162 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Pratt Bee Farm, and I doubt if we can 

 both supply the demand for this beauti- 

 ful new strain of bees. The breeding 

 queens are decidedly golden in color, 

 very large and strong. 



After spending several hours looking 

 over the yard we retired again to Mr. 

 Alley's " sanctum sanctorum " for an- 

 other long talk. The one-hundred- 

 dollar queen seems to be in good health 

 and doing excellent work. 



A seven-frame hive will be used in the 

 Bay State yard after this date. 



The Pratt Perfection shipping and 

 introducing cage has the preference 

 with Mr. Alley now. 



The swarmer is going to be a success 

 after a little remodelling to force the 

 queen to pass above as with the trap. 



Mr. Alley's ideas are changing some- 

 what on the number of bees required to 

 construct queen cells. 



He will hereafter tier up for the 

 nursery cages, placing them alternately 

 with brood in an upper story above a 

 zinc excluder. 



I do not wonder that Mr. Alley is 

 proud of his bees, they are of such 

 beautiful color, so well behaved and 

 such excellent workers. 



We looked over several imported Ital- 

 ian stocks and found the queens gener- 

 ally dark, but the bees are well-marked 

 and the queen progeny show a decided- 

 ly bright hue. 



There were about 275 little fertilizing 

 hives in the yard and over forty large 

 colonies. The care of them all, besides 

 considerable outside work, including all 

 the work on the Api, is on the shoulders 

 of Mr. Alley. 



The tobacco smoker, so much 

 "kicked" about by those who do not un- 

 derstand its use, is an indispensable im- 

 plement in both Mr. Alley's yard and 

 -our own. 



The masses do not half appreciate 

 the value of the Trap, or drone-and- 

 queen "Flight Contioller," as it should 

 have been called. 



Come to get two large queen-rearing 

 yards in Essex county, our friends can 

 have a chance to see queen-rearing on 



a stupendous scale. We look forward 

 with enthusiasm to our removal near 

 the Bay State yards. Who dares say 

 that we cannot sell upwards of 3000 

 queens from our two yards another sea- 

 son? 



Beverly, Mass. 



Notes from Florida. 

 Bv John Crayceaft. 



Friend Alley : Tliiough the agency 

 of "John Wannamaker," I have re- 

 ceived a coi)y of the Api. I am pleased 

 with its contents and more especially 

 with "Notes and Comments" and 

 where friend "Root" is asked to tell 

 where progressive beekeeping would 

 have been if not for "wasted time and 

 brains" to obtain patents on "worth- 

 less" appliances in beekeeping fix- 

 tures. His (Root's) reniaiks must 

 have made "dear old father Langs- 

 troth" feel very sad to think that he 

 had wasted his time and l)rains to ob- | 

 lain "just nothing at all." 



"Wasted time and brains" will con- 

 tinue as long as there are brains and 

 time to make something better adapt- 

 ed to the uses of man ; even though per- 

 fection may api)ear to be complete. 

 Such is not the case ; tliere is no stop 

 either forward or backward. New in- 

 ventions call for more new inventions. 

 Progressive beekeeping calls for some 

 mateiial as a base for con)l) founda- 

 tion ; to make the manufacturer 

 speedy ; the material stronger ; the 

 handling, shipping and safety from 

 damage inoie secure. Will some man- 

 ufacturer that has the "time" to try 

 the paper now in use by "dairymen" 

 to wrap butter and said to be odor- 

 less, air and waterproof and cheap ; 

 who will volunteer the "time and 

 brains" to obtain this necessity ? Ne- 

 cessity is said to be the "mother of 

 invention." Sooner or later some ma- 

 terial will 1)6 brought forth that will 

 solve the problem. 



Beekeeping and honey production 



