THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



should be about five-sixteenths of an 

 inch. The comb bar is adjusted in 

 the frame five-sixteenths of an inch 

 below the slotted top bar, and is of 

 the same width as the end and bot- 

 tom bars, viz., seven- eighths of an 

 inch. It will be seen that, when the 

 frames are filled with combs and ad- 

 justed in the hive, they close the 

 spaces between the frames at the top 

 of the brood department and leave 

 the passage-ways through the slots 

 right over the centres of the combs. 

 No arrangement ever devised is equal 

 to these frames to control the pas- 

 sage-ways between the brood and 

 surplus departments of the hive. 

 When section cases are worked over 

 my slotted top-bar frames they hft 

 clear and clean when removing them, 

 and in this respect they are a won- 

 derful labor-saving device. 



There are other good features about 

 these frames. The double top-bars 

 furnish a passway for the bees from 

 one frame to another, which must be 

 a great advantage to the inmates of 

 the hive both in winter and summer 

 but especially in winter confinement. 



In the business of honey-produc- 

 ing ease of manipulation of the brood 

 frames, however desirable, must give 

 way to more important work in the 

 apiary.i 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



FOREIGN NOTES. 



By Akthur Todd. 



While from England and Switzer- 

 land come reports of a fine honey 



J I have not written the ahove because I 

 have flames for sale. I am not in the supply 

 business. 



flow this year, in Austria, a country 

 bordering on Switzerland, there is a 

 very different tale to tell, at least from 

 one portion of that large dominion. 

 One writer says, " The apicultural 

 year that has just drawn to a close 

 has not been at all satisfactory to the 

 beekeepers of our country nor to the 

 bees, for our jars are empty of honey 

 and our hives are more or less de- 

 prived of sufficient provisions for the 

 winter. The beginning of the year 

 awoke in us (by reason of splendid 

 weather in the month of April and 

 the rapid increase in numbers of the 

 bees in the hives) the most enthu- 

 siastic hopes ; but shortly arrived the 

 month of May, ' the beautiful,' which 

 month has, however, for some time 

 past, lost its credit with us, and the 

 weather of that month spoiled all, 

 and utterly destroyed what April had 

 promised. The period of swarming 

 came on, but the bees, as if foreseeing 

 not much honey to gather, hesitated 

 to create new colonies, and many 

 small apiaries of five or six colonies 

 saw come forth not a single swarm. 

 The honey flow from the linden in 

 June was completely spoiled by rain 

 and high winds. 



Then June came in, dry and hot, 

 burning up all the flowers and wiping 

 out our last hope, — the flow from 

 buckwheat, which ordinarily indem- 

 nifies us for a failure in the spring 

 and summer honey flow. 



During the entire season there 

 were but three days of real good 

 honey-gathering which, as all know, 

 is not sufficient to fill honey jars and 

 assure provision for winter." 



One of the most renowned bee- 



