1 ■»*••.• 



(;i-KAM\(;s IN inoK ciii/ruKK. 



•.'HI 



Mr. A. K. IJoal's sii;rj,'(>siiuii on |iii^'i' 7(ic.. Sc|it. 

 1. ISIM, was thfi'iuisf (if l)ox (' bfinn abaiKhmt'd 

 (set» Ai>i. for Nov.. pane l(>li. and tlu' sclf-liivtM' 

 illustratt>d by Mr. .V. above was broiiKbt about, 

 ill tbis way. Vcs. Mr. .Alley is ptMtrctly jusli- 

 tii'd ill claiiniiiij bis swaiiner as all liis o\\ n. 1 

 am pleased to rcrcivc sutrKt'stioiis tliat will belp 

 me |)erfeet a device. It is in tbis way tlie most 



00 in plica ted iiiaebiiies are made perfect and 

 useful. 



I do not lememlier ol Mr. .\liey"s tellint; me 

 tbal be "did not Uiiow but tbat be sbould bave 

 tti arian;ie tbe swarmer so as to compel tbe 

 bees lo pass thmiKjh tbe new biv(»." If be did 

 it mad(i no impression on my mind. I do fe- 

 nuMuber of bis ttdlinff me tbat he would bave to 

 devise some way of compidling: tbe bees to pass 

 out of tbe bi\i's opposite tbe entrance to tbe 

 new bive. so tbat tbe (lueeii would be traiiiied 

 lliere. anil more bees would pass in with her. I 

 did not understand, as be lias stated it. at all. 

 nor did my new principle originate from any of 

 Mr. Alley's stati'iueiits. Tbere j.v a little objec- 

 tion to baving one hive placed before aiiotber. 

 also beside anotlier. and tliese objections I have 

 overcome in a recent device witli thi> new prin- 

 ciple of trapping the (pieeii in tbe hive tbe 

 swarm is to occupy, and causing the bees to 

 join lier by tlie entrance they have become 

 used to. 



Mr. Alley is mistaken when be says my 

 swarmiM' is an infringement upon his trap. 

 Reading both i)atent claims will show that 

 tliey in no way conflict with each other. One 

 is used to hive a swarm of liees. while the other 

 is used to catcli drones. 1 can not but echo 

 what Mr. Alley says about the advantage of 

 his drone and queen trap, an excellent device. 



1 have always been loud in its prai.se — justly 

 too: but the drone and queen trap is not an 

 itiitdtiKitir s\y;\vm-h]\i-v. E. L. Pr.xtt. 



Heverly. Mass. 



THE PRATT AUTOMATIC SWARMER. 



irs l'KATLKK> KKC().\-II)i:UKl) I!V C. U. DIU- 

 BKKN. 



I was very niucli interested in the Pratt self- 

 hiver. as described on |)uge I'.iii of Cti.eaning.s. 

 I have experimented largely in that line during 

 the past few years, with various devices of my 

 • iwn. witii more or less success: but I am free 

 to say ti'at the I'ratt is far ahead of any thing 

 heretofore suggested. I am well awan* that it 

 is not very safe, usually, to give a positive in- 

 tlorsement to a device that we have not our- 

 selves tried fully in actual use: but a single 

 glance at the cut fully convinced nu; tbat the 

 one great obstacle had been overcome. 1 liad 

 been watching for some further explanations 

 from Mr. Diblile. u ho referred to son^e device 

 of his described on page 0:.' of (;i,K.\.MN<is. and 

 ^till hope he will give us a description of his 

 >warmer. I feel quite sure that the perfect 

 swarmer will soon be i)roduced. if. indeed, we 

 have not already got it. 



