a 

 fruit cellar without any artificial means ap- 

 plied to preserve the fruit, and he attributes 

 their remarkable preservation to the even 

 temperature of his fruit cellar. It is cer- 

 tainly a remarkable showing, and is worthy 

 the attention of all who are interested in the 

 preservation of fruit in its natural state. 



Mr. Knickerbocker is one of our adver- 

 tisers, a progressive apiarist, and queen- 

 rearer of prominence in New York. 



