72 



Tmm mwmmmi^mm mmm j^'^mnmi^. 



On Sunday, Sept. 8, at 5 p.m., the 

 welcome guests (bee-keepers) dined 

 in tlie Wolfs-garden ; and on Monday, 

 the gi-eat drama of bee-keepers' ex- 

 ploits came to a close, by a steamer 

 ride on the ocean from the Bay by 

 Svvinmunde to Herringsdorf, where the 

 glad tidings were received that his 

 Slajesty, King Wilhelm II., of Prussia, 

 and Emperor of Germanj% had pre- 

 sented the Royal Seminary teacher, 

 Illgen, of Pommern (for his service in 

 advancing apiculture) with the Royal 

 Kronen Order, 4th class ; which fact 

 rendered this meeting very memorable 

 for many. 



Maiden Rock, Wis. 



CHIT-CHAT. 



A Whirl Through the Dizzy Api- 

 cultiiral World. 



Written far the American Bee Journal 



BY E. L. PRATT. 



The storm has passed — the blue skies 

 show signs of continued pleasant weather 

 once more. The "Bees by }< -pound by 

 maO " question has been laid upon the shelf 

 for repairs, and future reference. Let it 

 "R. I. P." 



There is a veiy witty woman writing on 

 bee-matters, under the nom de plume of 

 "Kit Clover." She is a novice iu bee-cul- 

 ture, but her pen is as keen and pointed as 

 a bee's sting. 



Are we to understand by that clipping 

 from the Fremont local paper, on page 19, 

 that Mr. Hilton really has as many babies 

 to care for as he has honey-bees ! 



" A Hallamshire bee-keeper " is an Eng- 

 lishman, but his writings savor of the 

 Yankee brevity and terseness. S. Simmins 

 is another " English Yankee " in his writ- 

 ings. 



Very few seem to understand the value 

 of early advertising. The most successful 

 firms are those who keep their advertise- 

 ments before the public the year round. 



Ivar S. Young is still in that apicultural 

 consormne. Mr. Holtermann was not suc- 

 cessful in fishing him out, although in pos- 

 session of the "Pole" and "Ring." 



Mr. C. J. Robinson may know that I have 

 repented of all I said about " beautiful 

 women" in connection with "light Ital- 

 ians." I am in receipt of letters from sev- 

 eral of them, but I shall not have them pub- 

 lished, however. 



Mr. L. A. Aspinwall is trying (?) to boy- 

 cott the comb foundation trade, by using 

 wooden combs in the brood-chamber. I 

 wonder what the Dadants think of that 

 scheme. 



Now is the summer of our discontent 

 made glorious by a little piece of perforated 

 metal, to automatically hive bees that 

 swarm. Henry Alley has opened an avenue 

 here, that is going to widen as broad as the 

 world. 



Mr. James Heddon (h-m) seems to have 

 become disgusted with us all, and with- 

 drawn somewhat from apicultural literary 

 work. What's the trouble? Mr. H. is gen- 

 erally prompt with his responses. 



I always used to get Dr. Miller and Dr. 

 Mason mixed up, but since I have been 

 "sat upon" by one of these worthy 

 "fathers of apiculture," I believe I can tell 

 "which is which." 



The Carniolan-Italian race-war. wiU soon 

 wage again. It is going to be " nip and 

 tuck " between these two races, ere long. 



The English bee-publications have now 

 made decided changes in their manage- 

 ment. Hon. T. W. Cowan continues as 

 editor, however, of the Weekly. 



My father has for some time been urging 

 me to devote a bee-yard wholly to the pro- 

 duction of wax, as Mr. Doolittle thinks of 

 doing. He has gi-eat faith in the under- 

 taking. I have not so much. 



One of the Root-discarded "hobbies" is 

 being brought to a success by foreign api- 

 culturists. Artificial heat for bees in spring 

 may yet prove practical. 



I wish I knew Mrs. L. Harrison well 

 enough to be "on speaking terms" with 

 her ; but you know I have a natural awe for 

 the opposite sex ! 



Why not call "4 '4x45^ by seven-to-the- 

 foot" the "standard" section? 



Neighbor J. E. Pond and several others, 

 including myself, have been aware for 

 some time that the construction of the top- 

 bars had considerable to do with the burr- 

 comb prevention. 



