278 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



The Use of Drone-Traps. 



CHAS. DADANT & SON. 



Mr. Alley, on page 214, seems to 

 dismiss the subject ot drone-traps, on 

 discussion ; we are willing to drop it 

 also, but before doing so we wish to 

 call the attention of the readers to 

 some of his assertions. 



He says: " ilessrs. Dadant & Son 

 could do with fewer men in their 

 apiary if they used drone-traps." By 

 turning to page 820 of the Bee Jouk- 

 NAL for 1884, the readers will see that 

 Mr. McDaniel has done the greater 

 part of the work on some 450 colonies 

 of bees in our apiaries last year ; also 

 on page 68 of the present volume, 

 that one man can easily take care of 

 5 to 7 apiaries. What led Mr. Alley 

 to think that we employ many men in 

 our apiaries, is the expression " our 

 men," which we used on page 165. 

 Indeed, we have employed many men 

 in our apiaries, but not many at one 

 time, except during the extracting 

 season. 



:Mr. Alley says that " a hive can be 

 more easily and better ventilated 

 when the trap is used." AVhat do 

 the readers say V lie also says that 

 drones reared in worker-cells are 

 worthless. Our experience goes to 

 prove that they are as useful as small 

 males are with large females. He 

 says that if our neighbor had used 

 drone-traps, not one of our queens 

 would have mated with his drones. 

 Indeed ; but if our neighbor had been 

 intelligent enough to buy drone-traps, 

 he would have just as well prevented 

 the rearing of lilack drones, and then 

 would have had no need of drone- 

 traps. He says that foundation sag- 

 ging makes drone-cells. It does, but 

 sagging is caused usuallv by excess 

 of heat, and plenty of ventilation will 

 prevent this. 



Mr. A. gives eight reasons to prove 

 the usefulness of a drone-trap as a 

 queen-trap to prevent swarming, 

 among which he says tliatthe apiarist 

 can go from home with no fear of 

 losing his bees. This is correct; but 

 supposing a queen is caught in the 

 trap in trying to swarm, how will she 

 be released from the trap unless the 

 apiarist looks at each trap every day V 

 And yet Mr. Alley says that the trap 

 needs no attention oftener than once 

 a month. Wljat do the readers say ? 

 And if young queens are reared in a 

 colony that tries to swarm, and they 

 try to go with the swarm, can tliey 

 go through the drone-trap V If they 

 can, then the swarm is lost if the 

 apiarist is absent. If they canliot go 

 through the drone-trap, how are the 

 young queens to be fertilized unless 

 the bee-keeper knows the day of their 

 bridal flight and removes the drone- 

 trap V 



Those swarms that " decamp to the 

 woods." as Mr. Alley says, " leaving 

 the hive in which they have just beeii 

 placed," are nearly always second- 

 swarms that have a virgin queen, and 

 she will either be unable to go and 

 mate, on account of being stopped by 

 the drone-trap, or else her small size 

 will enable her to go through the 



drone-trap and escape with the swarm. 



To sum up the drone-trap as a 

 queen-trap : If the young virgin 

 queens are stopped by the drone-trap, 

 it prevents them from taking their 

 bridal flight. If they are not stopped 

 by the drone-trap, swarms with young 

 queens cannot be controlled, by the 

 drone-trap. 



Hamilton.to Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wabash County, Ind., Convention. 



The "Wabash County Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in the Court House 

 at Wabash, Ind., on April 11, 1885. 

 The question, "How should colonies 

 be examined, and how often V" was 

 discussed as follows : 



Mr. Maurer stated that he exam- 

 ined his bees once a week during the 

 working-season, and thought that no 

 harm came from frequent handling. 

 He has racks on the sides of the hives 

 on which to hang several of the 

 frames, in order to give room to ex- 

 amine the other frames. He makes a 

 thorough examination of each colony 

 and notes down its condition. Mr. 

 Miller thought that by proper atten- 

 tion and training, bee-keepers could 

 tell the condition of the bees by 

 simply passing in front of the hives 

 and watching the movements of the 

 bees. President Hess opens the hives 

 whenever there appears to be any 

 thing wrong, and applies the remedy 

 as soon as possible. He does not dis- 

 turb his bees at all during the winter. 

