1S92 



(i\ 



.N({S IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



lo their old location, solf-hiV(>d, a i so (Hiicl no 

 Olio would liavo siispcctod that colony as the 

 one that had jnst cast a swarm. Dosiriiig to 

 tt'St the sidf-liivcr again, the boos wore returned 

 to the hive from which they issui'd. I was 

 a>\ay the next foi'enoon at an out-apiary, look- 

 ing fonpuvns to shij). On my nMurn, my wife 

 said a swarm of bees had been out. and settled 

 on a tree. She had wtH ihem down to hold 

 theni till I returned; but wh(Mi she hxtked after 

 tliem later they had left, and she had no idea 

 where they had gone. I said that I could lind 

 them. 1 went to the hive having the Perfec- 

 tioi. swarm<'r on, and. sure enough, the b(>es 

 were there all safe. The self-hiver has been 

 thoroughly tested in my own apiary within two 

 weeks, and I feel warianted. with the experi- 

 ence that I have had with it, in guaranteeing 

 that it Hill self-hive nearly eviM'y swarm that 

 issues. 



There may be queens in a second swarnt that 

 can pass through the metal: yet, with an e.xpe- 

 rience of nearly ten years with the drone-and- 

 queen trap. 1 have never known either a virgin 

 or fertilized queen to pass it. 



The last Hve years I have used Root's metal; 

 and while it is not as smoothly made as some 

 other brands.no queen has passed it with me; 

 and as the i)rice of this metal is so reasonable, 

 and so much less than otlu^- brands, I use and 

 sell it. and also advise others lo purchase it for 

 queen-excludeis. H. Alley. 



Wcnham. Mass.. June. IS'.i'.'. 



—Aii}crican ApiculUirist. 



IMPORTANT. 



SOMETHING FHOM DK. .MASON I.V REGARD TO 

 THE world's fair. 



Friend i?ooi;— Will you please, in the next 

 issue of Gleanings, urge upon " the powers 

 that be." of all the State Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tions in the United States, the necessity of call- 

 ing the attention of the several State Commis- 

 sions to the needs of our specialty at Chicago in 

 18ii3? It seems to me that nothing definite can 

 be accomplished in the way of making State 

 exhibits and applying for space until it is defi- 

 nitely known who will "foot the bills," and 

 how much that " footing " amounts to in each 

 State. 



Mr. Buchanan, Chief of the Department of 

 Agriculture, is doing all he can in tlie matter, 

 and will sooti send out some rules for the gov- 

 ernment of the apiarian department. In a re- 

 cent lettei" he asked me how much space Ohio 

 bee-keepers would want. Of course. I could 

 not tell iiim, and could not tell him who could. 

 I don't know tliat Ohio wants iitiy space. Near- 

 ly a year ago the matter was presented to our 

 State Commission, when in session at Cleveland, 

 bv Ernest R. Root, Mr. J. T. Calvert. Mr. J. B. 

 Hains. Miss Dema Bennett, and "your humble 

 servant;" and as yet nothing has been said as 

 to what the commission intends to do; at least, 

 I have heard of nothing having been done. 

 The commissi(m was asked to put the preparing 

 and makintrof the apiarian exhibit of Ohio in 

 the hands of the Stat^^- Hee-keepers' Association, 

 the commission giving till! nee<led instructions. 

 The commission did not meet again till last 

 January; and as our .State Bee-k(!epers' Asso 

 elation had met and appninti'd a new committee 

 to meet with the commissioners of th<^ World's 

 Fair, it is possible that the necessary arrange- 

 ments have been made with, and instructions 

 received from, the commissioners. 



Thecommitlen appointed at tiie meeting at 

 Toledo was Charles F. Muth. J. 1'.. Ilains. and 

 myself: and if I read the proceedings of the 

 meeting at Cincinnati in January last aright. 



that cominittee has been superseded by a new 

 one composed of J. B. Hains, E. R. Root, John 

 T. Calvert, and O. A. Corey; and I have Ix'en 

 anxiously waiting to know what the committee 

 has done, and learn what, if any thing, I am lo 

 furnish to help make up the exhitiit at Chicago. 



The committee appointed by the N. A. B. I\. 

 A. at Albany have done what they could by 

 way of urging upon the Columbian Exposition 

 managers the ai)i)()intment of a superintendent 

 forour de|)arliiient. and the prepaiation of ruh^s 

 for the government of the exliibit. so that, liee- 

 keepers might know what lo do tiie coining 

 season. 



At the r(>quest of Mr. Buchanan, ('hief of the 

 Department of Agriculture. I went to Chicago 

 a few weeks ago, and Mr. Thos. G Newman 

 and myself spent the <iay with him in visiting 

 the exposition grounds and the building where 

 the apiarian exhibit is lo be made, and in talk- 

 ing over matters, and laying plans for the ex- 

 hibit. It is in as nice a place as could possibly 

 be furnished us, being about 40 feel wide and 

 500 feet long. It is proposed to have two glass 

 cases, live feet wide, six feet high, and ea( '. 500 

 feet long, in which the honey is to be displayed. 



I don't just like the "glass case arrangcMiient. 

 It seems to me a belter plan would be to have a 

 separate case made for each State, to be small 

 or large, as may be needed. 



I see by the American Bee Journal that the 

 Wisconsin bee-keepers have secured an appro- 

 priation of ?!5{X) from their vStalc Commissioners, 

 with which lo make their exhibit. I don't know 

 how economical our Wisconsin bee-keepers are, 

 or how much of a disjilay they Intend lo make; 

 but I don't think I should have much energy lo 

 put into a State exhibit unless I could have three 

 or five limes that amount to draw on. If Wis- 

 consin should use but 35 feet in length of the 

 glass ca.ses for the exhibit, the case alone w-ould 

 cost S140, and the honey, etc., with which lo 

 make the exhibit would cost not less than .?400; 

 and where will be the "needful " for other ex- 

 penses? No one will be found willing to put 

 things in shape, get them lo Chicago, and in 

 place, and care for ihein "just for the fun.'" 



Since writing the above I've again been to 

 Chicago, at the request of Mr. Buchanan, to 

 talk over " ways and means," etc.; and in com- 

 pany with Mr. Thos. G. Newman, of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Jour)ial, wii soon came lo an agree- 

 ment. Mr. Buchanan and myself had had 

 quite a good deal of correspondence, but could 

 not agree. After a few minutes' talk we found 

 that we had misunderstood :'ach other, and it 

 took but a few minutes to come to an agree- 

 ment, the plan being what I suggested nearly a 

 year and a half ago. 



June '42. — The above has been lying on my 

 table for six weeks, and I had long ago given 

 up sending it to you; but on looking it over this 

 evening I thought ])erhaps there might be 

 something in it of interest to some who may 

 wish lo exhibit. 



Since the meeting of our Stale convention at 

 Cincinnati I have felt, from the rt^port I saw in 

 the American Bee Journdl, that I had no more 

 to do in the mailer than any other bee-keeper, 

 and that those having the matter in charge 

 should look after the exhibit; but as one inter- 

 ested I should like to know if any thing is being 

 done lo have Ohio l)e(»-keepers make an exhibit. 



White clover is in full bloom; colonies strong; 

 feeding to keep from starving. A large number 

 of full combs of last year's honey dew come in 

 play for feeding. Neighboring bee-keepers 

 report the same lack of honey. A. B. Mason. 



Auburndale, O. 



[We confess we don't either, doctor. We 

 didn't attend the Cincinnati convention. Who 

 will enlighten us?] 



