162 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



death : as, during the act of copula- 

 tion, the male organs are torn from the 

 bodies of the drones and the latter 

 immediately expire. They usually 

 appear about the last of April or first 

 of May or in about six weeks after 

 the bees commence carrying in pollen. 



As sexual intercourse takes place 

 while the queen and drone are high 

 in the air it becomes necessary that 

 many drones be reared where but few 

 are needed. In large apiaries it is 

 only necessary to keep one or two 

 colonies rearing drones and the 

 "drone trap" or honey knife should 

 be used to rid the apiary of all the 

 rest. 



In July or August, or, indeed at 

 any time, when there comes a honey 

 dearth or season of scarcity, the 

 bees, seemingly recognizing the fact 

 that they must reduce family expense, 

 ruthlessly drive the drones from the 

 hives sometimes stinging them, but 

 more frequently gnawing the roots 

 of their wings so that, when once 

 driven from the hives, they cannot 

 return. Oftentimes they will be 

 found hanging in clusters on the front 

 and bottom boards of the hives. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE HONEY EXTRACTOR. 



Mr. Editor : At your request we 

 will give our views in answer to Mr. 

 Clark's article on page 136. 



Mr. Clark is right when he says 

 that the injudicious use of the ex- 

 tractor is a damage to beekeepers, 

 but it does not follow from this that 



we should discard the honey extrac- 

 tor. The injudicious practice of ar- 

 tificial warming is also very damaging, 

 as many beekeepers divide their 

 hives till their colonies are all too 

 weak to winter. And yet, artificial 

 warming is undoubtedly greatly bene- 

 ficial to practical beekeepers, when 

 properly done. 



In a well organized apiary, run for 

 extracted honey, the apiarist will 

 never extract honey from the brood 

 chamber, or at least so seldom that 

 the exception is not worth mention- 

 ing. The main requisite is to furnish 

 the bees with sufficient empty comb 

 above the breeding apartment to pre- 

 vent them from crowding the queen 

 with honey. Where this is done, 

 the breeding chamber will never 

 contain more honey than the bees 

 need to winter on, and the extracting 

 from brood comb will be avoided. 



In regard to the "glutted" mar- 

 ket for honey, we would say that in 

 this business, as in all other occupa- 

 tions, the man who tries to find a 

 market usually succeeds ; but he who 

 folds his arms, and finds fault with his 

 neighbors for being in the same busi- 

 ness as he is, will never do anything. 

 We raise large crops of honey every 

 year, raised 36,000 lbs. in 1883, and 

 we have never failed to sell our honey 

 (extracted) at remunerative prices. 

 Let Mr. Clark "annihilate" his ex- 

 tractor if he cannot use it properly ; 

 we will nevertheless continue to em- 

 ploy our large four-frame extractors, 

 and thus save our comb from one 

 season to another. 



Chas. Dadant & Son. 



report for 1885 ON wintering. 



Dear Sir : 



The early part of March 

 I shovelled out my bees, ninety- 

 three Qolonies, which were all living ; 

 some were in splendid condition, 

 while others were considerably weak- 

 ened by rushing out of the hive, 



