THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



99 



what little honey they may per- 

 chance gather at the close of the 

 basswood bloom. Therefore, it is 

 very unprofitable for me to rear an 

 over abundance of bees after the 

 above date. Now, to prevent this, 

 gradually contract the brood-chamber 

 by reducing the combs and inserting 

 a division-board at each side of the 

 brood-chamber, 



I have given dates here, but it 

 must not be expected that they will 

 apply to every season or locality. 

 The apiarist must use discretion, 

 basing his operations upon the ear- 

 liness or lateness of the season. 



Some argue that bees work for 

 nothing and board themselves ; yea, 

 more ! they expect them to take care 

 of themselves. But my experience 

 teaches me very differently. Though 

 I would not advise too much hand- 

 ling during unfavorable weather, we 

 must use judgment in all things, in 

 the apiary as well as. on the farm. 

 The farmer would not think of plant- 

 ing corn out of season, nor of mak- 

 ing hay during unfavorable weather. 

 And so with the beekeeper : he must 

 use judgment and do his work prop- 

 erly and at the proper time. I al- 

 ways try to get my bees to swarm 

 in June and prevent it as much as 

 possible after the first of July. 



At the close of the basswood 

 bloom preparation for winter com- 

 mences. All old queens are super- 

 seded with young, vigorous ones. 



The combs that have previously 

 been removed are now replaced by 

 changing places with the division- 

 boards, in order to give the bees 

 more room to cluster and the queens 

 more room to lay. 



In giving my methods and expe- 

 rience I do not claim infallibility ; 

 these are simply the conclusions I 

 have arrived at up to the present 

 time and I am better satisfied than 

 ever before that I have not learned it 

 all. I am trying, however, to pro- 

 gress and in this attempt I am not 

 so selfish as to wish to journey alone. 



But I am willing to shed what little 

 light I have that others with less ex- 

 perience may be benefited thereby 

 and join me in the attempt to con- 

 quer ignorance and acquire more 

 knowledge in the mysteries of bee- 

 keeping, that we may be able in the 

 future to secure more of that rich 

 nectar so bountifully provided by 

 nature. 



Bristol, Vt. 



For the Aniericaii ApicuUurist. 



USE OF THE SMOKER. 



By a. Norton. 



Commonplace things we often 

 pass by in our search for the unu- 

 sual. Yet commonplace things are 

 most practical, and even humdrum 

 affairs may be dwelt upon to ad- 

 vantage. The use of the smoker 

 is one of those everyday features 

 of beekeeping that approach closely 

 the character of humdrum, and to 

 write an article about it may strike 

 one with much the same impres- 

 sion that the writer once felt when 

 a lecturer at a teacher's institute 

 was talking on " how to use chalk." 

 Yet, even the smoker is wrongly 

 used ; and no wrong, however small, 

 but needs correction. 



Often have I seen an operator 

 while manipulating a colony of 

 bees, deluging the poor creatures 

 with volumes of smoke, regardless 

 of the disposition whicli they show. 

 f. have seen one man stand by with 

 a smoker while another examined 

 a hive, and he would seem to amuse 

 himself by puffing away with the 

 bellows and ever and anon sending 

 a stream of smoke down among 

 the already stampeded and thor- 

 oughly conquered bees throwing 

 them into confusion and fright, per- 

 haps even driving them out of the 

 hive through the entrance below. 



The smoker is thus often indis- 

 criminately used. Nowthe oneidea 

 of this article is to show tliat, as with 



