THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



135 



chambers can be united, or broken 

 up, and enough saved to keep tlie 

 number of hives desired, good. 

 Old cost aside, wide frames make 

 good dummies. Rip off the tin 

 separators, tack thin one-eighth 

 inch boards into the sides, and 

 hang them in the liive justas tliough 

 tliey were the outside combs. Ac- 

 cess to regular sided section cases 

 covering the whole top of the hive 

 is thus preserved. 



Many apiarists think brood 

 combs should be spaced one and 

 one-half inches from centre to cen- 

 tre even when brooding is going on 

 actively. In our experience one 

 and three-eighths is the proper dis- 

 tance, but we have worked them 

 successfully as close as one and 

 one-fourth inches. This latter 

 spacing gives three-eighths of an 

 inch between the surfaces of the 

 capped brood, but five-eighths of an 

 inch in cases where the combs are 

 spaced one and one-half inches, is 

 too much, and will greatly hinder 

 the extension of the brood. Wide 

 spacing is also objectionable in 

 working for comb honey, as it 

 affords room for too many bees in 

 the brood chamber. Evidently, 

 no greater mistake can be made 

 than to space brood combs too far 

 at part. 



No bee-paper, as far as we can 

 judge, receives as hearty asu()port 

 from beekeepers as it should. Wh}'' 

 is this so, friends? How many of 

 the readers of the various bee- 

 journals would like to see them 

 wiped out of existence? Not one 

 who reads them would. Now, 

 friends, the amount that is required 

 to subscribe for all the bee-jour- 

 uals, one year, is not as much as 

 the income from one good hive of 

 bees. Even the circulation of 

 Gleanings^ whose proprietor claims 

 o have 10,000 customers for bee- 

 upplies, has never quite reached 



a circulation of 8,000 copies and 

 last winter it ran below 5,000. 



Although every mail brings us 

 from one to a dozen subscribers, we 

 feel bound to acknowledge the fact 

 that our list is not what.it should 

 be. We know why it is, in most 

 cases, that people do not forward 

 their subscription. They' will get 

 a bee-paper to-day, look it over and 

 say : "well, I guess I will send a 

 dollar and get this paper ; I can't 

 send to-day but will in a day or so." 

 Then it goes on and no more is 

 thought of the matter until they re- 

 ceive another paper. Now, friends, 

 when you read this sit right down 

 before you forget it and enclose us 

 one dollar, at our risk, and we will 

 send you the " Apiculturist" for one 

 year. We will leave it for you to 

 say at the end of the year whether 

 you have received 3'our money's 

 worth or not. If you think you 

 have not call for the amount and 

 we will return it. 



Our readers will notice that in 

 this number there is a change in 

 the question and answer de[)art- 

 raent. The short answers to ques- 

 tions were so much like the 

 published reports of the proceed- 

 ings at bee-conventions that the}'' 

 were of little or no account, and 

 did not give the desired amount of 

 information. In future we hope 

 to have all questions answered in 

 full. If our readers will please 

 propound questions we will get the 

 best and most experienced apiarists 

 in the country to answer them. 

 You know the question and answer 

 department originated with the 

 "Apiculturist." A bee-journal with- 

 out such a department is like a 

 strong colony of bees that has no 

 queen. 



— In the July number of the Api- 

 culturist, Mr. Alley will show the 

 difterence between rearing queens 

 by the old methods and the new, 



