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THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



For the American Apiculturist . 



THE DRONE AND QUEEN 

 TRAP. 



By Mrs. Sherman. 



Having received quite a number 

 of letters, making inquiry about the 

 use of Alley's Combined Drone and 

 Queen Trap, I will try as best I can 

 to answer them through the "Api, " 

 as I have not time to answer each 

 one separately. I prefer putting the 

 trap at the entrance just as the bees 

 begin to swarm, to keeping it there 

 all the time, as I find when it is kept 

 there all the time, that the bees 

 lose a great deal of pollen. I have 

 never failed to get the queen when 

 it was put there in time. On one 

 occasion, however, I remember hav- 

 ing caught the queen, and as I 

 wished to return the bees to the same 

 hive, as I was then wanting surplus 

 honey instead of bees, I waited pa- 

 tiently for them to return, which they 

 did not seem inclined to do ; I fi- 

 nally got a long stick and jarred 

 them off the limb to which they im- 

 mediately returned. I again jarred 

 them off and they again clustered in 

 the same place. I then got a dar- 

 key living near by to come and saw 

 off the limb. I returned them and 

 saw the queen run. I had returned 

 the queen that I had secured in the 

 trap, so I now had two queens in 

 one hive. I put the trap at the en- 

 trance and let them settle the matter 

 on the " survival of the fittest " plan. 

 Next morning I had a dead queen 

 in the trap. They gave up swarm- 

 ing and went to work with appar- 

 ently redoubled energy and gave me 

 a fine amount of surplus honey. 

 Just here let me say that I raised the 

 hive nearly an inch from the bottom 

 board, so as to thoroughly ventilate 

 the hive, which is of the utmost im- 

 portance in our hot climate. I 

 would not think of using a hive with 

 a permanent bottom board. I have 

 never, except on one occasion, known 



the queen to come out when the 

 bees first begin to swarm. I have 

 never to my knowledge had a " virgin 

 queen " come out with a " prime 

 swarm. " In 1884 I had one colony 

 that cast four swarms ; as I was want- 

 ing bees then that was all right ; now, 

 I have enough and want honey in- 

 stead of bees and do not allow them 

 to swarm so much. Swarming can 

 be controlled to a great extent by 

 the use of the extractor, thorough 

 ventilation and the use of the trap. 

 Another great advantage of the trap 

 is in destroying worthless or useless 

 drones which are constant consum- 

 ers and non-producers. Still an- 

 other use : in case of robbing it is 

 the best thing that I have ever tried. 

 The robbers seem to think that there 

 is something wrong. They do not 

 like to go through the perforated 

 zinc into the trap and then in the 

 hive. If this does not answer all the 

 queries, I will refer you to Mr. Alley 

 of Wenham, Mass., the inventor of 

 the trap. 



Salado, Bell Co., Texas. 



For the American Apiculturist. 



NEWS FROM WYOMING 



By Cordelia Mead. 

 (One or our youngest readers). 



Mr. Editor : — As I have never 

 seen any communication in your ex- 

 cellent bee journal from the far west, 

 especially none from your young 

 readers, I venture to send you a 

 few lines for the first time. I am 

 quite young, only twelve, but can 

 send you many interesting items 

 from this new country if you can 

 spare the space ; but I will make 

 this letter as brief as possible. We 

 have the first honey bees ever brought 

 to Wyoming Territory, and they 

 store up lots of white and fine fla- 

 vored honey from the wild mountain 

 flowers, and stand the winters as well 

 as in the eastern states. 



