72 



THE AMERICAN APIC UL TURIS T. 



We are glad that Mother Earth did 

 BOt claim us before some of our ideas 

 in bee culture were adopted. 



STHAY STKAWS. 



It seems to please, as it is being 

 copied in other periodicals. By the 

 way, we might as well acknowledge 

 the corn. We first saw the scheme in the 

 Apiculturist and in the Bee-Hive. It 

 is a good department, but you want a 

 good man to manage it. — Gleanings. 



EXPERIMICNTS IN APICULTUHE. 



Bulletin number nine issued at the 

 R. I. Agr. Experiment Station is on our 

 desk. 



Mr. Cushman gives his experiments 

 "in the use of artificial heat to promote 

 brood-rearing." Bottles of hot water 

 were placed at the sides of the hive, a 

 double-wall hive being used. We are 

 now experimenting in that same line, 

 but we use no hot water. We have 

 placed a lamp in a box under a hive. 

 So far it works well. The temperature 

 is kept at about 80° in the hive, and 

 the bees are spread over all the combs. 

 On the morning of April 6, the temper- 

 ature outside the hive was 22° — pretty 

 cold ; inside the hive, 85°. 



The results of these experiments will 

 be' given later on. 



PACKING r.S. NO PACKING IN WINTER. 



A young man who has an apiary in a 

 town about ten miles from Wenham de- 

 sired to sell out to us as he now has a 

 situation with Paul Viallon, of Bayou 

 Gould, La. On April 6 we drove to his 

 place to look the bees over and to fix a 

 value on the lot, as we proposed to pur- 

 chase them. 



There were some over fifty hives and 

 but about twelve colonies alive, some of 

 them quite weak. All the bees, save 

 three colonies, were in double-wall 

 hives, and were packed in sawdust. All 

 of them were well cared for in the fall. 

 Here is the result. The tlu-ee colonies 

 in box-hives were in good condition, 

 notwithstanding the fact that one of the 

 hives had lain upon its side for a long 

 time. There were perhaps a half dozen 



fairly good colonies in the hives that 

 were packed. ^ 



They were as bad a lot of colonies as 

 we ever saw. The sawdust packing 

 was the cause of the trouble. Had that 

 young man read the Api regularly he 

 never would have spent his time in 

 packing his bees as he did. The Api 

 has taken a strong stand against pack- 

 ing bees with any sort of material. 



On our way home we visited another 

 apiary of twenty- five colonies. There 

 was not a particle of packing about any 

 of the liives ; in fact, some of them had 

 on the surplus arrangement, the same 

 as used the previous season. There 

 was not even one weak colony in the 

 yard. All were strong and in the best 

 of condition. This is the difi"erence 

 between packing and not packing. We 

 never were foolish enough but once to 

 pack our bees. That was all the ex- 

 perience we needed in that line. 



Now, readers of the Api, if this lesson 

 is worth anything to you, just heed it. 

 Don't use packing between your hives 

 in winter. 



FOUNDATfON. 



We now have a full supply of the best 

 brands of foundation. VVe keep in 

 stock but two sizes, light, suitable for 

 one pound sections and heavy brood 

 for L. and Bay State frames, and at the 

 following prices : 



Heavy brood . . per lb. $ .50 



Section . . . " " .55 



QUEENS TO SUBSCRIBEUS. 



To avoid any misunderstanding we 

 will say that all subscribers to Api whose 

 subscriptions were sent in before May i, 

 189 1, can get one of our best untested 

 queens for 75 cents. The money to be 

 sent when queen is desired. 



Please understand that the price of 

 the Api one year and queen before May 

 I, is ^1.50. After May i, ^2.00. 



GAVE GOOD SATISFACTION. 



Mr. Alley : — Last season I sold your 

 drone-and- queen traps and they iiavegood 

 satisfaction. I can sell more iliis year. 

 CiiAS. White, Farmers' Vullry, xYc6. 



