AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



471 



those " apicultural literarians," perhaps 

 having a slight smattering of bee-keeping, 

 or none at all, but are simply well read and 

 can write fluently, pose as one of the lead- 

 ing lights in bee-keeping, and try to make 

 a living with the pen, being too lazy to 

 work. I have talked with some of the 

 hard-working bee-keepers about that very 

 thing, and nothing so easily disgusts them 

 in the line of bee-literature than to come 

 across an article written by some of those 

 same '"apicultural literarians"' they hap- 

 pen to know. Mr. Clarke's strictures on 

 Mr. Heddon are overdrawn, in my opinion, 

 as to the number of colonies kept ; also his 

 remarks in regard to Father Langstroth. I 

 think that Mr. Heddon simply wanted 

 nothing but practical experience in bee- 

 keeping given. 



I understand that Dr. Miller has been 

 asked by the publishers of a new Diction- 

 ary, to give them the words and terms in 

 bee-literature, with definitions, to be pub- 

 lished in the new edition. I suggest that 

 he give the words ' apicultural literarians," 

 with the meaning thereof. 



Angelica, N. Y. J. R. Common. 



An Old Bee-Keeper's Experience. 



I have been a subscriber to the ' • Old 

 Reliable" from the first number under 

 Mr. Wagner, with the exception of a short 

 time — I think it was when under Mr. W. F. 

 Clarke's control. Have been engaged in 

 bee-keeping for 43 years, being now in my 

 83rd year, but I am still as devoted to the 

 occupation as I was 40 years ago. I can 

 take a swarm down from a tree as easily as 

 ever. 



In 1861 1 had 63 colonies, and lost all but 

 13 from a bad season and bad honey. I re- 

 cruited up to 33 in 1862, and obtained 62 

 pounds of comb and extracted honey per 

 colony, spring count. 



Last summer I got Pierce's "Winter Prob- 

 lem," and prepared 14 colonies according 

 to his directions, and up to the present time 

 7 have died. Of the others with chafi" on 

 the frames, none have died. 



I could give quite an experience with 

 some 14 different styles of hives in the last 

 43 years of my bee-keeping, but will only 

 say that in 1852 I purchased the Langstroth 

 hive, and have never been without it in all 

 these years, and still believe it to be the 

 best hive made. Samuel C. Ware. 



Towanda, Ills.. March 20, 1893. 



The Weather and the Bees. 



Since my last letter (Jan. 21st), we have 

 had five days of zero weather in January, 

 nine in February, and five in March, up to 

 this date. In January bees had flights, or 

 could fly, on nine days in the month ; in 

 February three days; and in March, so far, 

 also three days. 



While we had but very little snow in 

 December, January and February, we had 

 a regular blizzard on Feb. 28th, which 

 brought about 12 inches of snow on the 



level ; and on March 16th we again had a 

 snowfall of about 4 inches. 



On March 9th and 10th I investigated 

 every colony in the apiary, and found all 

 of them in good condition except 5, which 

 had been invaded by mice, and were rather 

 in a weak condition. Of 38 colonies, I 

 found every queen on hand; 20 colonies 

 were extra strong ; 13 were strong ; and 5 

 weak. I supplied those that needed it with 

 one or two combs well filled with honey, 

 and contracted the brood-chambers of those 

 disturbed by mice. 



All of the absorbent packings above the 

 bees were well dried and then replaced, and 

 now I propose to give them another severe 

 letting alone until about the middle of 

 April, or May 1st, when again a close re- 

 vision will take place, and those selected 

 for drone-rearing will receive their drone- 

 comb well filled with honey. I expect 

 everything to go well now, unless the 

 weather proves to become exceedingly ad- 

 verse. Wm. Stollet. 



Grand Island, Nebr., March 21. 1893. 



Broom-Handle Swarm-Catchers. 



We learn of a great many new inven- 

 tions, and a great many that are of great 

 value to bee-keepers, so much so that it 

 would be hard to get along without the 

 American Bee Journal. Here is something 

 quite old, and yet it is new. too. Mr. W. 

 H. Veeder. of Grand Island, Nebr., told me 

 the way they used to catch swarms 20 years 

 ago in New York State. Here is his method : 



" We would take broom-handles and wrap 

 rags on the large end, making a roll about 

 10 inches in length, and about 3 inches 

 through the center, tapering off smaller at 

 the ends. The rags we would saturate with 

 melted beeswax. The other end of the 

 handle is sharpened so as to stick in the 

 ground. We used one handle for every 

 four hives." 



Mr. Veeder assures me that nearly every 

 swarm that issues will cluster on some of 

 these prepared sticks. The sticks should 

 be stuck in the ground about 4 rods in front 

 of the hives. Mr. Veeder thinks the scent 

 of the wax has a good deal to do with the 

 bees clustering on the rags. 



Aurora, Nebr. Chas. White. 



Self-Hivers and Q,ueen Flights. 



On page 142 is an essay on " Self-Hivei*s 

 and their Use," read at the North American 

 Convention, in which Mr. E. R. Root says, 

 at a previous convention, Mr. E. L. Pratt, 

 of Marlboro, Mass., showed him a self-hiver 

 which Mr. Root adopted and describes. 

 There is no use in me describing it, because 

 it would take too much space. Mr. Root 

 says that it is so arranged that the queen 

 can pass out, but not back again. I have 

 heard the question often asked, '' Does the 

 queen ever leave the hive to take a flight ?" 

 I say she does. One Sunday I put a drone- 

 trap on a hive and sat down, as I most gen- 

 erally do, took a knife and cut off the heads 

 of the outside drones trying to get in. 



