THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



247 



do. In response to this request I will 

 say that, just before the swarming 

 season opened, I attached Alley traps 

 to the entrances of a dozen or so of 

 the strongest colonies in the Hyde api- 

 ary, of wiiich I have made frequent 

 mention. On all hives, whether por- 

 tico or Simplicity, I found it necessary 

 to secure the traps to the front of the 

 hives, " toe-nail " fashion. I then di- 

 rected the lady who was to watch for 

 swarms that, when one came forth, 

 she was to fasten the trap (if the 

 queen entered it) among the flying 

 bees, on a rake. After being clustered, 

 the bees were to be hived in the ordi- 

 nary way. Some two weeks after, 

 when I went down I saw that about 

 half the traps, under the influence of 

 the sun and rain, and the consequent 

 shriidiage and swelling, had become 

 partially detached from the hive — 

 enough so to allow the bees to pass in 

 and out, back of the traps. As queen- 

 catchers, these, of course, were use- 

 less. Upon inquiry, Mrs. Hyde told 

 rae she had caught two swarms by 

 placing the trap among the flying bees, 

 and that the Alley trap, with these 

 two, was a success. The other swarms, 

 in consequence of the loosening of the 

 trap, had to be hived in the good old- 

 fashioned way.] 



The above was taken from 

 " Gleanings." It strikes us tliat 

 tlie person wlio liandled the traps 

 above spoken of is not one of 

 those practical fellows whom we 

 read about. One statement strikes 

 us as being peculiar. He says : 

 " The influences of the sun and 

 rain had shrunk the wood so that 

 the queens could pass out without 

 going through the trap." Those 

 particular traps (not made by us) 

 must be made of a queer kind of 

 wood to have them shrink as much 

 as stated. A piece of wood but two 

 and one-half inches wide to shrink 

 nearly one-half an inch must be of 

 a variety that does not grow in 

 this country. Certainly the wood 

 did not shrink all from the edge, 

 nor did it shrink nearly one-fourth 

 of an inch (which it must do to 

 leave sufficient room for a queen 

 to pass) from the back edge ; of 

 course it shrunk full as much at 



the opposite edge or side, which 

 would make nearly one-half an inch 

 in all. Can a man be found in the 

 world who will believe such an im- 

 probable story? Well, we will let 

 that pass. 



One other point : " I found it 

 necessary to secure the traps to 

 the front of the hives, " toe-nail 

 fashion." Wh}'' could not the writer 

 of the above have been honest 

 enough to have informed his read- 

 ers concerning the kind of an 

 alighting-board he uses? If the 

 alighting-boards to his hives are 

 flat and two and one-half inches 

 wide, there would be no need of 

 fastening the trap to the hives, 

 "toe-nail" fashion, as the traps 

 would stay in place without nails of 

 any kind. We have from twenty to 

 forty of the traps in use all the 

 time and never have found it nec- 

 essary to fasten them to the hives 

 in any way. 



We have no porticos to our 

 hives, and the sun and rain have 

 full play during the entire season 

 on the traps and not one of them 

 has ever shrunk one-sixteenth of 

 an inch, and we will guarantee to 

 place fifty traps of our make on 

 fifty hives, and they shall be ex- 

 posed to the weather, unprotected 

 by anything for three months, and 

 if one of these traps shrinks or in 

 any way without hands gets out of 

 place we will pay ten dollars for 

 each one found in such a condition. 



The above shows to what extent 

 we bel\,eve the story which is cop- 

 ied from "Gleanings." We care not 

 who makes such a statement, the 

 whole story is ver}^ improbable. 



SPECIAL NOTICES. 



Now is a favorable time to subscribe 

 for the Ameiucan Apicultuuist. You 

 can get it for one year and as fine a 

 queen as we can rear for $1.50. The 

 queen alone is worth $2.00. 



