262 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



my friend, the traps as we now make 

 them are provided with a small out- 

 let sufficiently large for the queen to 

 pass out and into the hive again. All 

 this is done by merely drawing out or 

 pushing in a small nail at one end of 

 the trap. 



2. I cannot say how many large 

 honey producers are using the traps, 

 as the term large is quite indefinite in 

 this connection. People who have 

 eighty and one hundred or more colo- 

 nies are using them. One beekeeper 

 wrote me last week that he had eighty 

 colonies and was using many of the 

 traps, and stated that he wanted 

 enough for each hive as he could not 

 do without them. Large beekeep- 

 ers who do not use them know little 

 of the comforts derived from such an 

 important labor-saving appliance for 

 use in the apiary. 



Out of the 25,000 traps in use, 

 only one man ever found fault with 

 them. This will not surprise any one 

 when I state that the purchaser did 

 not possess sufficient ingenuity to re- 

 move the packing that was attached 

 to the trap to prevent damage in the 

 mail. When he had been taught 

 that part of it, he placed the trap 

 to the entrance of the hive wrong 

 end foremost and then wrote to us 

 that it would not work. Well, we 

 guess it would not. 



WINTEBING BEES IN AN 

 OPEN SHED, 



QUESTIONS BY A KOVICE. 



Will you please answer the follow- 

 ing questions tlirough tlie Apiculiu- 

 KIST ? 



1. I want to put my bees into a shed 

 for winter ; my hives are double- walled, 

 hold twelve frames of four pounds each 

 ■wliich are all full of honey at present. 

 Had 1 better leave all the frames in the 

 hive over winter or not? If not, how 

 many and what is the best to put in 

 their places? 



2. Had I better flx up the hives as I 

 want them for winter on their summer 

 stands, and then leave until cold 



weather entirely prevents their flying, 

 before moving them into the shed? If 

 moved before, what is there to prevent 

 them fi-oin going back to the old stand 

 to perish? 



ANSWERS BY HENRY ALLEY. 



1. If your bees are in double-wall 

 hives, I would advise, after packing 

 properly, leaving them on the sum- 

 mer stands, as they will winter just 

 as well, and perhaps better, than they 

 would in a shed, unless the tempera- 

 ture of the shed is kept up to 40° or 

 45°. I think it would be advisable 

 to reduce the number of combs from 

 twelve to eight, and use a dummy, 

 such as has been described in some 

 of the back numbers of the " Api- 

 culturist." 



2. Yes, by all means leave the 

 bees upon the summer stands until 

 steady cold weather sets in. If 

 moved into the shed, the hives should 

 be covered up to keep out the light, 

 in case the weather becomes warm 

 enough for the bees to fly, or many 

 of the bees would leave the hive and 

 go to the old location and perish. 



EDITORIAL. 



Mr. G. M. Doolittle said in a 

 recent number of the "Api " that 

 he had used about all the section 

 cases advertised, but likes the two- 

 inch-wide frames holding but one 

 tier of section better than any other. 

 As we are advertising a section case 

 which is new and novel, we wish to 

 say that Mr. Doolittle has ne\-er used 

 nor yet seen one of them. They 

 are composed of six two-inch-wide 

 frames, four one- pound sections to a 

 frame. The whole are then clamped 

 together and held firmly in place, 

 and so arranged that the bees cannot 

 stick them up with bee- glue or wax. 

 These cases are invertible, and may be 

 tiered up as much as desired. Dur- 

 ing the past season we had four of 

 them on a hive at one time, ninety- 



