The American Apiculturist. 



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ENTERED AT THE POST-OFFICE, WENHAM, AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. 



Published Monthly. Henry Alley, Manager. 



VOL. V. WENHAM, MASS., DECEMBER i, 1887. 



No. 



We deal in first-class apiari- I Established in 1S83. Terms : I Any yearly subscriber is en- 

 an supplies dfall kinds, lowest I $1.00 per year, 50 cents per six | titled to one of our scle.-ted 

 prices. Prompt shipment. I months, 2.5 cents per three I queens anytime between June! 



Send tor price list. | months. Cash in advance. | and Oct. 1, by remitting 50 cts. 



Address all communications, AMEKICAW APICULTURIST, -Wenham, Mass. 



I'or the American Apiculturist. 



SOMETHING ABOUT BRIT- 

 ISH BEE-HIVES. 

 My dear API : 



We are ever on the alert for some- 

 tiling new in the way of bee-gear, 

 and our eyes are in a state of ten- 

 sion westward to see what the 

 states have to show us. We had 

 heard of the latest thing in the way 

 of hives that had evolved from the 

 brain of our clever friend Ileddon, 

 and had wondered what it was like ; 

 until, last October, when Mr. D. A. 

 Jones of Canadian fame gave us 

 an opportunity of discussing its 

 shape and make at a conversazione 

 of the British Beekeepers' Associ- 

 ation, held at the Indian and Colo- 

 nial Exhibition, London. 



"yVhen staged on the platform, 

 the resemblance between the"Hed- 

 don" and a hive known for many 

 years in England as the " Cari-- 

 ►Stewarton" was at once apparent. 

 This hive is seldom seen now but 

 was thought much of when first 

 brought out. Mr. Jones evidently 

 knew nothing then of the existence 

 of such a hive, but he has had an 

 opportunity of seeing it since, 1 

 believe, at Liverpool. But as I as- 

 sume few beekeepers in the states 

 know anything ot its existence, his- 

 tory or characteristic* features, I 

 purpose giving them to the frater- 



23 



nity through the columns of the Apr, 

 first to show my appreciation of 

 your enterprising journal and also 

 to express my regard for American 

 beekeepers generally. 



I have often wondered when bees 

 were first kept in this old country ; 

 it was evidently a very long time 

 ago. The other day I stumbled 

 upon a cut taken from some old 

 tapestry, illustrating our early 

 Saxon beekeepers, which I thought 

 would interest you so I had it re- 

 produced and here it is (Fig. 1). 





Fig. 1. 



The artist that designed the tap- 

 estry was no very great naturalist, 

 his bees are more like birds than 

 bees, but in some out-of-the-way 

 })laces they are even now called 

 ''bee-birds" by some of the old- 

 fashioned people. 



It is swarming time evidently, 

 and the hives are the old-fashioned 

 straw skeps covered with straw 

 hackles as you will often find pic- 

 tured in old books, or on the title 



(301) 