Let us consider some of tlie advantages of the 

 Pratt overall other automatic hivers heretofore 

 described. In the Pratt system the swarm re- 

 turns to the same entrance to which they have 

 long been accustomed, and, of course, there are 

 no bees lost by trying to enter adjoining hives 

 as is often the case wliere the queen is hni to a 

 new [)lace. As the ()iieen will be ahuost surely 

 in fi'ont (jf the empty liive. where the bees will 

 readily find her. it is quite certain that nearly 

 all the swariH will remain in it with her. One 

 great point in favor of this plan i.s, that the 

 hives can remain safely as they are for a week 

 fir >;o. with advantage, as the young bees hatch- 



ing in tbe old liive will be constantly reinforc- 

 ing the new swarm If tbe honey surplus cases 

 are shifted over to the new hive, it will b(^ a 

 great belp to them: and such a swarm slioiild 

 continue working in the sections i-igbl along. 



Some of the disadvantages are, that the bees 

 have to travel Ihewholc length of tbe empty 

 hive, passing two perforations before reaciiing 

 their own hive. Now. if a que<ui - excluding 

 lioney-board is used, tbere will be a third per- 

 foration to be passed before the surplus cases 

 are reached. Tbis objection, however, may be 

 more apparent than real, as that has proved 

 to l)e the case w itli the (lueen - excluding 

 lioney-board. Another objection would be. 

 that, in an out-apiary for instance, one could 

 never tell wlien the bees had swarnuid, without 

 looking inside of all the emi)ty hives. How- 

 ever, as dead dioneswill colh^ct in tlu; empty 

 hives, they can be brushed otT th<' bottoms by 

 removing the hives, when, if thert^ has been 

 any swarming, it will be readily discovered. 



I do not see that there is much less "' machin- 

 ery " about it than at)out most of the other self- 

 liiv(Ms. It cei'tainly will recjuire nice adjust- 

 ment to have all the parts lit nicely, and keej) 

 them in place so tlie queen will find no loop- 

 hole through which she might cscapi!. Another 

 dit'liculty tbat will present itself will be that, 

 in many lii\'es. there is not room enough for the 

 perforated bee-escape device for the bees to pass 

 it readily under the frames. This can be over- 

 come in a loo^e-bottomed hive by nailing nar- 

 row striiis around the edges, or by slipping a 

 narrow lim uiuUm' the hive-body. In a tight 

 bottom like tbe L. this is not so easy; and when 

 you get the swarm hived in such a hive, one 

 would have to take all the frames, bees and all, 

 out, to get the device out of the hive. That 

 would certainly be quite a job for a beginner. 

 My own hives are admirably adapted to this 

 system, as I bave only to remove the back strip 

 from the bottom- board. A hive, however, with 

 a solid lH)ttom. without an entrance in the rear 

 end. and with insufficient space under the 

 frames, would be difficult to arrange for this 

 system. 



Hut all these objections are as nothing when 

 compared to the great difficulty which Mr. 

 Pratt has overcome in preventing the greater 

 part of the swarm from returning to the old 

 hive. I shall certainly give this plan a thorough 

 trial, and I am quite confident that it will fully 

 solve a verv perplexing question. 



Milan. 111.. Apr. 4. ('. H. Dibhkun. 



GRADING HONEY. 



WHAT A ( .^LIF<)tiN'I.\N THINKS ABOUT 11. 



Friend Root: — Having read with intense in- 

 terest the many schemes of our eastern brethren 

 in the bee- business, regarding the grading of 

 comb honey, and not seeing any thing on the 

 subject from the California bee- men. I thought 

 I Would say a few words to see if I could stir 

 "em u[) a little. As California produces cousid- 

 ei-al)le comb honey, I should like to hear som(!- 

 thing from her apiarists on this question of 

 grading it. 



For my part. I think there are too many 

 grad(!S |)roposed. We should put our honey on 

 the market in sucii nice sha|)e that the dealers 

 would have to grade it as Pat did the whisky. 

 Pat said the whisky was all good: and when 

 [iressed for a comparison, he admitted that 

 some of it was a little better than others. 



Now, on page 20. (iI.eaninc;s. the North 

 American says that combs so badly stained as 

 to have the appearance of saffron should be 

 thrown into grade M. I should say. throw 



