THE AMEI^IGAN APICULTURIST. 



123- 



you propose to visit us. Come at any 

 time, only drop us a postal card, that 

 we ma^' be at home. We shall be more 

 than glad to welcome you. Will do 

 our best to entertain you and make 

 you leak bee wisdom, all of which 

 will be most carefully stored for fut- 

 ure use and experiment by 

 Yours very truly, 



Mrs. G. M. Barker. 



P. S. Will also explain our aggre- 

 gation of freaks yclept — hives, etc. 



Natick, Mass. 



Tell-tale arrangements. 



E. L. P 11 ATT. 



I have tried tacks, stones, section 

 pieces, blocks, pins, nails and I don't 

 know "what all," to remind me of work 

 to be done with nuclei, and I have not 

 yet found a convenient j)lan. 



We want a plan to tell us where 

 our mated queens may be found and 

 something that will "cry out in a veri/ 

 loud voice'''' and point in a forcible man- 

 ner to those hives in want of a cell or 

 vu'gin queen. 



I propose to try a flag system next 

 season, something as follows: I shall 

 have a lot of pine sticks cut about 

 eight inches in length by one-foui'th 

 square. On the ends of them will 

 be tacked little three-cornered flags 

 made of colored flannel or felt, red 

 on one end of each stick and blue on 

 the other. One of these sticks will 

 be attached to each hive by a small 

 •wu'e nail, pivot fashion, in such a man- 

 ner that I shall be able to display 

 either color at will. 



Red will mean " queenless, " and 

 bhie for "laying queen." When both 

 flags hang down with the stick in an 

 horizontal position, it will mean "nor- 

 mal state." 



I think with this arrangement, it 

 will be hard on a keeper's conscience 

 to see many red flags in sight any 

 length of time. There will always be 

 a great effort on my j^art to keep the 

 blues up rather than the reds. 



Railroad men have used a flag sys- 

 tem for a great many years with satis- 

 faction. Should think queen-breeders 

 could pattern after them and adopt a 

 similar well tried system m connec- 

 tion with then- business. 



Artificial heat. 



I was very much interested in "For- 

 eign Notes" in your January issue. 



Brother Stachelhausen has gath- 

 ered together very valuable and in- 

 teresting matter. 



What interested me more than any- 

 thing else was "Ai'tificial heat for 

 bees in spring." I had in mind an 

 experiment for March, 1890, somewhat 

 as follows: a hollow division board 

 made of tin was to be placed close up 

 to the contracted brood-nest inside a 

 regular division board made of frame 

 stuff covered with felt and close to the 

 packing. A small rubber hose was to 

 be connected at the bottom of this tin- 

 chamber outside the hive in such a 

 manner that it could be filled readily 

 with hot water and emptied of cold 

 from the outside of the hive wdthout 

 disturbing the colony. Every morn- 

 ing and night the cold water could be 

 run out and hot water run in by a 

 tunnel. 



I was in hopes to be able to force 

 along several colonies to use on eaiiy 

 queens. Also to secui-e drones equal- 

 ly early. Hope Brother S. will keep 

 us posted on this matter. I believe 

 artificial heat can be used to advan- 

 tage in forcing bees the same as with 

 plants under glass. 



A. I. Root failed with an experi- 

 ment of this kind some years ago. 

 Since then I have not seen much 

 mention of the scheme. 

 Marlboro, Mass. 



Notes and comments. 



By Henkt Alley. 

 Bee veils. 

 Where one has a race or strain of 

 bees that cannot be handled with a 

 good smoker, we advise a change in 



