Tt)eS 



ee- 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Cv'i^lo. 



Devoted ^^ the Interests of Honey Producers. 

 $1.00 A YEAR. 

 W. Z, HDTCHINSON. Edlior and Proprietor. 



VOL. XIX. FLINT, MICHIGAN, NOV. iS, 1906. NO. 11 



Tlie DevelopsMent off t) 



iig, fill 



Man Proposes but God Disposes. 



L. A. ASPINWALL. 



HOW many of our profound and care- 

 fully executed plans, involving 

 years of labor and study, have fallen 

 far short of our hig"h ideals. The 

 United States Patent Office records 

 show this to be true in the inventive 

 world. Only about one invention in 

 every hundred patented, proves to be a 

 practical success. And how about the 

 thousands of failures so flagrant that 

 no patent was sought for ? My propo- 

 sition to construct artificial brood 

 combs as long- ag-o as 1888; with the 

 view of preventing the tendency of bees 

 to swarm, was in the providential 

 working of things disposed of long- ago. 

 Although a success as brood combs, 

 they failed to accomplish the end for 

 which T designed them. 



It may, as a matter of history, be 

 well to state briefly the theory I enter- 

 tained relative thereto. The construc- 



tion of artificial comb, of course, made 

 the size of cells, (worker or drone) 

 optional. This being in mind, also, 

 that drones were a factor g-overning 

 the increase of colonicr, it would seem 

 as if their elimination might keep in 

 abeyance the tendency to sv^arm. J.c- 

 cordingly, combs, were made in which 

 the bees reared worker progeny exclu- 

 sively. Thus far the combs were a 

 success— I having had as many as six 

 or seven colonies occupying and rear- 

 ing brood in them for years— one col- 

 ony having occupied them seven years 

 before I decided to abandon them for 

 those built b\' the bees. 



The elimination of drones, doubtless, 

 retarded the swarming impulse, yet. 

 like a queenless colony with only r. few 

 drone eggs, which aiiempts the rearing 

 of a queen, they will, when in a 

 crowded condition, although devoid of 