 Mr. Zimmerman said that in large 

 apiaries visited by him in Ohio, last 

 fall, the bees were handled every few 

 days. Mr. Whitlow does not handle 

 his bees often unless he finds some- 

 thing wrong. He rakes out the dead 

 bees once a week during the winter; 

 otherwise he does not disturb them. 

 Mr. Miller thought that colonies 

 could be disturbed too often, es- 

 pecially during the best honey-flow. 

 Mr. ]3rewer thinks that a practical 

 bee-keeper can generally tell what 

 condition his bees are in without 

 opening the hives. If a colony is 

 queenless, it will seldom be seen 

 carrying in pollen, while those in 

 good condition will be carrying it in 

 lively. When he finds a colony that 

 he thinks is queenless, he opens the 

 hive, notes their condition, and gives 

 them either a queen or unsealed 

 brood. Mr. Lowery could tell by 

 passing the hive, when a colony is 

 troubled with moths. Mr. Martin 

 thought that bees might be handled 

 too much, but he did not regard sev- 

 eral times a week too often. Mr. 

 Singer said that if he found the bees 

 running about on the alighting-board 

 of the hive, he concluded that they 

 were queenless ; or if immatured bees 

 appear at the entrance of the hive, 

 there is chilled brood, or moths at 

 work. He also read an essay on 

 " Spring Management." 



Mr. C ripe read an essay on "Api- 

 culture." President Hess wanted to 

 know how to feed artificial pollen in 

 early spring. Mr. Brewer said that 

 he feeds it on a board with cleats 

 nailed around it to prevent the wind 



blowing the pollen off, inclining the 

 board towards the south. 



The following oflicers were elected 

 for the ensuing year: President, 

 Alex. Hess; Vice-President, Joel 

 Brewer ; Secretary, John J. Martin ; 

 Treasurer, II. C. Whitlow. 



The reports of the mortality among 

 bees during the past winter were next 

 listened to as follows : Mr. Brewer 

 said that he put into winter quarters 

 60 colonies, and now but S are living. 

 Mr. Aaron Singer had 26 colonies, 

 only one of which is alive. Mr. J. C. 

 Zimmerman lost 30 out of 40 colonies. 

 These, of course, were the heaviest 

 losers, but others also reported a de- 

 crease. Mr. Whitlow was the excep- 

 tion ; he put 26 colonies into winter 

 quarters and lost but one. To sum 

 the whole matter up, 318 colonies 

 were put into winter quarters by those 

 present, and only 113 are now alive. 



In the discussion under the head of 

 "Miscellaneous," at the afternoon 

 session, reasons were given for the 

 great losses sustained. The Presi- 

 dent attributed the trouble to the 

 want of proper ventilation of the 

 hivesand long-continued cold weather. 

 Messrs. Brewer and Singer thought 

 tliat their colonies were greatly de- 

 creased in numbere by the close prox- 

 imity of cider-presses, in which thou- 

 sands of their bees were destroyed, 

 thus sending the colonies into winter 

 quarters too weak to withstand the 

 severe and protracted winter weather. 

 After a very general interchange of 

 opinions, the majority did not seem 

 satisfied that the true reason had been 

 found, and proposed to continue tlieir 

 investigations ; but nearly all know 

 that their bees are gone, and they are 

 casting about for ways and means to 

 prevent a like catastrophe in the 

 future. 



At the request of Mr. Cripe, it was 

 decided to hold the next meeting at 

 North Manchester, on Saturday, Oct. 

 10, 1885. J. J. Martin, Sec. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Advantages of Reversing Combs. 



W. H. STEWART. 



Of late the reversing of combs Las 

 been treated of quite extensively in 

 the Bee Journal, and it appears 

 that tlie most of the thought and ex- 

 periment has been confined to the re- 

 versing of brood-combs and sections ; 

 while little or nothing has been writ- 

 ten on the advantages that may be 

 gained by reversing the combs kept in 

 the brood-chamber and used for ex- 

 tracting. 



One advantage to be gained by re- 

 versing the brood-combs, is getting 

 the combs built solid to the bottom- 

 bar of the frame. This may be done 

 without reversing the comb, by simply 

 leaving off the bottom-bar for the 

 first year; the bees will then build 

 the combs down within bee-space of 

 the bottom-board, and finish ofi the 

 lower edges of the combs with a thick, 

 bold round, but tliey will not attach 

 them to the bottom-board ; and as 

 the frames are calculated for a bot- 

 tom-bar to be nailed on the lower 



