THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



175 



For the American Jpiculturist, 



BEE CULTURE. 

 By J. E. I'oND, Jr. 



No one can doubt for a moment 

 that bee-culture is not only a pro- 

 gressive but a progressing business, 

 I might well say science. Bright 

 and active minds are constantly at 

 work in the endeavor to simplify 

 matters, and inventive genius never 

 ceases in its attempts to originate 

 simpler, cheaper and better sup- 

 plies. The low price of sugar has 

 had its expected effect in reducing 

 the price of honey, and as a matter 

 of course something must be done 

 to meet the necessities of the case. 

 ''The race is not always to the 

 swift," however, and he is not al- 

 ways the greatest benefactor who 

 rushes a theoretical hive or section- 

 case upon the market, without hav- 

 ing first given it a thorough trial. 

 There is still just enough of the 

 mysterious connected with the 

 honey bee to- induce many to be 

 taken in by prettily written articles 

 in favor of this, that or the other 

 hive or frame, and new styles when 

 well advertised and explained by a 

 specious writer, and purchased 

 largely, and of course condemned 

 when found wanting in the points 

 claimed. If no one was injured 

 thereby except the buyer and sell- 

 er, but little injury would be done ; 

 but the trouble goes far deeper than 

 this. The purchaser, who has once 

 been deceived, will look out in the 

 future, and condemn not only the 

 particular person by whom he 

 was deceived but also every one 

 else who is engaged in offering a 

 new article of trade. The honest 

 must and does suffer, by reason of 

 being placed in the category of the 

 dishonest, and when he offers a 

 really valuable article, he finds no 

 sale for it, simply because the 

 swindler has put in his work pre- 

 viously, and destroyed confidence 



in all. It is not usually my province 

 to praise any article in the line of 

 beekeepers' supplies ; in fact so 

 many humbugs of that kind have 

 been offered for sale, that I have 

 found about all I could find time to 

 give in that direction taken up in 

 criticising unfavorably. 



I have no interest whatever in 

 any article in the way of supplies, 

 or the business of any manufacturer 

 and for this reason my criticisms 

 are wholly disinterested. My sole 

 object in writing on bee-culture is 

 to aid some one over a rough road, 

 and I am well paid if one only is 

 benefited thereby. The swarming 

 season is not fairly over yet, and 

 there are still many who are desi- 

 rous of learning some way by which 

 they can go off from home in the 

 morning, with full confidence,- that 

 a swarm will not or cannot issue 

 during the day, and a valuable 

 queen lost by its decamping. To 

 all such I will say you can do this 

 with perfect safety and with the 

 full assurance that not a single 

 swarm can be lost by "absquatulat- 

 ing." All that is required is to 

 purchase one of "Alley's queen 

 and drone traps," attach it to the 

 hive, and then go about your bus- 

 iness ; not a queen can then escape, 

 and no trouble or annoyance is 

 caused to the workers. In fact, 

 this little article works like a 

 charm, and is really one of the most 

 meritorious little inventions in the 

 way of beekeepers' supplies that 

 has ever been offered for sale. The 

 price is low, so low, that the satis- 

 faction found in being able to go 

 away from home with full confi- 

 dence for but a single day, 'will be 

 ample remuneration to the pur- 

 chaser. I speak of this trap as I 

 have found it. When it was first 

 offered, I did not believe it would 

 work well ; however, I tested it, 

 and have found that it is just as 

 near perfection as we can get in 

 these da3's. 1 am away from home 



