February 10,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
121 
January 12th, and in same bees were all chilled, and though only one 
hive withstood the gale, which blew 6,000 trees down in one park near, 
I wintered three on candy and two on honey stores, the rest never 
getting over the gale, which were mostly on honey stores, being impos¬ 
sible to provide empty combs for all. But in issue for May 15th, 
page 169, yol. xii., is a letter signed “ Honey Bee,” stating how he got 
some driven bees in November and packed them up on candy made 
according to my directions, and six sheets of foundation, and how well 
they wintered. At the end of the year I received a letter from a 
clergyman, who said he was the writer, and he said they had given him 
40 lbs. of honey, having done better than any of the others, and that he 
always alluded to it as “ Hewitt’s stock.” 
On June 1st Mr. S. Simmins, under the heading “ Another Point 
Gained,” page 188, says, “ For some years past I have striven to solve 
the problem of feeding dry sugar to bees, and at last 1 am pleased to be 
able to record that I have a system of stimulative feeding which 
enables me to give the sugar in such a manner that there is not the 
slightest waste.The Porto Rico sugar is to be used only in 
spring and for producing young bees in autumn, but for winter stores 
the best grade of Demerara will an.twer admirably.” Let all compare 
this with his consistent declaration as follows :—“ I wish it to be dis¬ 
tinctly understood that I have on no occasion advised my plan for 
winter feeding, neither do I recommend feeding in winter in any way.” 
If this is so, why did he mention “ winter,” and actually the very kind 
of sugar that I had directed candy to be made from? a sugar quite 
different to the Porto Rico to be used in spring and autumn, thus 
taking for granted that they lived on honey in summer we have the 
whole year provided for ; also compare the extracts with what is pub¬ 
lished on June 15th and October 1st previously, particularly the latter, 
and I venture to think his years of experiment, autumn and spring ex¬ 
periences will be considered by every person with the least intelligence 
as so much “ humbug,” and had not “ Honey Bee ” published his success 
with my plan we should not have heard anything from him about feed¬ 
ing dry loose sugar. He says “ that there is not the slightest waste.” 
It so happened that I had gone over the ground of loose sugar in my ex¬ 
periments, and I found that bees would carry every grain of sugar out 
of the hive “ to grass ” if it was not small enough for them to dissolve, 
and that whether they had water, moisture, or vapour they could not 
use “ the best grades of Demerara sugar.” I wrote an article to the 
Editor of the British Bee Journal, setting forth these facts, and pointing 
out if one would fix a sheet of glass in front of the hives, slanting 
towards the hive, with a trough under, so that the bees would hump 
against it and drop in the trough, they would find that they were 
carrying out a large proportion, if not the whole of it ; also that it was 
only a very wasteful imitation of my plan. Such letter, I regret to say, 
was never published. It is surprising to what extent bee-keepers have 
been led to believe that because the sugar went the bees were surely 
eating it. 
Here let me state that I now believe that no system of feeding will 
pay unless done to save your bees from dying, and that I am convinced 
as much as ever I was of the value of candy as bee food ; in fact when 
properly done it is the cheapest and best way of feeding bees, but since 
1883 I have always sent my bees to the moors, where they get their 
winter stores for nothing ; but I still keep experimenting, and when I 
am satisfied that I can depend on receiving due credit for my work I 
may publish the results. As to his assertion that no practical bee¬ 
keeper was surprised at no result being published, is about equal to the 
rest of his statement. Can I be blamed if the Editors will not publish 
my letters on the subject ? Whether to oblige Mr. Simmins or not I 
neither know nor care, the fact remains, however, but still he will find a 
letter of mine very much “ cut ” in the British Bee Journal in the 
autumn of 1885, which at least disposes of his “ silence ” pleai; in fact, it 
was because my letters were suppressed on this very subject that I 
dropped writing on other subjects in the British Bee Journal. 
Mr. Simmins as a Trader. —He says, “ Mr. Hewitt is fully aware 
that I have not advertised my feeders for sale, and that he should say 
that I have done so cannot be wondered at, considering the heedless 
expressions of which he seems capable.” Oh ! he has never advertised 
them, nor the rest of the “ Simmins ” appliances either has he ? Who was 
at the expense of engraving the blocks which illustrated the feeders, 
&c., in the British Bee Journal ? Who paid for registering the different 
things in Mr. Simmins’ name ? What is the meaning of several hive 
manufacturers advertising “ By authority—makers of Simmins’ hives, 
crates, sections, feeders, &c. ? ” Does he mean to imply that he gets no 
profit from such advertisements, either in the shape of appliances or 
cash ? I assert that m consideration of his influence in sending trade 
to these people he gets well paid by them, and I challenge him to prove 
otherwise, and this he does while pretending that all he does is for the 
good of others. 
