168 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



outermost tip of an elm tree, at least 

 fifty feet from the ground, and wholly 

 out of reach. But i was serene too, 

 for I ran to the trap, and found the 

 queen walking around behind the 

 wires. All 1 had to do was slip the 

 old hive to a new position (or tuck it 

 in some out-of the-way nook until the 

 bees were hived, so that they would 

 not return into it) ; put a prepared 

 hive in the old position ; place the trap 

 with queen in it on the new hive ; and 

 after the bees had got partly into the 

 new hive, draw the top slide oft" the 

 trap, and dump the queen and trap 

 .full of bees before the entrance of the 

 hive. 1 tell you it was a good deal 

 "happier sight" to see that cluster 

 ibreak and return to the hive than it 

 lusually is to see the "bees swarming." 

 When I leave home for the day 1 draw 

 the pin in tlie trap, and go away sure 

 that if they come out they will come 

 ;back again, and we can try it another 

 day. This last season on two Sun- 

 .,day noons T came home and found my 

 •bees clustered on my neighbor's apple 

 trees on the main street of our village, 

 ;and they came back by a magic that 

 \was without observation, because I 

 ihad the all-important queen-trap. My 

 advice to the small apiarist who keeps 

 bees as a side pursuit, or for pleasure 

 is, do not try to get along without the 

 queen- trap. I would like also just to 

 mention another convenience which 1 

 think 1 saw first mentioned in the Api 

 and that is, a wire cloth cover for the 

 top of the frames in winter. Take 

 some strips of wood seven-eighths of 

 an inch square and make a frame the 

 size of the top of your brood-cham- 

 ber ; put a cross piece through the cen- 

 tre so as to make two panels in your 

 frame ; then nail wire cloth on one 

 side of tlie frame, and put it over the 

 hive wire doth vp. That makes an air 

 space almost an inch deep on top of 

 the frames, in which the bees can clus- 

 ter and move fie-^ly over the frames. 

 At any time in the winter you can lift 

 the cushion from the wire cloth and 

 look at your pets without disturbing 



them at all. You can put honey-comb 

 or syrup, or candy, on top of the wire, 

 and it makes the best of feeders. I 

 value this device very highly, and I 

 know it favors good wintering, and 

 good watching which is winter-fun 

 with bees. 



Rev. I). D. Marsh.' 

 Unionville, Conn. 



MAN PEOFOSES, ETC. 



Tn this case it was a woman who pro- 

 posed. 



Oh ! bless you. not in that sense. I've 

 been married for years, and this was 

 of a very recent date. 



I meant it this way : 



You see I found climbing trees had 

 its barky side, so to speak, a side that 

 bristled with difficulties, and was not 

 pleasant to contemplate. So during 

 the preceding winter, that season in 

 Avhich the beekeeper does all the "con- 

 templating" there is to be done, I 

 shrank, as it were, from this tree top- 

 ic. 



I finally wrote to our friend, Mr. 

 Alley, and explained some of the ter- 

 rors that were racking my otherwise 

 placid spirits. 



He mentioned the fact — or else some 

 one else did — 1 don't remember who — 

 that 1 had better try a queen-trap, and 

 see if I would not enjoy my beekeep- 

 ing better, and at the same time pre- 

 serve the tops of my tall oak trees, 

 that were rapidly becoming scrubs, 

 from continually being sawed off at the 

 tops. 



I felt relieved , and could those grim 

 oaks speak, I thinl< they would echo 

 my state of feeling. 



I sent for a trap. 



It came. 



I looked it over, pronounced it just 

 what it ought to be, laid it up safely, 

 oh ! very safely, on the highest shelf 

 in the wardrobe, and sung the rest of 

 the winter away. 



Spring came. It may liardly seem 

 credible, but it really did. 



My bees began to multiply, and one 



