Novemb r it, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND 
COTTAGE 
GARDENER. 
459 
super to tho brood nest. The yield of lioney is greatly 
increased by the use of empty combs in supers, but 
foundation may be used with great success where comb is 
not available. The thinnest foundation which it is pos¬ 
sible to obtain must be used in the sections and the 
supers, the contents of which are intended for sale as 
‘•honey in the comb,” while full sheets of ordinary wired 
foundation are very valuable for use in frames which are 
intended for extracting purposes. The wires give solidity 
to the comb, and enable even the newest comb to be 
passed through the extractor without material damage. 
Any size of frame may be used in a super body, but it°is 
always convenient to use frames interchangeable with those 
in use in the body hives. 
Each succeeding year will add to the experience of 
the bee-keeper: each year he will probably find some 
new contrivances to aid him in his work. These are the 
fruit of experience. It is impossible to set down on 
paper a remedy for every misfortune, but a man who has 
mastered the elements of bee-keeping will be able to dis¬ 
cover efficient means of overcoming most of his diffi¬ 
culties, and will perhaps add something to the knowledge 
possessed by bee-keepers of more experience than him¬ 
self. A modest self-confidence engendered by knowledge 
will go far towards making a success, and a determination 
to succeed will, backed up by such self-confidence, gene¬ 
rally ensure success. 
. Bee-keepers as a class are ever ready to assist their 
neighbours; what knowledge they possess, that they are 
willing to impart to others. There are no “ tricks of the 
trade, yet every man of any experience in the manage¬ 
ment of bees will have certain little contrivances of his 
own to meet certain difficulties, and will gladly assist a 
brother bee-keeper to the utmost of his ability. Even if 
it were not impossible to write down these small helps 
sprung from unexpected difficulties, it would perhaps be 
an injury rather than an assistance to the bee-keeper to 
do so, because by taking away scope for ingenuity it 
would naturally diminish the interest which difficulty 
almost invariably creates.— Felix. 
PLACING BEES AT THE HEATHER—THE DISTANCE 
THEY WILL FLY. 
IN the issue for October 20th I intimated that in another letter I 
would explain the reason I prefer placing bees a mile from the Heather 
rather than on it ; and as I see your valued correspondent (“ A Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper ”) for November 3rd rather questions my wisdsm, I 
think I cannot do better than explain the matter at once, so that he and 
all others may understand the matter. 
My locality is about five miles due east of the moors, which are com¬ 
paratively level table lands, 1200 or 1100 feet above sea level; th-y are 
here about four miles wide, and extend from Derbyshire, through York¬ 
shire, into Scotland. They vary in width in several places, and there 
are also several elevations rising to great heights, jet, generally speak¬ 
ing, they are level. On both sides here, west and east, the land is in a 
high state of cultivation up to its edge, and to look at the fine crops 
of Potatoes on the same level as the barren moors one would think 
they might be cultivated also, and so they might if shelter could be 
provided to break the wind. The Sheffield railway stations, the Town 
Hall, and the markets, where land sells at auction for £25 per yard, are 
within five miles of the Heather; in fact the borough boundary on its 
west side crosses a part of the moors. Thus it will be seen we have no 
lowland Heather. I make this explanation so that others may be able 
to compare their locality with mine. 
Heather honey is the most peculiar; it is thinner when first gathered, 
and is thicker when ripe. When it is abundant bees have not to fiy from 
blossom to blossom like they do on white Clover, but they only have to 
creep from one or two stems closi together, and without tiring them¬ 
selves they are soon loaded up. How long it takes them on an average 
to load up I cannot say exactly, but in 1886 I placed some black bees (I 
had driven the day before twenty miles away) about one mile off the 
Heather. I opened the entrance at twelve o’clock at noon (I had hived 
them), and at 12.30 P.M. they were returning from the moors laden with 
Heather honey, having “ marked the locality ” gone to the moors, loaded 
up, and returned in thirty minutes. There were about twenty-six strong 
stocks close by working to the moors which may have guided them 
omewhat, but still we may safely venture to conclude a bee will make 
three journeys per hour at a mile distance. 
