THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



69 



there is a loss of licit, not only IVom the in- 

 creased room, but by the increased ventila- 

 tion given over tlie combs and Uiroush tlic 

 sections. And, ajrain, where a bee-space is 

 allowed over ami under a honey-board tlio 

 sections are carried uuich I'arllier from the 

 brood or broodch:imber; tliis is a bad feature 

 in any hive. It has always been our practice 

 to set the sections as near the brood as pos- 

 sible; thus .ill the animal heat jceneratod in 

 the hive is economized by the comb buihlers 

 in the sections. Rees in hives tlius arranged 

 do not desert the surplus department at 

 niglit. a time when all the bees are in the hive 

 and comb building is generally carried on 

 rapidly. 



Second. Our strongest objection to using 

 perforated metal honey-boards is tlie fact tliat 

 they are a great liindrance and obstruction to 

 the passage of the bees through tlicm to and 

 from the sections. The detention thus caused 

 to a colony during the day amounts to tlie loss 

 of many pounds of honey. We have found, 

 when such boanls were used, that the bees 

 would not enter the sections readily. The 

 colonies that had no such "blockade" placed 

 in theirhives were in the sections and at work 

 several days before those wei-e where the ex- 

 cluders were used. 



Well, now suppose the queen does go into 

 oneor two sections and si)Oil the looks of tliem 

 by depositing her eggs in the cells. Do we 

 not gain half a dozen pounds of honey for 

 everyone lost in that way where no excluders 

 are used? Will not the bees l)e likely to do 

 more work in tlie sections if tliere is one 

 or two sections filled with brood? In the 

 season of l^Sfi we used no queen-excludeis or 

 honey-boards of any kind on any of our hives 

 and not one section was spoiled by the queen 

 entering them. 



For the above reasons we do not think 

 queen-excluding honey-boards are a neces- 

 sity. We do not use them or any other kind, 

 nor do we believe in them at all ; but we are 

 of the opinion that much honey is lost every 

 year where they are used. 



[The above was in type before Dr. Tinker's 

 article came to hand, hence is not intended as 

 a reply to the Doctor's most excellent contri- 

 bution.] 



New Strains of Bees.— It is our intention 

 to make manyexperiments in crossing some of 

 the different races of bees the jiresent season. 

 Several Carniolan queens will be fertilized Ijy 

 Italian drones. A few queens will be reared 

 from that cross and mated to pure Italian 

 drones of a strain not related to the original 

 Italian blood used. We have ten queens in 

 the apiary reared in an apiary in Vermont 

 and from a famous strain of pure Italians; 

 thus we are prepared to rear queens and not 

 iu-breed, neither shall we be obliged to send 



to a distant apiary for queens in order to pre- 

 vent in-breeding. 



We have not one queen in our apiary that 

 was fertilized by a drone of the same colony 

 or strain. 



We believe every beekeeper can improve 

 his bees by judicious crossing. Infuse new 

 blood into the apiary each year by purchas- 

 ing a few queens from a distant apiary. If 

 an apiary contain 100 colonies not less than 

 2.5 young queens from a distant apiary should 

 be introduced yearly. It will pay to do it. 



The pnges devoted to advertisements are 

 pretty well filled with ".■ids"of dealers in l)ee- 

 keepers' snp|)lii;s. We need not say one word 

 in commendation of any of the parties who 

 have favored us with their advertisements. 

 They are men well known for honesty and 

 fair dealing. 



Our regular subscription list is not as large 

 as that of one, possibly two. other bee papers, 

 yet we can assure oiir advertisers that the 

 AMKKICAN APiCUL'rUKi-ST IS read by more 

 beekeepers than any other bee journal. We 

 aclvertise in about forty different publications 

 to send sample copies of llie Art, and thou- 

 sands are called for every month, and it is 

 sample copies that tell for an advertisement. 



The American Apicultuhist is published 

 in New England, but our <-irculation is not 

 here; very few copies of the An go to New 

 England "beekeepers. Our circulation is 

 largely at the West and the API can be found 

 in nearly every county and in a large num- 

 ber ol tlie towns in the" United States. 



Arthur Todd. 



News of the death of IMr. Todd reached us 

 on the U inst. We knew that our friend was 

 in poor liealtli but was not inlornied that his 

 recovery was unexpected. The last we 

 heard li'om him was in the summer of 1S87; 

 he then wrote us that as soon as he was feel- 

 ing better, the Foreign Notes would be con- 

 tinued. 



The death of Mr. Todd is a loss to every 

 beekeeper who has been a reader of the bee- 

 papers. Few men had a better knowledge 

 of liee culture than he. By ))rofession, IMr. 

 Todd was a chemist. His confections manu- 

 factured from honey gave him much notoriety. 



We believe Mr. Todd was a Fiencliinan by 

 birtli, but came to this country from England 

 a tew rears ago and engimed in bee culture. 

 The oiily member of his family with him was 

 one son. 



Mr.Toddha<l a thorough education, could 

 speak several languages, and as a contributor 

 of bee literature had few peers. 



Like a good many other men, Mr. Todd in 

 some respects was unfortunate and has 

 striven hard for success. 



Mr. Todd died on February 11. 1888. We 

 cannot give his exact age, but should say he 

 was not tar from filty years. We extend our 

 sympathy to the members of his family. 



The following articles from the pen of Mr. 

 L.Stachelhausen will appear in the API during 

 the year: '-Physiology of the honey bee," 

 "How the bees eat pollen," "The food for the 

 larvae, how prepared," " How bees secrete 

 wax and build combs," "New races and In- 

 breeding;" also from other contributors, sev. 



