40 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



they will do big things next June or 

 some other time later on. Now we 

 are ready to guarantee that <?//;■ swarm er 

 will catch every swarm that issues, and 

 hive ninety-nine per cent of them. Our 

 swarmer so far as we know is the only 

 one extant that has ever hived a swarm 

 of bees. — H. Alley. 



CLIPPING THE WINGS OF QUEKNS. 



Query 746. — Please give your meth- 

 od of clipping the wings of queen-bees. 

 — Lewis. 



1 let them be. — J. M. Hambaugh 

 I clip all queens' wings in my mind. 



— H. D. CUITING. 



We do not clip the queen's wings, but 

 if it is thought necessary, clip the tip of 

 both wings. — Dadant & Son. 



Oh, my ! I always have the "buck 

 ague" when I attempt it. Ask some 

 one else. — Mrs. L. Harrlson. 



My way of clipping a queen's wings 

 is not to clip them at all. The queen- 

 and-drone trap has made this a pro- 

 ceeding worse than useless. — C- H. 



DiBBERN. 



The above is taken from "Queries and 

 Replies" in tlie AtneA-iran Bee Journal, snid 

 it is so nicely in accord with our opinions 

 so often expressed in these columns that 

 it is a pleasure to read the ahove. We do 

 not and never did believe in clipping- the 

 wings of any queens. As C. H. Dibbern 

 says, the drone-and- queen trap is far 

 better than mutilating the wings of a 

 queen. — Ed.] 



A beekeeper who has ordered a Bay 

 State hive desires to know if the Bay 

 State frames "sag." They do not. 

 Brood frames having a narrow, thin top- 

 bar always sag. The Bay State hive 

 has no such frames. 



The same correspondent also wishes 

 us to inform him as to the time a queen 

 commences to lay in the spring. 



This depends something upon the 

 weather. With several warm days in 

 February, say such days as bees can 

 take a flight, the queens usually com- 

 mence to deposit a few eggs. However, 

 not much brood will be found in many 

 colonies till near the middle of April. 



AMERICAN APICULTURIST 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 

 Henry Alley, Wenham, IVIass. 



Established in 1883. 



Subscription Price, 75cts. Per Year. 



Entered at the P. O. Wenham, Mass., as second class 

 mail matter. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



We have not been obliged to inform 

 our readers that we publish the cream 

 of apicultural news. Look over our col- 

 umns and see if this is not so. 



Progress is a word often miscon- 

 strued. A really progressive person will 

 never call his brother's attempts vain, 

 but will take from them points and 

 adapt them to things more progres- 

 sive. 



Some of the new bee-papers are pretty 

 slow about getting around. Several 

 have not come in as yet. By the way, 

 where is the Beekeeper's Guide ? We 

 have received no copy since the Dec, 

 1890, issue. 



Look well after your colonies dur- 

 ing the next sixty days as during this 

 period bees pass through the most try- 

 ing part of the winter season. Pack 

 warm and see that all have sufficient 

 stores to prevent them from starving. 



All the encouragement possible is due 

 a worthy inventor and the government 

 has seen fit to protect his inventions. 

 There are no grounds for grumbling so 

 long as there is a value on money. VVe 

 are not forced to buy a patented article 

 and the inventor will learn his lesson 

 well if it is without merit. On the 

 other hand, the purchaser of a worth- 

 less patented article will not soon for- 

 get his experience. 



If the moisture is handled as it should 

 be in a modern hive, cold weather will 

 not injure the bees in the least. If 

 they are well provided with wholesome 

 food, a long duration of extremely cold 

 weather will not harm them. The 

 slickest manner of ridding the cluster 

 of moisture that I know of is a thin 



