THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



241 



The process is this : go to the hive 

 and blow in some tobacco smoke, then 

 cover the entrance with a wire-screen, 

 such as all beekeepers should liave at 

 hand for keeping bees in tlie liive and 

 giving proper ventilaUon at the same 

 time. After closing the hive it is taken 

 into the bee-room and a little more 

 smoke is given the bees, at the same 

 time liglit thumping on the hive is kept 

 up to make the bees fill with lioney. 



Then they are allowed to remain 

 quiet for a few moments or until the 

 loudest humming ceases ; then the lion- 

 ey-board or cloth covering is removed, 

 the frames taken out, and all the bees 

 brushed into a box as stated above. 

 When in the box, if they attempt to 

 run up and over the sides, more to- 

 bacco smoke is blown among them and 

 they will keep quiet. 



If the queen is not found as the 

 combs are removed, she can usually 

 readily be found in the box. In order 

 to find her, the bees should be "poked" 

 over with a piece of a section box and 

 in no case with a brush of any kind. 



The above is a process we go through 

 every day from May 8 to Aug. 15. 

 Sometimes as many as four colonies 

 are gone over each dav. 



Instead of uniting the bees, we place 

 them on four combs with a few eggs 

 to rear queens. If you want to know 

 the rest of it you should read the "Bee- 

 keepers' Handy Book." In its pages 

 will be found more that is new about 

 bees and queen-rearing than in all other 

 works on bee culture combined. 



Blasted Hopes. — Many beekeep- 

 ers think they have reason to be dis- 

 couraged by the experienee of the 

 present season. We have kept bees 

 thirty years and never saw but one 

 such season during that long experi- 

 ence. Although the present season is 

 very discouraging and especially so to 

 the beginner, we think there is no rea- 

 son for all to feel that way, as the fail- 

 ure of the present year is most likely 

 to be followed by one of the very best 

 honey harvests. At any rate such has 

 been our experience. Get your bees in 

 good condition for winter and make 

 every preparation to harvest the ex- 

 pected large crop of honey in 1S88. 

 Don't let even one colony starve, give 

 each one dollar's worth of sugar and 

 all will go through the winter safely. 



The next thing to do is to read all 

 the tirst-class bee journals the coming 

 season. In this way you can post 

 yourself up regarding the best methods 



of bee culture and of the best apiarian 

 fixtures. Keep abreast of the times, 

 this you cannot do unless you read the 

 experience of all others as given in the 

 various bee-journals. 



Destroyed by Fire. — In comment- 

 ing on a tire which recently destroj^ed 

 property to the amount of S3, 000. 00, 

 belonging to a beekeeper in Maine, ed- 

 itor Newn>an remarks as follows : 



" We sympathize with our friends in their 

 loss, and are very miioli surprised that wliile 

 they say the loss "amounts to $3,000.00 they do 

 not intimate whether or not tlie property was 

 insurerl. 



It seems to us that it borders on " criminal 

 carelessness" for anyone to neglect to insure 

 their property against fire, etc., wlien they 

 have dependents who would suffer by their 

 inattention to the duties of life. We do not 

 know that tliis is the case with friend Sfason 

 (and liope it is not the case), and these re- 

 ni;irks are not intendeil to be personal; but 

 thev sliow our views of the importance of 

 insuring nroperty against a calamity. 



We will also state that we do not think a 

 man has the riglit (in the light of tlie pres- 

 ent), to neglect to insure his life, when he has 

 a dei^endent family leaning on him for sup- 

 IJortl He sliould provide for them by an in- 

 surance on his life, and carry it, it it need be, 

 to tlie personal sacrifice of some luxury (or 

 even necessity), so that his offspring may 

 not be " beggared" in the event of his death.' 



Mr. T. W. Cowan, Editor of the 

 British Bee Journal, and lady, are 

 now '• doing America." On Ttiesday 

 August 2, they were entertained by 

 Capt. J. E. Hetheringtou of Cherry 

 Valley, N. Y. Mr. P. H. Elvvood and 

 Mr. J. Van Deusen, two prominent 

 beekeepers, joined the company. 



Our distinguished visitor should not 

 return to England without visiting Mr. 

 Doolittle. They will not of course 

 have time to visit all our prominent 

 Iseekeepers, as it would take a long 

 time to do so. We hope their visit to 

 this country will be a pleasant one. 



Those western Agricultural pa- 

 pers that copy from the An should be 

 more careful and not credit them to 

 the "Am. Agriculturist." People who 

 read our articles must have an idea 

 that the "Am. Agriculturist" is pretty 

 well tilled with matters concerning bee 

 culture. 



We have just received No. 1, Vol. I, 

 of the Australian Bee Journal, pub- 

 lished by Hopkins, Hayr & Co., Auck- 

 land, N. Z. It is gotten up in good 

 style and we wish it success. 



