220 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



the colony: here are hanging the wax-secret- 

 ing and comb-building bees. A little smoke, 

 and one sees the new combs built on the 

 starters, or the finishing of the foundation. 

 In most cases I remove the beginnings of 

 drone-combs, and also regulate crooked 

 combs by a so-called drone-knife — a hooked 

 knife with a long handle. Of course, in 

 some cases the drone-knife will not do all 

 that is to be done to secure perfect combs; 

 but then, one may handle one or two 

 frames to do the rest. If I had before me a 

 normal colony, or such a one as has worked 

 according to my wishes, I need not handle a 

 single frame. An inversion of the hive, a 

 few pufifs of smoke, a peep at the combs, an 

 inversion of the hive to its normal position, 

 and the work is done in less than a minute. 



Now, friend Eoot, I could point out to you 

 far more advantages in handling hives in- 

 stead of handling frames; but it may he 

 enough to show of what great importance 

 your and Mr. Brown's suggestions are for 

 the advancement of bee-keeping. As I have 

 said before, I am of the opinion that Ameri- 

 can bee-keepers will themselves soon iiud 

 out in what way this is to he carried out 

 with their unsurpassed Langstroth hive: and 

 I should be very glad to learn from them 

 how they in future handle their hives instead 

 of frames. C. J. H. Gravenhokst." 



WiLSNACK, Germany. 



To the above Mr. Root replies as follows: 



" [Friend G., we are obliged to you for 

 your very kind and very valuable informa- 

 tion. It were no more than fair, however, to 

 say, especially as Ernest is at present absent, 

 that to him belongs the credit of the quota- 

 tion you make. Notwithstanding, however, 

 I emphatically endorse what he says. The 

 glimpse you give us of the way in which ^ ou 

 manipulate your hives is to me very interest 

 ing indeed, and I can understand now, as I 

 never did before, why it is that you prefer 

 such an arrangement. You have got accus- 

 tomed to it, and the whole process is, as it 

 were, at your fingers' ends: and then we 

 must admit, as you explain it to us, that 

 there are some very important advantages 

 indeed in handling bees without uncovering 

 the brood-nest at all. In fact, I remember 

 many instances where positive damage has 

 been done by some awkard manipulator in 

 tearing open the top of the brcjod-nest dur- 

 ing cool weather, and then leaving it only 

 partially closed up again after he went away. 

 Nay, further, I have seen colonies get the 

 ' spring dwindling ' and actually die out- 

 right (in my opinion), simply by this kind 

 of unseasonable and unreasonable tinkering. 

 If we don't use the same kind of hives, friend 

 G., it is comforting to know that we agree 

 on general iirinciples in the jiroduction of 

 honej'. i" 



Upon another i)age Mr. Root has the fol- 

 lowing: 



" We would call especial attention to a 

 valuable article on handling liives instead of 

 frames, from the pen of that veteran bee- 

 keeper, C'. J. H. (xravenhorst, editor of the 

 lllnstrated Hiexor.dhnitj, a (iernian bee- 

 paper of no ordinary standing. This is a 



vital subject, and we are glad Mr. Graven- 

 horst has given his experience along this 

 line. Close competition and poor honey- 

 seasons, such as we have had, mean that we 

 must produce a ton of honey with less labor, 

 and that is, handling hives instead of frames. 

 Mr. .James Heddon deserves no little credit 

 for advancing this idea of late: but he is by 

 no means the pioneer in it. Since we have 

 been handling fixed frames we have seen the 

 possibilities in handling hives, and the time 

 is fast approaching among jyrogressive (not 

 conversative) bee-keepers when they will 

 find queens, ascertain the amount of stores, 

 aud diagnose a colony in a dozen other 

 ways, w ith a tenth part of the labor. Old 

 fogies need not poohpooh ot this: if they 

 do, they will be left in the race on profits. 

 Let this subject be discussed. AVe have lots 

 of room for such articles." 



I am glad to see that Mr. Graven horst and 

 Mr. Root are willing to give Mr. Heddon 

 credit in this matter of handling hives in- 

 stead of frames, but it seems to me that 

 they do not give him sufficient credit. I cer- 

 tainly believe him to be the pioneer in this 

 field. For a dozen years or more I have 

 been an attentive and careful reader of our 

 American bee keeping literature, having 

 read nearly every journal from the first 

 number up to the present time, and never 

 until Mr^ Heddon described his plan of pre- 

 venting after swarming did I get so much 

 as a hint of handling hives instead of frames. 

 Can Mr. Root point to anyone else who wrote 

 uijon the subject previous to that, or very 

 much since then, unless it is myself, (and I 

 got my idea of Mr. Heddon) until during 

 the last two or three years? Since then Mr. 

 Heddon has brought out his new hive and 

 system whereby this idea of handling hives 

 instead of frames may be carried to greater 

 perfection than ever before. If Mr. Heddon 

 is not the pioneer who is? Mr. Barnet Tay- 

 lor, of Forestville, Minn., who has been giv- 

 ing us such excellent articles of late showing 

 the wonderful things that cai' be accom- 

 plished by handling hives, may have been 

 the pioneer in this country and he may not, 

 but I believe it is conceded that the honor 

 rightfully belongs to the one who //;-.s^ /)((/»- 

 lislies the discovery. The one who makes a 

 discovery, then discovers the val}(c of the dis- 

 covery and imihes it known, is the one de- 

 serving of all honor. I presume our cousins 

 across the waters may have handled hives in- 

 stead of frames long before Mr. Heddon ad- 

 vo{!ated it, but was it not in this way? 

 'I'hcy, many of them, iiandled hives, straw 

 or box hives, years and years ago, and have 

 continued to handle them up to the present 



