170 



'rmm m^tmrnmi^mm mmm j@ipkkmi,. 



SWARM-HIVER. 



Automatic Seif-HiTing^ Arrau^c- 

 ment for SAvarms. 



Written Sm the American Bee Journal 

 BY FRANCIS D. LACY. 



I notice on page 27 a representation 

 of Mr. Allej-'s automatic swarmer ; and 

 as I have also applied for a patent 

 upon my automatic swarmer, I want to 

 show my plan in the American Bee 

 Journal. 



My swarm-hiver was tested last sea- 

 son, when not so well formulated as 

 the description here given, and I be- 

 lieve it will never fail to work success- 

 fully. I believe that Mr. Alley's will 



hives made upon this plan, and will 

 have all those occupied with bees, fitted 

 for this attachment, in early spring. 



SEASON OF 1889. 



Report for Last Year — Honey 

 Almanacs, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY H. J. ROGERS. 



Mj' report for 1889 is about as fol- 

 lows : I commenced with 75 colonies, 

 which had wintered jDerfectly in 

 double-walled chatf hives, on the sum- 

 mer stands. The season proved to be 

 altogether too wet and cold for the 



The Lwij A/Uoninic Swarm-Hiver. 



1. — Semi-circular tube of galvanized iron, nnl perforated, with flat side downward. 



2. — Button, made to open and close at will, so as to insert the tube, and close when the 

 tube is taken out. The flat side of the tube is level with the inside of the bottom-board, so that 

 the bees can walk from the occupied to the vacant hive, on the level. 



3.— Opcuing- opposite, in vacant hive, from the tube attachment. All hives are to have 

 corresponding- openings upon each side, for tube attachments. 



■i.— Queen-excluder to a])pl;r to the opening .3. to give light through the vacant hive, and 

 through the tube to the occupied hive, which light attracts the bees to the empty hive, when 

 ready to swarm. 



5.— .5, Queen-excluders— at about the same time, are to be placed at the entrances of the 

 hives, to prevent the escape of the queen. 



The tube attachment is subject to modiflcatioii for shape, as convenience requires. 



work successfully, but there are sev- 

 eral reasons why I like my plan the 

 best. 



In the use of this swarmer, the hives 

 will go by pairs when put out in the 

 spring, and generally the bees will 

 work into the vacant hive, without any 

 indication of svv^-ming ; so it will sel- 

 dom be necessary to apply the r|ueen- 

 e.xcluder to the front entrances. The 

 lower plane of the tube gives freedom 

 for the bees to walk on the level of the 

 bottom of the hive, from one hive to 

 the other, and both hives become com- 

 mon to the bees. 



The queen-excluder in front of the 

 hive is quite in the way of the working 

 bees, and for this reason should not be 

 used, if it can be avoided ; and with 

 my plan it will seldom need to be used. 



The openings upon the sides of the 

 hives, with the button, as I have rep- 

 resented, will often be very convenient 

 for ventilation when hives are in the 

 cellar, or on hot, sultry days when in 

 the apiai-y. I am h.aving all of my 



best results ; however, the flow was 

 continuous after July 1, and until Sep- 

 tember I had no trouble in keeping 

 the bees well up in the supers. 



Swarming was late — most of my 

 swarms issued after July 1. I had 

 about 40 colonies that cast one swarm 

 apiece, but I onl}' increased them 8, as 

 I wanted honey more than increase. 

 By keeping each hive very full of bees, 

 1 succeeded in getting a fair crop of 

 honey, all in the comb ; 4,000 pounds 

 of white honey, and 1,200 pounds of 

 buckwheat constitutes my crop of 

 marketable honey for 1889. Most of 

 my honey was sold in New York city, 

 at a fair price. 



HONEY ALMANACS AN ADVERTISER. 



I am much impressed with the 

 Honey Almanac medium of advertis- 

 ing ; and will have to h.ave a thousand 

 or more this year. My honey was all 

 disposed of last year before Nov. 1. I 

 have never extracted any honey for 

 our home markets, but I shall do so 



this season, and trust to advertising 

 through the "Almanac" to do the 

 selling. 



The American Bee Journal is 

 doing a great deal in this part of the 

 country towards improving the science 

 of bee-culture. A number of bee-keep- 

 ers are now its regular readers. 



My bees are wintering finely on the 

 summer stands. I can see no reason 

 for not having a good season this year; 

 basswood yielded nothing last season, 

 on account of frost in May, so we have 

 a reasonable expectation of getting 

 some nectar from that source this year. 

 I believe in trusting Providence in 

 bee-keeping, as in everything else. I 

 also think It pays to do everything in 

 the very best mjinner possible, in the 

 work of apiculture. It is the little 

 things, properly attended to, or neg- 

 lected, which make our pursuit suc- 

 cessful, or otherwise, from a financial 

 P'liiit of view. 



LA GRIPPE AND THE WEATHER. 



I notice that our fraternity are not 

 exempt from La Grippe, although Dr. 

 A. 15. Mason (see page 115) seems to 

 cany the idea that honey is a sure pre- 

 ventive. I have had a tussle with the 

 "Enemy," and he has not abandoned 

 the field yet, although I eat honey 

 nearly every day in the year ; however, 

 I am very sure that honey is excellent 

 for a cold. 



The weather here continues mild — 

 at no time has there been more than 

 one inch of snow on the ground. The 

 mercury lingers along in the forties — 

 sometimes it gets as high as 60^, but 

 not often. I do not think that brood- 

 rearing has progressed very much as 

 j'et, and I think that every indication 

 points to a successful season in store 

 for us as bee-keepers. 



Stannard's Corners, N. Y.. Feb. 24. 



NEW YORK. 



Report of the State Bee-Heep- 

 ers' Convention. 



SElOOlSriD ID.A.^5r, 



The morning session began at 9:30 

 a.m., on Feb. 5, ISItO. when President 

 Elwood announced the appointment 

 of these committees: 



Question-box — G. M. Doolittle, W. 

 L. Coggshall, F. H. Cyrenius. 



Resolntious — C. G. Dickinson, G. H. 

 Ashby, W. E. Clark. 



Exhibits — F. H. Cyrenius, E. D. 

 Keenan, Thomas Pierce. 



Exchange — I. L. Scofield, W. L. 

 Coggshall, O. L. Hershiser. 



Oi>t-Ai>iaries for Comb Honey. 



The first essay of the day was by A. 

 E. Manum, of Bristol, Vt., and was en- 

 titled : "How to run out apiaries for 



