THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



143 



provided with one of his drone traps. 

 It was very amusing and interesting 

 to watch the honey-laden bees rush 

 pell-mell out through the perforated 

 metal entrance giving conclusive ev- 

 idence that the perforations were 

 amply large to freely admit a worker 

 bee laden either with pollen or honey. 



Soon the queen unable to force 

 her way through at the entrance 

 passed into the trap. As soon as the 

 majority of the bees had passed out 

 we removed the drone trap, fastened 

 it to the end of a long pole and 

 rested it against a small tree near by. 

 In a short time the bees, discover- 

 ing their queen in the trap, clustered 

 upon it. 



When the bees had become quiet 

 we removed the trap to a convenient ^ 

 shady spot near by and laying it on 

 its side placed over it one of the 

 swarming boxes, covering the box 

 with a board so as to cover the wire 

 cloth and make it dark within the box. 



We then left the swarm in that 

 condition for about six hours in order 

 to experiment with it and learn 

 whether the queen would force her 

 way out. 



In the early evening we examined 

 the swarm and found that the queen 

 was out among the bees in the swarm- 

 ing box, and found that as the trap 

 was laid on its side the bees that 

 filled the trap formed a bridge over 

 which the queen could pass through 

 the wire tube through which she 

 passed into the trap. 



This is a valuable feature of the 

 trap because if one cannot always be 

 at hand to attend to the swarms, 

 the queen after about six hours will 

 find her way back into the hive again, 

 thus preventing either her loss or that 

 of the bees. 



We have had considerable experi- 

 ence with hiving swarms, but never 

 performed the task with such ease or 

 so speedily as we can with the drone 

 trap. We can heartily endorse it as 

 invaluable to the beekeeper even for 

 this one purpose alone. 



We shall experiment further with 

 the trap and give the results. 



—Mr. J. D. Goodrich of East 

 Hardwick, Vermont, has sent us some 

 most excellent comb foundation. 

 The thin for sections was especially 

 fine, 



— For I3.00 cash we will send the 

 "American Apiculturist" one year 

 and one of our fertilizing hives 

 containing four combs with brood 

 and one-half pound of bees and a 

 choice selected queen — the hive will 

 also be supplied with one of our cone 

 feeders. With this small nucleus 

 colony one can rear a number of 

 queens during the season and it will 

 be a great help in learning queen- 

 rearing. 



— Advertisers will please notice 

 the change in our rates, 15 cents per 

 line each insertion. There are about 

 seven words to the line, and twelve 

 lines to the inch. In sending copy 

 always write it on one side of a sep- 

 arate sheet of paper and be very 

 particular to have the names, ad- 

 dresses, etc., very plain. 



Parties unknown to us must send 

 cash with the order. 



All copy for advertisements and 

 manuscript must reach us by the first 

 of the month, if they are to appear 

 in the following number which we 

 shall issue on the 15 th of the month 

 until December. 



LETTER BOX. 



Des Moines, la. 

 Deau Siu : 



Am in receipt of Vols. 1 & 2 of the 

 "American Apiculturist" handsomely 

 bound in cloth with an enormous golden 

 bee on the front cover. Happy bee ! to 

 thus repose upon a production that has 

 sprung up under the skies of Quinby, 

 Carey, Parsons, Elwood, Alley, Heth- 

 erington, Doolitlle, L. C Root, and a 