eellYw the ]? e ° s bri "S I 11 the thin hon*y they deposit it in every empty 
cell they can find, and when night comes they at once regorge them¬ 
selves with it and by putting forth as much energy ^possiffie 
stored mhf Th su P erfluous .moisture, after which they'deposit it in 
store combs. I he enormous heat they create for this purpose some- 
half ° f the bees in side the hive to come out, all of which 
a long wav off gre ThlB t H 1 gltatl0 n T! the n ° ise they mabe can be heard 
. on ? wa .y °f- . This theory about bees reswallowing their honev and 
ripenmg it at night, was ably put forward by the late Mr. Pettigrew 
It has been considered by some, who claim to be authorities, a crazyidea 
but is received by me as an absolute fact, and did I believe otherwise I 
truth have to close my eyes against a’tot of evidence^proving its 
S0 ° n fiU a11 their celIs even in a large hive, and they are 
compelled by necessity to ripen their stock, and so reduce its compass 
before they can gather more. Now, if they are a distance fS 
moors, in flying home they ripen it considerably while on the wing or 
in other words, they are obliged to ripen it through the expenditure of 
energy; therefore, why not let them use some of this energ/that has to 
be expended in travelling a certain distance to and from the moorS 
Bees so placed will not show such a large bag of bees outside and there 
will be quite as much honey stored inside, fo much doefflyffig t 
ripen honey, that when bees have five miles to flv it is to all f. 
and purposes, already ripe when they reach their hives. ’“A L B K ” 
admits that he has seen stocks placed three miles further awaV from the 
pasture store as much Heather honey as those close to it in good seasons 
but considers that in bad ones those placed in the mid«jt nf TTr. ’ 
would do much better, and implies tb a P t he b”s S ee“Scks £ 
bi» T „, b„;pet mss . sa t^^Th’s"L‘°aS‘i“f 
SS-S H? SS 22? tS)a‘f ll"Ve , ,S'. l5 b“ 8 
affirmed that Heather at a low elevation yields little or no honey"ancM! 
Mt a < Se n co,?ld C h d f bee8 n WOrking Uphi11 on Clover two miles away, yet 
not a bee could be found a quarter of a mile off below their hives 7 7 
I am quite willing to admit that it is best to place bees as near their 
JS"the matter® I thfnk T™® 8 °l CX “ pfc Heather, and to ex- 
which the basis of my ^ 
took our bees to the moors. We placed them ’in a ^ard^ndote tooths 
moors, and wffhin the Sheffield Borough boundary over the garden 
At fi t en 6 Heather la y m an unbroken line as far as the eye could see 
diangeable period -Tn St h f ° ney St ° red in quantities, then came a 
penod , in fact, it was just such weather as “ A. L B K ” 
would expect bees close to the moors to outstrip those at a distanc’p 
the 1 tnJr ne '?l 1 b l U I S ’. be . e u that stood between one and five miles from 
the Heather At NTU U ^uveeii one ana hve miles from 
uie Heather. At one to thr.e miles distance I could not see anv le^ 
honey, yet the bees were four or five times as nurnerrZ t 
concluded the stocks had been stronger, ™d s^ accounted for th« ,° nce 
Heather bloomed P A^dn T 7 ? tlCed th68e people ’ s st °eks before the 
tu ' Ag 1 aad my companions took our bees to the 
same place. The season proved as bad as it could be • dnv after ■. 
was either dull, windy, or wet, sometimes all three. There were only 
EeafSC 'ilftrSi worl "?'If the, turned out wet SwS 
tut. aicernoon, 1 could find thousands of bees chilled rm tno 
tone dose to the, could smell It, and mpttf £ wrf Lot™',, 1 ;"; 
foindth^rdSK^^ 
“sag sas 1 
profit. I at once saw how it was-viz, when the weather is fine thev 
work as well a mile or two away as close to. When it is bad they stay 
.IfetT wUint™ 1*?? ,h>t eehuot male SX joSe, £ 
satety, while those close to are tempted to work to their death when it 
ST* n™ 1n r i„.b°« e dlst :;“ “■ 
workers. thus in indiffeient weathers stock standing one to three 
wiitcr° nmutevs° rC I“is®!W 7 “f d ^ m ° re matu re bees to go into 
winter quarters it is these mature bees we want for wintering and 
not young ones hatched in October, as our friend very welT knows 
,, a ! ha ™ several times noticed “A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper” assert 
that working on the Heather seems to wear bees to death more than 
an y other honey-yielding blossom. It seems to be well understood bv 
those who are in the habit of taking their bees to the Heather and he 
given S °If V he a liircarcf S n rted n ° satisfact °ry explanation has been 
comprehend the causeT^ 0 7 P ° nd6r ° V6r tbCSe Hnes 1 thinb he wil1 
I o^he C ma C tter re anrthat S future 
?8 a % ?nd fC lI? S aFi r £® h ^'key have beenln one^fac^in 
1880 and 1887> and ‘bough this year the stocks lost many of their 
