106 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Americati Bee Jour nal\2&\.%tz.'s>oxi. In 

 the pound 1 send you there are thirty- 

 four sheets 4 by 16^ inches, making 

 15I square feet to the pound. The 

 walls I think you will see have rather 

 more wax than the flat bottom, but the 

 base, if you will just press a little down 

 flat, like the other, you will see it is thin- 

 ner, or, weigh it and see which has the 

 most square feet to the pound. I think 

 the way this foundation is made, tliat 

 the wax is not pressed together quite so 

 solid and tough as the other ; this is 

 sort of rolled out, where the other is 

 pressed. This sample is not got out 

 as a sajHple, it is just taken from my 

 stock, as an average, for I can make it 

 16^ feet to the pound ; but of course as 

 thin as that it would be expensive. 

 SkowhegaUjMe. W. H. Norton. 



Because a few people purchase goods 

 in large quantities, that must not be con-- 

 sidered a guarantee of quality or practica- 

 bility. Ninety-nine out of every hundred 

 beekeepei's would decide with the Api that 

 tlie one-piece section is by far the best in 

 all respects. I purcliased a few bees in 

 Gary hives a few diiys ago; one of the 

 hives had twentyMi-ht two-ponnd, 4- 

 piece sections on it and bees at work in 

 all of them. Being obliged to ship the 

 bees fifty miles, I tiiought it best to take 

 off the sections jind brush or shake the 

 bees out of them. I tried to do so, but 

 they came apart as soon as I took hold of 

 them. I could not handle them nnyway. 

 And this is the tronble 1 find with the 4- 

 piece section; they cannot be handled. 



There is no trouble handling the one- 

 piece box. — Ed.] 



WE HAVE IT. 



Mr. Alley: I think if a swarmer could 

 be constructed to collect alltiie drones and 

 keep them from the workers while at 

 work, it would be the boss swarmer. As 1 

 am engaged in an ollice, it is not always 

 convenient to be about when swarms come 

 off. CrL\s. VV. Dickson. 



Stellarton, N. S. 



Our new swarm-hiver, described on 

 p. Ill, combines all the good points 

 above mentioned. This is the very point 

 I have experimented upon the past three 

 years to accomplish. This self-hiver will 

 be found to bear the right name, Perfect- 

 ion. — Ed.] 



PRESERVING BEE-PAPERS— BEE- 

 KEEPING FOR WOMEN- WINTERING 

 BEES— THE TRAP,ETC. 



The Dec. No. of the Ap[ just re- 

 ceived, which closes the year for 1891 is 

 good, in fact I don't see how it could be 

 better. I wonder how many of its read- 

 ers have all the numbers for the year 

 saved, and preserved as a book of use- 

 ful information on beekeeping? 



Perhaps some people can read each 

 number and remember all it contains by 

 reading it once, and thus have it stored 

 in the mind ready tor use when wanted, 

 but 1 confess that I can't. So I save my 

 papers, and now while winter is upon us, 

 I read them over again. While our little 

 friends and helpers are safely stored a- 

 way to await the coming of the spring 

 blossoms, I know of no better way to 

 improve a little time, than in studying 

 what may be done for their benefit a- 

 nother yeai. 



While the question of who siiall keep 

 bees is being so freely discussed and 

 the idea that almost any one can keep 

 bees appears to frighten some of the 

 specialists — especially as almost any one, 

 will include women — I wonder why 

 poultry men and dairy men don't get 

 scared because women can raise chick- 

 ens and make butter? 



While I am not a very old, nor a very 

 experienced beekeeper, I have thus far 

 found the occupation a very interesting 

 one and the study something like some 

 problems in mathematics : the solving of 

 one part only leading to something 

 deeper. And, as, when I went to school 

 I could never be satisfied till I got to the 

 end of the problem, I suppose I'll have 

 to keep digging away at this one for all 

 time to come. I thought I had the 

 swarming part settled by dividing ; but. 

 that way is not altogether satisfactory. 

 Think I shall try the drone-and-queen- 

 trap anotlier year ; but will take warn- 

 ing from Kit Clover and try and put my 

 trap where I can find it when wanted. 



i know of some bees that are being 

 wintered in rather an odd way. Most 

 bees in this locality are wintered on sum- 



