6 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



Jannory 



MR. G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The gentleman whose likeness it is 

 our pleasure to present in this number 

 of The Bee-keeper, needs no introduc- 

 tion to the reading public; for where is 

 the bee-keeper who has read Doolittle's 

 writings (and there are none of the read- 

 ing ones who have not) who does not 

 feel that he knows Mr. Doolittle just as 

 well as anybody. 



The portrait is by Doust, Syracuse, N. 

 Y., being Mr. Doolittle"s latest photo- 

 graph, taken in October, 1900, and is of 

 especial interest at this time in connec- 

 tion with his reference to the first years 

 of his bee-keeping life, also published in 

 this number under i\n\ heading, "Quali- 

 fying for an Apiarist;"' as it shows the 

 author at the age of fifty-four, and in 

 the thirty-first year of his successful 

 bee-keeping career. 



SOMETHING NEW IN QUEEN AND 

 DRONE TRAPS. 



I!Y THE EDITOR. 



A queen and drone trap is a combined 

 device which thousands of bee-keepers 

 have used with varying degrees of satis- 

 faction. It is often a. great relief at 

 swarming time, when other business 

 calls the bee-keeper away from the 

 apiary, to have a trap which may be 

 placed at the entrance to catch the 

 queen in the event of a swarm issuing 

 during his absence, and there hold her 

 securely until his return. It sometimes 

 transpires, also, that a thrifty bee-keeper 

 finds himself in possession of colonies 

 containing an undesirable quantity of 

 drones. Perhaps one or more hives in 

 the yard are sending out drones of a 

 class that he knows ought to be sup- 

 pressed, at a time when young queens 

 are about. Here, again, a drone trap 

 comes into effective play. 



If the reader has ever had occasion to 

 use a drone and queen trap, and has ob- 

 served the result of placing it on a hive 

 at a time when workers were busy and 

 drones were flying freely, he need not 



here be reminded of the confusion at 

 the entrance, caused by the clogging ot 

 the perforated zinc. With the incom- 

 ing drones barred out entirely and 

 clustered upon the zinc, and one, two 

 or three heads eagerly straining through 

 nearly every perforation from the in- 

 side, honey-gathering is greatly hin- 

 dered. The traps we have had in the 

 past have been of great service; but the 

 excellence of their work does not pre- 

 clude advancement along the line of 

 queen and drone traps. It is rarely in- 

 deed that any '-combined" machine or 

 device really "combines" all the 

 elements or factors essential to the best 

 accomplishment of the several purposes 

 for which it is designed. We do not 

 wish to be understood to say that toler- 

 ably satisfactory service may not be had 

 from a combined queen and drone trap. 



On the contrary, we have confidence to 

 believe that the queen and drone trap 

 shown at the top of the engraving here- 

 with presented, will astonish those who 

 have tried other kinds, and will give 

 this litth^ device a trial — either as queen 

 trap or drone catcher. 



The engraving merely gives in minia- 

 ture the exterior appearance of the 

 trap. Its construction is upon entirely 

 new lines, and drones or queens, when 



