110 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Other Hives. 



There are niaii}^ other hives be- 

 fore the beekeeping public, some of 

 which I woukl like to try, but it is 

 such a nuisance to have several 

 sizes of frames in one's apiary, 

 that I have about concluded to try 

 no more. Still, if a hive-maker 

 sends me a hive with the polite 

 request tliat I will try it, how can 

 I well refuse? I wish a museum 

 could be got up containing all 

 hives in use by good practical bee- 

 keepers, and that I could have 

 about a month quietly to inspect, 

 and compare them, putting down 

 every point of excellence, and try- 

 ing to combine all in one. 



The Hive I want. 



Perhaps my hive ideal is Utopian, 

 but such as it is, here it is. 



1. One that I can make myself, 

 and I am not by any means a "boss 

 mechanic." 



2. One in which it is necessary 

 to disturb the brood-nest little or 

 none. 



3. One light to handle. 



4. One large enough to give otf 

 rousing big swarms, and yet not 

 so large as to store a needless quan- 

 titj^ of winter supplies. 



5. One in which a colony must 

 store surplus honey w^hen it is to 

 be had in the fields. 



G. One equally good for sum- 

 mer and winter. 



7. One requiring the least pos- 

 sible attention at the change of 

 seasons. 



I do not use the extractor, hence 

 do not want a hive especially adapt- 

 ed to it. If some one were to 

 poke me up to do so, I might per- 

 haps tell why ; but it would be apt 

 to stir up a hornet's nest. 



Gueljyh, Ont. 



[Wonder ii' Uie B. S. Hive woulil not suit 

 Mr. Clarlv ? It just fills tlie bill lor "The Hive 

 I want." Some one ought to stir up a liornei's 

 nest it' it will be the moans of preventing? the 

 general use of the extractor as in our opinion 

 the extractor is the cause of low jirices for 

 honey.] 



For the American Apicttlturist. 



REPLY TO MR. IIEDDON. 



A. L. SWINSON. 



On pages 93 and 94 of the "An," 

 Mr. Jas. Ileddon in his reply to 

 Mr. O. O. Poppleton, acknowledges 

 quite an astonishment on my arti- 

 cle on page 51. (?) He says "that 

 this reversed peculiarity is con- 

 fined to Mr. S's locality [probably], 

 or at least a few localities in the 

 south ; for during the past eight- 

 een years of discussions regarding 

 the characteristics of the two races, 

 during which time the Italians 

 have been charged with the clog- 

 ging and swarming fault, over and 

 over again, and the Germans as 

 often praised for their meritorious 

 conduct in this respect [never 

 from any southern breeder of prac- 

 tical experience, though], I do 

 not now remember of any southern 

 beekeeper rising and declaring that 

 it did'nt work that way in the 

 .south. There have been a few who 

 haven't noticed that Italian bees 

 are bad on this account, but it 

 turned out they were not looking 

 hard enough to see it:" (How do 

 you know that?) 



I don't think that it is confined 

 to any particular locality in the 

 south, certainl}' not to a few local- 

 ities only. As to Mr. Heddon not 

 remembering of any " southern 

 beekeeper rising and declaring that 

 it did'nt work that way in the 

 south " (" during the past eighteen 

 years"), there have never been, 

 until four or five years past, but 

 very feio Italian bees ever kept in 

 the south eastern part of the south, 

 and even now when introduced 

 here they are Italian but a very 

 short time with but a few excep- 

 tional cases. Consequently but 

 few men in the south have Italian 

 bees and therefore not competent 

 to pass on their qualities ; even in 



