1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



807 



and liffht as can be, and the white color 

 helps immensely. 



Right here I want to say that the Dr. 

 Tinker zinc is a g^reat improvement. The 

 entire front is covered by a single piece of 

 zinc, and the back is also covered by a simi- 

 lar piece, but extending- onl}' \)z in. below 



REAR VIEW OF DIBBERN TRAP. 



the middle slat on which the wire tubes 

 are nailed. This zinc is cut about I'i in. 

 short, so it will leave an opening from the 

 trap back to the hive. Here a sliding door 

 is provided that can be readily operated 

 from the outside while the trap is fastened 

 by two Dibbern malleable hooks to the hive. 



To provide a bee-space back of the rear 

 zinc, strips % inch wide are nailed to the 

 rear rim of the trap. The tubes of wire 

 cloth are placed over holes in the middle 

 strip very near the front zinc, as otherwise 

 the queen will persistently follow the zinc, 

 if there is an edge of wood between the 

 zinc and the wire tubes, in trying to escape. 



The following are some of the improve- 

 ments I claim over all other traps: Allow- 

 ing eight or ten rows of perforations for the 

 bees to pass through, as well as ventilation 

 through the upper or trap part, gives better 

 ventilation. The white color gives more 

 light, both for the bees and the man to see 

 readily the queen when a swarm issues. 

 It is fastened securely to the hive by means 

 of the hooks, and will stay there; owing to 

 the great surface admitting light and air, 

 the queen is far more certainly trapped 

 than in devices allowing only a few rows 

 of perforations in the zinc, to accommodate 

 the bees. 



I prefer to call this a queen-trap, though 

 of course it is a drone-trap as well. Bee- 

 keepers in general, and farmers, are not 

 much interested in trapping drones; but 

 when it is shown them how easily they can 

 manage the swarming business they become 

 interested at once. The trap, however, can 

 be made very valuable in any apiary in 

 trapping all undesirable drones. 



In a future article I will give the general 

 use of the trap, and how I manage to con- 

 trol swarming in an apiary of 150 colonies 

 surely and easily. C. H. Dibbern. 



Milan, 111., July 18. 



[I believe your trap is an improvement 

 over those that have been generally sold; 

 but for some years back we have made the 

 Alley trap somewhat different from the 

 original model, embodying several of the 

 features you show in your trap. We made 

 the lower compartment much larger to in- 

 crease the ventilation and amount of light, 

 and reduced the amount of room where the 

 drones are trapped above smaller. Then 

 we put the bee- space on the back — a sug- 

 gestion of some one, I do not remember 

 who. The only practical difference between 

 your trap and ours is the slide or gate that 

 permits of releasing the queen back into 

 the hive without removing the trap (a very 

 good feature, by the way) and a wider ex- 

 tension of metal on the back side, the obvi- 

 ous purpose of which is to force the queen 

 up into the compaitment through the cones. 

 Both of these improvements are along the 

 right lines, and the Root Co. may adopt 

 them, possibly, with your permission. — Ed.] 



FOREIGN COMPETITION. 



How Far does it Affect American Bee-keepers ? 



BY W. K. MORRISON. 



Mr. Editor: — Your reference to the rise 

 and development of tropical bee-keeping is 

 accurate so far as it goes; yet some of your 

 readers may feel alarmed at the prospect 

 of serious competition from outside sources. 

 In my opinion there is no need to be alarm- 

 ed at the prospect. "With the exception of 

 Argentina and Chili most of these competi- 

 tors (or, rather, would-be competitors) are 

 what would be known in the United States 

 as slow, with a capital S. They make no 

 claim to being "strenuous " countries, and 

 hence it will be some little time before this 

 competition becomes serious, not to say men- 

 acing. Argentina and Chili are, however, 

 formidable rivals, and likely to develop very 

 fast into heavy exporters of honey. These 

 countries are peopled by lively, energetic 

 folks, thoroughly practical and scientific, 

 with lands eminently suitable to apicultu- 

 ral pursuits. Chilian alfalfa honey has a 

 regular market in London at fairly steady 

 prices, higher (or at least as high) than 

 New York rates, hence it is under no neces- 

 sity of being shipped to the United States. 



Argentina is a more dangerous antago- 

 nist, coming later into the field of apicul- 

 ture. The vast areas of that country under 

 alfalfa for grazing purposes form a sort of 

 bee-keepers' elysium. No wonder average 

 yields of 300 or even 500 lbs. per colony are 

 reported. With fine weather for months at 

 a time, and illimitable fields of purple al- 

 falfa, Argentina certainly presents a very 

 inviting field for our chosen pursuit or avo- 

 cation, for there bee-keeping is subsidiary 

 to cattle-breeding. Still, it is hardly like- 

 ly that Argentina's honey will be sent to 

 American ports, as higher prices can be 

 uniformly obtained in London, Antwerp, 



