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THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Beekeepers' Association the nucleus 

 around wliich our interests should 

 cluster and to which our efforts 

 should be directed. The only effect- 

 ual method of producing the desired 

 results is to make. our associations 

 representative in character, and this 

 should be done at once. We trust 

 that at Detroit this matter will receive 

 careful consideration. 



Having had a severe attack of ner- 

 vous prostration we have been unable 

 for the past three months to do justice 

 to our journal work ; but, thanks to a 

 kind Providence and a strong consti- 

 tution, our health is rapidly improving 

 and we expect to be able to join 

 hands with our western friends at De- 

 troit and bring home to our readers 

 considerable valuable information. 



We take great pleasure in extend- 

 ing our heartfelt thanks to the many 

 beekeeping friends for the unwaver- 

 ing, confidence and continuous sup- 

 port which they have rendered us. 

 W^e will not attempt to say more for 

 words often fail to convey an ade- 

 quate expression for such indebted- 

 ness, so we would ask our readers and 

 patrons to continue such support in 

 our work and to increase the circula- 

 tion of our journal, just so long as 

 they consider that we properly repre- 

 sent and foster the interests of the 

 beekeepers. 



As we pen the closing lines of our 

 last editorial for this year, we are 

 impressed with the solemn sense of 

 the weighty responsibility resting up- 

 on us, and we look to the Source of 

 all wisdom and strength for guidance 

 in the work that is almost as dear to 

 us as life itself. 



During the past year many ad- 



vances have been made in apicul- 

 tural knowledge, and we look forward 

 to still greater and grander develop- 

 ments in the near future. 



Our readers can render us much 

 assistance by distributing sample 

 copies among their beekeeping 

 neighbors, and we will cheerfully 

 furnish, /r*?*? of cost, all the sample 

 copies needed for that purpose, if 

 you will call for them. 



With you we bid adieu to the old 

 year, trusting that we shall again 

 meet you at the commencement of 

 the new year, with renewed ener- 

 gies and a stronger determination, 

 with your help, to make the Apicijl- 

 TURIST the most reliable and best 

 representative of the interests of the 

 beekeepers. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



invertible hives. 

 Dear Editor. 



I have read with much interest 

 Mr. Shuck's article on Invertible 

 Hives in the last issue of your val- 

 uable journal. (I beg Mr. Newman's 

 pardon, I should say valuable bee 

 paper). "Manipulation of the right 

 sort" says Mr. Shuck, "stimulates the 

 colony and causes the brood to 

 spread," etc. If we can, by simply 

 inverting the hive get rid of the 

 trouble of opening up, spreading 

 frames apart, uncapping honey to 

 stimulate, etc., as is generally prac- 

 tised in the spring, we have advanced 

 a long step in bee culture. 



What I notice more particularly in 

 the article and which I think ought 

 not to be lost sight of is the fact 

 stated that "when a hive is inverted 

 the bees at once proceed to destroy 

 queen cells." "Nine similar trials 

 your correspondent made with the 