Dr. Tinker is keeping back some valuable 

 discoveries in connection with perforated 

 metal. Can't some one make the Doctor 

 tell? 



We are preparing for a " big season " in 

 1890, at the " Pratt bee-farm." 



Marlboro, Mass. 



SELF-HIVER. 



A Self-Hiving Arrangement and 

 How it is Used. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY WESLEY DIBBLE. 



Some one has said, away back in the 

 Bee Journal, you can tell a practical 

 bee-keeper by his writings ; by the 

 same you can tell if he keeps bees in 

 his mind. This has caused me not to 

 state a good many of my little experi- 

 ments. I have read a good many arti- 

 cles where I thought the writer keeps 

 bees "in his mind." I obtained Doo- 

 little's "Scientific Queen-Rearing," as 

 soon as it was published, and the bene- 

 fit of that book to me is worth hun- 

 dreds of dollars. I consider its author 

 head and shoulders ahead of any bee- 

 writer in the valuable American Bee 

 Journal. My i-easons for thinking so, 

 are these : 



He tells us plainly all of his experi- 

 ments, in a way tliat all can under- 

 stand. As fast as he can write success 

 on any of his experiments, we get them, 

 and all without reserve. When Mr. 

 Doolittle treats us to something really 

 ?ieiv, how surprising it is that a certain 

 few have been practicing the same 

 thing so long ! 



The same thing will be said of me, 

 when I .say that I practiced, the past 

 season, something new, and as far as I 

 know, it had never been published un- 

 til Mr. Alley gave it to us on page 27, 

 calling it a "Novel Self-Hiving Ar- 

 rangement." My plan varies a little 



from Mr. Alley's, and I will give it 

 here, as I practiced it last season, and 

 .shall adopt it in three of my out-api- 

 aries next season. It is as follows : 



Commence by using the plan of Mr. 

 Heddon's bottom-board and stand — 

 any size to fit the hives. Place two of 

 them side by side, and on the bottom- 

 board place a queen-excluding honey- 

 board on each of them. Now place 

 the hives on, and connect the two 

 hives with a wire-cloth tunnel, one 

 inch in diameter, and 4 or 5 inches 

 long. One end of this tunnel must be 

 cone-shaped, and this end goes into the 

 empty hive (supposing the colony in 

 the other hive is ready to swarm). 



Connect the hives as near the front 

 as possible, and just above the queen- 

 excluding lioney-board ; now it is ready 

 for swarms without a failure, and the 

 front of the hive will not be blocked 

 up by any Alley traps. 



The same plan will work by placing 

 the empty hive on top of the one ready 

 to swarm, and connecting the two in 

 the same way, except the tunnels must 

 be long enough to connect the two 

 hives, and the cone must be in both 

 ends of the tunnel. With this plan, 

 the distance from one hive to the other 

 is so far, that the queen is liable to re- 

 turn to the hive from which she came, 

 unless the cone is arranged to prevent 

 her from returning after she leaves the 

 parent colony. With this last plan, I 

 think that I can see something valu- 

 able, which I want to give a thorough 

 trial before saying anything positive 

 about it. I am not fully satisfied with 

 my experiments so far. 



THE SEASON OF 1889. 



I am getting everything ready this 

 winter, and expect to care for 400 col- 

 onies of bees next season alone, ex- 

 cepting the aid of my son and wife. 

 The bees will be in four different 

 yards, seven miles from home. I 

 placed 100 colonics seven miles from 

 home the past season, and my method 

 of manipulation was successful ; I think 

 that I did not lose one swarm ; and 

 the proceeds of that yard was satis- 

 factory to me, for the season was very 

 poor in this section of the country. 



My crop was 6,000 pounds of mark- 

 etable honey. It netted me 12J cents 

 per pound, at our depot, or at my 

 honey-house. 



Middleburgh, N. Y., Jan. 10, 1890. 



Xlie Keport of the proceedings of the 

 20th annual session of the International 

 American Bee- Association is now published. 

 The price is 25 cts., postpaid. It contains, 

 besides the report, the new songs and 

 music then used, and engravings of the 

 present ofl!icers as well as the retiring ones. 

 In all, it contains 36 pages. It is for sale 

 at this office. 



