38 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



of Italian bees in early spring, in the 

 kind of hive he prefers to use in his 

 apiary, he might get the hives, fill the 

 frames with comb foundation and get 

 the swarms put into them, bringing 

 them home hefore they marked their 

 location. 



I prefer a foundation for hives of 

 the height of two bricks at the back 

 of the hive and one in front, thus 

 making a gentle slope, so that if mois- 

 ture accumulates in the hive it can 

 run out, and it is easier for the bees 

 to remove debris and their dead. An 

 alighting-board which rests upon the 

 front edge of the bricks is an advant- 

 age, for if heavily laden bees in win- 

 ter weather fail of gaining an entrance 

 they can crawl into the hive without 

 being under the necessity of taking 

 wing. 



LOCATION OF HIVES. 



Choose a place for the hives shelter- 

 ed as much as possible from the north 

 and west winds. Formerly we winter- 

 ed our bees upon their summer stands 

 and we noticed several springs that 

 dead bees would lie like swaths through 

 the apiary, with live ones on each side 

 of this imaginary swath. By observa- 

 tion we noticed that through the place 

 there was a cold blast, cooler in both 

 summer and winter. If colonies are 

 wintered in the cellar, it is an advant- 

 age in spring and fall to have them in 

 sheltered nooks. 



I have some bees located on the east 

 side of our house, which protected 

 them from the west winds, and trees 

 and vines on the north serve as a wind- 

 break. In the afternoon of a hot day 

 how grateful is the shade while work- 

 ing with bees, and I always choose 

 that time of day to be there. 



Peoria, 111, 



.■*■" '.--•"-.■<- 'vv.--v: ;■?■•?■.>**-. ?':■.! 



The W.T. Falconer Manfg Co., 



Jamestown, N. Y. 



Gentlemen : As the season for pro- 

 ducing honey is now closed, the bees all 

 safely housed in their winter quarters, 

 and another season will soon be ap- 

 proaching, I now write for your new 

 catalogue. 



The supplies I ordered of you last 

 winter came all right, and with one 

 exception, gave enth'e satisfaction. 

 The sections were the best I ever used. 

 The shipping cases were all right, ex- 

 cepting the glass for the 48 cases were 

 all 4; inch too long, or rather the 

 grooves for the glass were not cut deep 

 enough. I lost a few panes in cutting 

 as I had nothing but a common glass 



cutter. The smoker isn't worth a 



pinch of snuff. I put on a new leather 

 to my old Clark smoker and used that 

 this season. I use cobbs as they come 

 from the corn sheller at the mill, kiln 

 dry them, and they are just the thing. 

 The has no capacity for cobs. 



THE MILLER AUTOMATIC FOUNDATION 

 FASTENER. 



Well, what do you expect me to say 

 of that ? Soon after receiving it I set 

 it up in the dining room, (it was yet 

 winter,) in order to test its merits. I 

 worked all the forenoon without mak- 

 ing a success of it, and told my wife 

 that it was the biggest fraud — for a 

 little thing — that I had ever bought, 

 and I took it down and made a rough 

 draft in my mind of what I would 

 write to you ; but, I ate my dinner 