We have seen how Mr. Simmins honours (?) me. Now I will just 
■show how he treats others. Let us turn to B. B. J., page 83, for 
March 1st, 1885, where we find an article signed, F. Lyon, and 
headed, “ Making a Solution of Sugar without Boiling.” The writer 
neither claims or implies to be the discoverer, but seems to have used it, 
or known of it for some time. The information he gives is clear and 
concise, and in my opinion nothing more is needed ; but for April 1st, 
Mr. S. Simmins, page 115, has a long article, headed “A New Syrup 
Feeder, which Dispenses with Syrup Making,” where he claims all the 
credit of discovering this particular principle of making syrup, which is 
suspending the sugar in a very porous holder in the water, and describes 
three feeders which he says he has invented, which he says can be 
obtained from certain people whom he names, and which he implies are 
necessary to success. He has directed much attention to this system, 
and has added a number of other feeders designed on the same principle, 
some of which I note are registered, and I do not suppose one in a 
hundred of the readers of the B. B. J. have any idea that he was not the 
first to describe the principle. 
In the issue of the B. B. J. for May 15th, 1885, page 174, a querist, 
signed “ B.,” wants to know if the sugar and water cannot be mixed in 
any vessel (say an extractor or wash tub) and then poured into any 
syrup feeder. That is according to Mr. Lyon’s plan, for as he gave it, 
all that was necessary was to hang the sugar in a coarse bag in 
any vessel put in the water, and next morning or so fill the feeders 
with the syrup, thus no extra appliance is required. This corre¬ 
spondent grasps the principle, and wants to know why the necessity 
of Mr. Simmins’ “ latest feeders ” in carrying it out ; but Mr. Simmins 
in reply quietly ignores what he asks, and with the greatest audacity 
implies that his new feeders are absolutely necessary, saying, “ Besides 
no other vessel or feeder can possibly act in the same manner.” Can 
any transatlantic friend match this assertion ? 
In most of the cases I have quoted we find that Mr. Simmins has 
been anticipated two or four weeks. These I have given from British 
publications, so that less difficulty will be experienced by most who 
read this in referring; but I can give a number from the American 
bee papers anticipating him in his so-called discoveries. No doubt he 
will say that he discovered all independently, and that they are only 
illustrations of two separate parties each discovering one thing. He 
may do so if he likes. I, for one, do not believe in so many contempo¬ 
raneous discoveries, nor will anyone else quite do so I think ; but if he 
wished to honour those who had preceded him in publication, he would 
have mentioned them, giving them credit for what they had done. 
Such writers ought to be treated as they deserve by every editor. There 
is no means of proving what they say except by inference, and every 
honest worker after truth is deterred from publishing what he discovers, 
because it will be put in fresh clothes and palmed off as another persons’ 
labour, and the original discoverer robbed of all the credit. 
I have written at some length in the hopes of being able to improve 
the morals of the “ miners ” in apicultural knowledge.—A HALLAM- 
shire Bee-keeper. 
PUNIC OR TUNISIAN BEES. 
It will be remembered that I had not opened the hive of these bees 
since November 23rd on account of the cold frosty weather. January 
17th here was the coldest day, so far, this winter. On the 19th the 
mercury went up to 55° with a bright sun—result : bees swarmed out 
from every hive except the Punic stock. I was again surprised at this, 
and so went and turned up each four corners of the quilt, to find every 
seam full of bees ; thus it will be surmised that having flew just when 
they required to there was no necessity to fly for nothing. 
On the 28th ult., being again very warm, snow all gone, sun brightly 
shining and no wind, I opened them once more. I found they had 
decreased in numbers from November 23rd, but were still very strong, 
there being a good cluster of bees in each of the five combs, including 
the front and back seam next hive walls ; not a dead bee to be seen, nor 
a speck of excreta. One frame was three parts full of eggs and larvae 
about two days old, but no sealed brood, and they had also ample stores. 
Comparing them with the other stocks I am more than satisfied. I have 
now settled it that they can stand 10° Fahr. more cold than our native 
bees. This will be found an ernormous advantage, as it will give them 
the power to take a cleansing flight almost any day in our winters, and 
breeding with immunity in cold weather will give strong stocks in time 
for the earliest flowers. Judging so far, I think they will be ready to 
swarm at the end of March. I will keep reporting their doings from 
time to time.—A Hallamshire Bee-keeper. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “ The 
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Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened un¬ 
avoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
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unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
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