62 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



With a proper top-bar and right space between 

 them and the correct si)ace between lop-bar and 

 sections above, there will be no bnrr-combs built. 

 At aiiyrnte, tliere never lias been any trouble of 

 tlie kiiul in Ilie IJay State apiary. 



La^t Call we purchased twelve colonies of bees 

 in 10 frame I. hives, all of which have the narrow- 

 top-bars. The tops of the frames are so thickly 

 covered with brace-combs that the wood cannot 

 be seen. On one of the hives there is one ol' tliose 

 famous break-joint, bun-proof slatted honey- 

 boards. Tliert-, is not so much comb about the 

 top of those fr;imes as there is at>o«t the other 

 eleven hives. But the colony in this hive is the 

 poorest one of tlie lot, and neverhnd a large niun- 

 ber of bees. Nevertheless, theie is more brace 

 or burr-combs about the top ol the frames than 

 there should be, or there would be, it' the hive 

 and frames had been constructed on a correct 

 principle. 



There is another thing about these break-joint 

 honey-boards that I do not like. By actual meas- 

 urement the distance between the brood-combs 

 and the se(!tion8 above in the hive mentioned is 

 two and three-fourths inches. There ought not 

 to be over an inch of space. 



Throw away your old clap traps in the shape 

 of hives that require honey-bouds of any kind. 

 AdoiH the better system of management and bet- 

 ter hives. 



Clipping queens' wings. 



Oh, fudge and fiddlesticks! brother 

 E. L. Pratt (if you beemen will allow 

 a woman to " brother " you). Fudge 

 and fiddlesticks! on the '' cruel and 

 inhuman way " of clipping queens' 

 wings. You admit that it is painless ; 

 then, as the queen is never to use her 

 wing again except to call her buzzing 

 brood up into some tall treetop, or 

 off " over the pnrple hills," exactly 

 where the beekeeper does not want 

 them, I fan to see where the cruelty 

 is. To my notion, the " cruelty is all 

 on the other side, when a fly-away 

 queen settles on the top of one of my 

 oaks, and I go crawling up a ladder, 

 bread pan in one hand, cover in an- 

 other, and more fudge and fiddlesticks 

 on my tongue than would set up 

 a whole dictionary if translated into 

 good round swear words. 



Sujjpose "Brother" Pratt, nature 

 had given you an extra sharp toe-nail 

 for the express purpose of scratch- 

 uig your left ear, just once, before 

 you began life work, and suppose, af- 

 ter that ear had been attended to, 

 some enterprising beekee — ah, no, I 

 mean enteri^rising party shofild then 

 cut it off, do you think, — remembering 

 the operation was " utterly painless," 



and the toe-nail worse than useless — 

 do you really think it would be just 

 as bad for you as is "throwing out 

 sheep's joints " for the sheep"? 



Not being a sheep, and never hav- 

 ing had any of my joints mislaid, I've 

 no idea how painfiil the operation is, 

 but if sheep's joints are any like peo- 

 ple's, I should suppose the sheep had 

 better be thrown out and the joints 

 kept in the field, or, in fact, the field 

 thrown out and the sheep kept in the 

 joint. And I'm not an almond-eyed 

 celestial either. 



Now I could teU a tale of woe, of 

 wailful woe, because of queens' wings 

 that were not clipped. I bought a 

 Carniolau queen of " brother J. B. 

 Mason, and a beauty she was, too, 

 and I — I — - um ! ah ! I suppose I 

 was afraid to open the hive again, 

 as I failed to search for her until the 

 day after fruit bloom, and found the 

 hive choked full of bees, and robbers 

 in the air, and didn't find the queen. 

 Then out she came a few days later, 

 and,— well, if she isn't fi'ozen to death, 

 she is out in the woods now. Here- 

 after my queens have a clipped wing, 

 or a self-hiver to decide theu course 

 for them. 



And just here is the question I 

 started out to ask. Sujipose your 

 old queen has a clipped wing, and she 

 swarms, and you gather her gently out 

 of the grass, and get her and her swarm 

 into a new hive, then what of the swarm 

 that will issue in about eight days 

 more? How soon will the young queen 

 hatch, and how soon will she lay"? 

 This is what bothers me. How shall 

 I know that she is ready to lay, be- 

 fore I find her making for the tree- 

 tops? This is just where my trouble 

 comes in, as I stand considering the 

 Alley self-hiver. I want some self- 

 hivers; this is precisely what I do 

 want. Beekeeping has lost its terrors 

 for women, the moment bees can be 

 made to hive themselves, or to clus- 

 ter low down; but how shall I know 

 just when the young queen is layuig? 

 I suj)pose you will tell me to look for 

 the eggs, but, my goodness! who is 



