548 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



arrangement for connecting the two 

 hives. 



All that is necessary, is to get the two 

 hives as near together as possible, to 

 save the bees the trouble of traveling 

 too far to reach their brood-combs. This 

 will be found quite an item in the course 

 of the season. 



As a large number of bee-keepers now 

 have these traps, they, no doubt, will 

 appreciate this new' use of the drone- 

 trap. 



In arranging this device to catch a 

 swarm, it is a good plan to put one 

 brood-comb in the decoy hive. When 

 the queen leaves the trap she will surely 

 locate on the comb, and the bees, on re- 

 turning to the hive after missing their 

 queen, will readily nnd and make their 

 home with her in the new hive. 



If desirable to save the swarm, the 

 bees should be removed to a new stand 

 as soon as possible after being hived. 



Wenhara, Mass. 



Rnles for Mm Bees at Fairs. 



THOMAS S. WALLACE. 



I am like some of my fellow bee-keep- 

 ers in regard to Mr. Robbins' theory of 

 judging bees at Fairs. He claims that 

 the three-banded bee should be the 

 test, or, in other words, the finest 

 marked bee. Now, I do not want to be 

 understood that I condemn the three- 

 banded bee at all, but if we can take the 

 three-banded bee, and, by select and 

 careful breeding, produce a four or five 

 banded race, let us do it. We all try to 

 improve all of our domestic animals. 

 Look at the American horses, also cattle, 

 hogs and sheep, in fact everything is 

 improved that man has anything to do 

 with, in the way of breeding and manag- 

 ing, from the horse down to the chicken. 

 Well, some will say that the four or 

 five banded bees are worthless ; that 

 they will not gather much honey. Some 

 will make one objection, and some 

 another, but the main objection is be- 

 cause they have not got them. Why 

 should their having a couple more yellow 

 bands keep them from gathering as 

 much honey as the three-banded race ? 



I have had some queens for the last 

 two seasons that bred four and five 

 banded bees, and I wish I had them all 

 of that kind. 



Condemning bees for having four and 

 five bands, reminds me of what was said 

 to me last Fall at the Sangamon County 

 Fair, by a promiMont b('('-k(',('i)or. He 



asked, "Why are you breeding for 

 color ?" He intimated that he did not 

 care for the color, it was the honey that 

 he wanted. I saw an item in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal last Fall, stating 

 that this man's bees had been moved 

 to the river bottom, but they were so 

 cross that he would have to leave them 

 there until cold weather ! I can move 

 my bees in any kind of weather. 



Suppose that we were to admit that 

 the dark Italians, as some call them, or 

 mixed bees, were to gather more honey 

 than the four or five banded race (and 

 then we would have to endanger our 

 lives and everything around us to get it), 

 would there then be any pleasure in bee- 

 keeping ? I think not, nor any profit 

 either. But, on the other hand, I claim 

 that the yellow bees will gather as much 

 honey as the darker ones. 



But there is one thing that I do know, 

 and that is, some of the mixed bees have 

 no sense at all. 



Cllpiiiiis llie Queen's Wlms. 



MRS. L. HARRISON. 



I have never practiced clipping the 

 wings of queens, but I do not think it 

 would injure their usefulness. I prefer 

 a perfect queen, unmarred, with her 

 gauzy wings lapped so neatly together 

 over her back. 



Where colonies of bees are located 

 under large forest trees, it is often as 

 much work to hive a swarm as they are 

 worth. I know of an apiary thus sit- 

 uated, and the children watch them 

 during swarming time, and as soon as 

 they see a swarm issuing, they throw 

 water on them to wet their wings, to 

 keep them from clustering so high. 



It would be well to clip the queen's 

 wings in an apiary thus located. The 

 swarm will issue all the same, and 

 tumble to the ground in an effort to 

 follow. A new hive can be placed where 

 the one stood from which the swarm 

 issued, and the queen put into it. As 

 soon as the bees miss her, they will re- 

 turn to their old stand, and on entering 

 the hive, find her and remain. If so 

 desired, the hive can then be placed 

 upon a new stand, and the old hive re- 

 turned to its former place. 



When a colony containing a clipped 

 queen has swarmed several times, and 

 returned, and the clipped queen crawls 

 back into the hive, the bees become 

 angry, and sting her to death, and rear 

 another one which can follow them. 



