26 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



If artificial heat for bee-hives is go- 

 ing to be successful, breeders will be 

 enabled to get at work earlier in the 

 norihern parts. 



Dr. Miller clips his queens' wings, 

 and considers it all right. In another 

 column you will find my review on the 

 matter of clipping. 



A neat queen cage neatly wrapped 

 has much to do with the reception the 

 inmates will have by their purchaser 

 and post-office officials. 



Wh}^ fuss and putter over candy for 

 queen cages when we know that sim- 

 ple powdered sugar and honey well 

 kneaded together is as good a feed as 

 can be had. 



We think the Apr was " bang up " 

 last month, and judging from the sev- 

 eral private letters of approval we have 

 received from different parties, we are 

 not alone in the verdict. 



All hands are giving it to *' us " on 

 account of sending bees by one-half 

 pound by mail. My hair has turned 

 gray from the effect of it. 



J. J. Martin did not give us proper 

 credit in " Rays of Light" for January. 



Jan. 6th : — Dandelions in bloom; 

 wild geese flying north. How's that 

 for New Enjrland weather? 



The trapping of undesirable drones 

 in combination with keeping down the 

 number of their cells, makes a clean 

 sweep of that matter. Drones are 

 immense consumers and if they are 

 going to live they will live in luxury 

 " you bet." 



The caging and confining of bees to 

 make up nuclei are botliersome. A 

 colony made queenless for two days' 

 time can be broken into any number 

 of parts without any of this bother. 

 Caging is unnatural. I dislike to put 

 innocent bees behind bars. 



An improvement in nursery cages 

 would be acceptable. Tliose " trap- 

 door " and " slide " arrangements are 

 very unhandy if used extensively. 

 Trimming and shaving queen cells is 

 no fun and we don't like to do it. 

 Give us something new and better. 



Let's see you improve the queen-nursery we 

 have used in the Bay State Apiary the past twenty 

 years.— Ed.] 



Have you ever noticed how clear of 

 bees the entrance of a good working 

 stock is kept, while about that of a 

 poor stock are always anxiety and sus- 

 picion of approaching evils. The nov- 

 ice would pick the latter as stronger, 

 while an examination would prove to 

 the coiitrary. 



The verdict seems to be " with the 

 proper width of top bars, burr combs 

 will be kept down." Without doubt 

 the depth of those bars has much to 

 do with keeping the queen out of su- 

 pers. All my honey boards are up on 

 the loft where they will remain until 

 I need fire wood. 



Cutting queen cells open to see how 

 near they are to hatching is like pull- 

 ing up the vines to see how large the 

 potatoes are. For myself I had rather 

 look at the record, as I might get her 

 back in upside down and then wonder 

 why the queen did not hatch. 



HenryAlley will work his fertilizing 

 hives in a separate yard from the full 

 stock and transport the drones there 

 too. This does away with all anxiety 

 of robbing and secures properly pure 

 mating of young queens. Good idea ; 

 but running such an out apiary will 

 not be play by any means. 



The new " Alley Swarm Hiver " is 

 going to develop into something won- 

 derful for both queen breeder and 

 honey producer. Wooden combs will 

 have to take a back seat always with 

 this implement. To thwart swarming 

 by stratagem can never pay. Use the 

 wooden combs for extracting above 



