172 



THE AMERICAN APJCULTUlilST. 



Punic queens in Gleanings, yet I found 

 no fault when Gleanings said sucli hard 

 things of the Punic bees. I hope no one 

 thinks the editor of the Api will put on 

 a muzzle for the sake of a three-dollar 

 advertisement. I shall continue to ex- 

 press myself through this journal even if 

 it drives every advertisement out of the 

 Api. I notice tiiat the editor of Glean- 

 itigs says many hard things of the five- 

 banded bees, yet his acvertising columns 

 are well filled with advertisements by the 

 five-banded beemen. 



The only bees in my yard that re- 

 quired feeding this fall were the five- 

 banded Italian. The colonies of this 

 variety are very full of the most beauti- 

 ful bees, yet they could not and did not 

 gather enough honey to winter on. 



Friexd Alley, of the ApicuUtirisf., seems 

 to take it grently to heart because we can 

 not declare that his (Alley's) hiver is bet- 

 ter than Pratt's. As we understand auto- 

 matic hivers, atid the objects sougiit, we 

 can not but regard the Pratt as superiur 

 and better, both as to its cheapness and 

 genei-al operation. The grounds of our 

 preference have already been given bt-fore, 

 as well as incidentally in this issue. Only 

 time can decide regarding the relative 

 merits of any liiver, or whether or no' 

 they will ever be regarded as a permanent 

 success. — Gleanings, Oct. 15. 



If there is any good reason why Mr. 

 Ernest Root should so misrepresent 

 me regarding the self-hiver I would be 

 pleased to know it. 1 never have in 

 any way intimated that I wished him to 

 declare or desired Brother Root to say 

 the Alley self-hiver is as good even as 

 the Pratt hiver. 



The only thing there is any question 

 about is the ic\ct that I cannot make 

 the Roots believe my self-hiver has as 

 many good points as the Pratt. 



Brother Root will not admit that my 

 hiver is more than a box to catch a 

 swarm when one issues, notwithstanding 

 the fact I have clearly pointed out to 

 him that the Perfection hiver not only 



catches the swarm, but hives the bees 

 on as many frames or combs as one de- 

 sires to place in the box. The box now 

 used is an 8-frame brood-chamber. The 

 hive can remain at the entrance of the 

 colony that cast the swarm seven 

 days, when it should be removed, as a 

 second swarm may issue. Not only can 

 the bees remain in my hiver perma- 

 nently, but more room can be given the 

 new swarm, without disturbing the bees 

 or hiver. A second set of frames, or 

 sections can be added to any extent. 

 This cannot be done with the Pratt hiver. 

 Another advantage with the Alley hiver 

 is this : The bees in going in and out 

 have but one piece of perforated metal 

 to pass through, while in the Pratt hiver 

 tiiey must pass through two, and in or- 

 der to get through one of the pieces 

 every bee must stand on its head, or it 

 cannot pass into the hive. Now if this 

 is a good feature in any self-hiver, I will 

 acknowledge that in this re>pect the 

 Pratt hiver is superior to mine. Now, 

 in order to place myself right, and do 

 me justice only, and for correcting you 

 Brother Root and my gootl friend Dif- 

 fern, kindly publish the above in the 

 next issue of Gleanings, and I will find 

 no fault if you continue to say the Pratt 

 or any other self-hiver is superior to the 

 Perfection. 



GOLDKX-YICLLOW OR GKNTLK BKKS. 



Our golden-yellow bees are not proving 

 to be as gentle as our leather-colored stock 

 from imported mothers, says Gleanings. 

 As there seenn d to be a rage this season 

 for yelloAv bees we began producing them. 

 We are now getting compliints that the 

 temper of the bees is not of the i>ocd cjual- 

 ity of the queens we sent out a year or so 

 ago; and yet if we send out those same 

 queens again, we shall be, as we have been 

 in the past, roundly abused because the 

 queens themselves ;ire not golden yellow. 

 Which horn of ths dilemma shall \vc take? 

 If our advice is asked we recommend 

 bees that are gentle and good workers, 

 without reference to the golden yellow. 

 We can produce one kind of bees just as 



