THE AMERICAN APWULTURIST. 



157 



AMERICAN APICULTURiST 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 

 Henry A-lley, Wenhana, iVTass. 



Established In 1883. 



Subscription Price, 7 sets. Per Year. 



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

 mail matter. 



EUITOKIAL NOTES. 



BRACE COMBS. 



A friend in writing for our price- 

 list de.sires to know wlitit is considered 

 the best frame to use to prevent the 

 bees building brace combs. 



Any frame that has a wide and 

 thick top bar. The bar should be 1^ 

 inch wide, and not less than I inch 

 thick, and just a bee space left be- 

 tween the top l)ars. This is the only 

 way we know of to prevent bees build- 

 ing brace combs. 



EVKRYBODY KKEP BEES. 



We are among those who think most 

 anybody can and should keep a few 

 hives of bees. Hundreds of men with 

 families might keep bees and produce 

 all the honey needed on their tables. 

 The expense would be hardly worth 

 mentioning after first cost. 



Bees can be kept in a back yard, 

 on tiie house top, in the attic or in 

 any out building, or in any place where 

 they will not sting people who are 

 passing by, neighl)ors or children. 



Bees have wings, and all that is 

 needed to accommodate them is a free 

 flight to the fields. 



HOW TO KNOW WHETHER A QUEEN IS LOST 



IX INTRODUCING WITHOUT OPENING 



THE HIVE. 



We find a good many beekeepers who 

 introduce queens open the hive, an<l 

 often several times each <l:iy to see 

 how the new queen is receivetl or how 

 she is getting along. 



All iigree that this is a bad thing 

 to do, as it is well known that a good 



many queens have been destroyed l)y 

 such an opei:ition. It takes at least 

 a week's time for the bees to get ac- 

 quainted with their new ruler and to 

 get settled down to business after 

 change of queens. 



Now in order to know whether the 

 new queen is received, all that need 

 be done is to place a drone-and-queen 

 trap at the entrance of the hive. If 

 the queen is destroyed she will be 

 found in the trap, and if the new 

 queen attemi)ts to decamp after being 

 introduced, the trap will hold her. 



We have no doubt seventy-five per 

 cent of the queens lost in introducing 

 are destroyed b}^ opening the hive too 

 soon after the queen is libei'ated. 



Use the trap and thus save all anx- 

 iety and loss of queens. 



ADVERTISING YOUR BUSIXESS. 



If anyone has any thing to sell he 

 must advertise. Wliat other way are 

 the people to be reached except by 

 and through the medium of a publica- 

 tion ? 



Booming one's goods is only a 

 metiiod of advertising. Much com- 

 plaint from a certain direction has 

 been made concerning our method of 

 advertising in the Api. We are in 

 the bee business and our whole time 

 and attention are given to it. We are 

 obliged to advertise in our own pa- 

 per. Do you know of any editor and 

 proprietor of a bee paper who is not 

 guilty of the same offence? We nev- 

 er have made any money out of the 

 bee business, that is, have not got 

 rich and never expect to. Must now 

 follow the bee business as long as we 

 can draw our breath. Have boon too 

 long in it to make a change. We in- 

 tend to use the columns of the Api 

 to advertise our goods, notwithstand- 

 ing W. Z. Hutchinson and the Ivlitor 

 of the British Bee Juunial object to 

 it. Don't know why they olyect; we 

 have not called upon either of those 

 worthies to pay any bills, or to con- 



