TEE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



179 



for bees, as I have heretofore given 

 my views at length on that subject. 

 I am satisfied upon tliat point, and 

 that is sufficient for me, and otliers 

 can profit Ij^^ my experience or let it 

 alone, as best suits their individual 

 cases. 



Frequently of late the "Wiley lie" 

 has appeared in different papers, and 

 the same has been copied in some jour- 

 nals by those who siiould be in better 

 business, and every time I read such 

 scurrilous items I wonder why (even 

 if it were true) other evils of greater 

 magnitude are not declaimed against. 



I am reminded that I was in dan- 

 ger not long ago of losing my entire 

 apiary, when the bees found a mess of 

 stuff ivept for sale by one of our lead- 

 ing grocers and called "sugar drip" 

 (or some high sounding- name) which 

 he had thrown out at his back door. 

 After filling up with it and before they 

 were able to leave the spot thousands 

 perished. 



Did the leading papers throughout 

 the country under large display lines 

 caution the dear people against buy- 

 ing adidterated syrup? Not to my 

 knovvledge ; neither did the grocer. 



If it were a fact that comb is made 

 of parafflne and filled with artificial 

 honey, I'll wager any amount that the 

 contents would not poison bees or 

 prove so injurious to tlie human stom- 

 ach as the vile stuff that killed my 

 bees; and I very much doubt if one 

 of the great leading newspapers would, 

 in the interest of humanity, publish 

 anything derogatory to the firm man- 

 ufacturing the so-called "sugar di'ip," 

 especially if it were a wealthy corpo- 

 ration. 



The press with seeming eclat con- 

 tinue to injure the poor but honest 

 beekee[)ers, honest from force of cir- 

 cumstances if for no other reason, as 

 they cannot profitably adulterate or 

 manufacture comb-honey by such scan- 

 dalous reproductions and warmed up 

 re-hash of the Wiley lie, but the adul- 

 teration of nearly every manufactured 

 article of commerce goes on with 



scarcely a word of protest, and none 

 are found to refute the charge. 



Yea, veril}', we are a peculiar peo- 

 ple, past finding out. 



In my next I will give my metliod 

 of building up weak colonies in the 

 fall, how 1 prevent increase, and why 

 I do not seriously object to brace- 

 combs, all of which is not entirely 

 original, but good enough to bear rep- 

 etition, I think. 



Madison, Neb. 



Can swarming be controlled? 



E. L. PUATT. 



It lias been the aim of many inven- 

 tors to contrive a plan whereby swarms 

 can be controlled and drones kept from 

 flying without interfering with the 

 flight of the bees in the least and, at 

 the same time, giving ample ventila- 

 tion to the strongest colony. 



B}' the use of a tiap, in combination 

 with a queen-excluding honey board, 

 this end will be accomplished to the 

 satisf:iction of all. 



It has been proven time and time 

 again that excluders do not interfere 

 with the free passage of the bees but 

 successfully hinder the queen from 

 entering any parts of the hive where 

 applied. 



A common zinc excluder is attached 

 to the bottom of the hive and raised 

 from off the bottom board in the or- 

 dinary manner to make an entrance 

 under the same. 



Another entrance is made above by 

 removing one-half the binding about 

 the zinc at the end. 



Upon this is set the hive in the or- 

 dinary way and an Alley trap or swarm- 

 er is applied to the upper entrance. 

 The lower entrance is left open its full 

 length. 



The major portion of the working 

 force will make its exit through the 

 upper entrance and trap, while their 

 returning sisters, heavily laden with 



