186 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



where I took the train for Salem, Mass. ; 

 my next stopping place. I arrived in 

 Salem in time for dinner, after which I 

 looked lip my old friend, Mr. Silas M. 

 Locke, ex- editor and proprietor of the 

 American Apiculturist and we together 

 visited another old friend at IVenham, 

 Mr. Henry Alley, a world-wide noted 

 rearer of queen bees and the present edi- 

 tor and proprietor of The Apiculturist. 



Mr. Alley seemed only too glad to see 

 us, and showed us his pets which are 

 thoroughbred bees. Here we saw side 

 by side, and yet as distinct as though 

 they were different breeds of chickens, 

 three distinct races of bees, viz., Ital- 

 ians, Carniolans and Funics. Mr. A. 

 has mastered the science of apiculture 

 so thoroughly that he is able to control 

 the mating and keep each strain separate. 



He has also invented a swarm hiver 

 or self-hiver which is another stride in 

 bee-culture. This is managed in con- 

 junction with his famous drone trap. 

 Mr. A. has given this self-hiver much 

 thought and seems to have reached the 

 acme of success. He took great pains 

 to explain the theory to us, and espec- 

 ially pointed out to us a new feature of 

 perforated z nc which is placed at the 

 back of the drone trap : this allows ihe 

 queen to pass through and crawl back 

 toward the entrance of the hive, but 

 will not pass a drone. Just here Mr. A. 

 claims a feature which is original with 

 him and which seems to be the one thing 

 that completes his hiver and insures its 

 success every time. This feature is the 

 placing of a frame of dry comb in the 

 hiver just behind the drone-trap, so that, 

 as the queen crawls back, she finds this 

 comb and remains on it ; of course the 

 returning bees find their queen on this 

 comb and remain with her. 



We say Eureka! and tear ourselves 

 away from a visit which was enjoyed 

 hugely, as it brofi^ht l)ack to our remem- 

 brance tiiiu> pist when we were head 

 over he ei> liitii ilie bee business, and in 

 touch with the fraternity from Maine to 

 California and we wished we were again ; 

 but, at present, to use a slang phrase, "we 

 are not in it". 



Returning to Salem, we found the time 

 had passed so rapidly that we must of 

 necessity remain over night, but I was 

 not sorry as it gave me the opportunity 

 of enjoying a visit with the family oi 

 my friend Mr. L. I found I could not 

 do Salem in the time I had scheduled 

 for it. What I saw and learned is briefly 

 as follows : — Salem is the oklest town in 

 Mass., except Plymouth, having been 

 settled in 1628. The meeting house of 

 the first Presbyterian church built in 

 1634, is still standing and is one of the 

 curiosities I saw. It is about 15 ft. 

 square and contains a gallery. The lock 

 and key on the entrance door are mas- 

 sive ; 1 would not like to fall overboard 

 with the key in my ])ocket. Roger 

 Williams was settled over this church 

 from 163 1 to 1635, ^*^ ^^'^'^ ''^ must have 

 been built during his ministry. I looked 

 through the Essex Institute which 

 contains many historical relics which are 

 curiosities to this generation. There 

 are so many that I might spend several 

 days to rightly see them and enjoy their 

 antiquity*. I took in the witch house 

 (all readers have read of "Salem Witch- 

 craft"). It is occupied now by a photog- 

 rapher. From here 1 l)oard an electric 

 car and ride to Marblehead. If readers 

 of Api would like to know further of 

 my outing, I will give it to them later. 

 T. O. Peet. 



milk-pan bee. feeders. 



For winter stores, when fed in the fall, 

 I would as soon have a common milk- 

 pan to do the feeding with, as anything, 

 says Mr. Dooliitle in Am. Bee Journal' 

 Set this on the top of the hive, and fill it 

 with syrup, after which pull up two of 

 three handfuls of grass and scatter over 

 the syrup for a float, or use sl^avings or 

 corn cobs, as is preferred. The trouble 

 with the latter is, that they soak up 

 much of the syrup, while the former, 

 do not. 



