16 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



bee-keepers, among them being N. J. 

 Wheeler, who spent last year on the 

 Pacific Coast, and his wife had sold all 

 of his bees excepting 10 colonies, and 

 out of the 10, fall count, he had 2 cqlo- 

 nies left this spring. 



The next day I visited Mr. W. J. 

 Cochran, one mile east of Denison. Last 

 fall he had -over 100 colonies, and had 

 55 left this spring ; G. M. McAhren had 

 32 colonies last fall, and this spring 12 ; 

 L. J. Carter had 26, fall count, and only 

 7 colonies left this spring. In the api- 

 aries of Mr. Cochran and Mr. Carter, 

 bees were living on their larvas, uncap- 

 ping their brood, and eating what sub- 

 stance the brood had, in order to keep 

 alive. Talk to me about spring dwind- 

 ling — this is starvation and poverty ! 



Mr. G. W. Stevens had 10 colonies in 

 the fall, and for want of stores, he had 

 only 3 left. He was nursing his bees, 

 and if the balance die, it will be caused 

 by too much nursing. Mr. S. has a 

 model frame spacer, which might take 

 the place of the Hoffman self-spacing 

 arrangement. I believe there is no town 

 in Iowa where there has been any more 

 time and money spent in trying to invent 

 apiarian improvements, than in the 

 town of Denison. 



CoonjKapids, Iowa, 



Self-Hiving Arrangement for Swarms. 



WESLEY DIBBLE. 



Are self-hivers worth anything ? Do 

 the parties who advertise them, make 

 them, and sell them, deserve to be rec- 

 ognized as truthful men ? Can we go to 

 their yards and find these parties using 

 what they advertise ? Are they suc- 

 ceeding exactly as they tell us they are ? 

 If so, let us give these men credit. 



What is a perfect success with them 

 ^ould be a total failure with others by a 

 little deviation from their plans. Go 

 slow now, and give these men justice ; 

 give them credit for their hard-earned 

 invention. The picture will hardly 

 need any description, as it is so plain. 

 It is intended to carry a swarm from 

 the lower to the upper hive. It would 

 be amusing to you to see my museum of 

 traps since 1888 to accomplish the 

 above object. I have succeeded far 

 enough to say, when you visit me you 

 will find these traps in use all through 

 my yards. 



^One object I have always in view : 

 Give the. bee free access to the hive, and 

 do not obstruct the entrance. A trap 



of any kind in front of the hive is a 

 hindrance to the bees. It affords a 

 shade and place to cluster in front, and 

 in real hot weather it is a nuisance. 

 To illustrate: 



I have an out-yard supplied with en- 

 trance traps. The bees are lying out, 

 covering the traps and fronts of hives. 

 Now, I arrive at this yard at 4 p.m., 

 because I cannot get there sooner, and 

 I find from 1 to 10 colonies have 

 swarmed during the day. What would 

 be the chances of knowing which one of 

 those colonies swarmed '? Give us an 

 intelligent answer if you can. 



Put me down as saying, the man who 

 succeeds in giving us a successful trap 

 of any kind will give us something be- 

 sides an entrance trap. We must have 

 a trap when we can at a glance tell 



The Dibble Self-Hiver. 



where our queens are. We must know 

 instantly, when passing through a yard, 

 which colonies have cast swarms, ivith- 

 out opening a hive. We haven't any 

 time to spare in digging clusters of bees 

 from in front of hives. We are, for in- 

 stance, alone with three or four yards 

 to care for, and cannot get intelligent 

 help, and the family is large ; bread 

 and butter to get ; children to school 

 and clothe ; and perhaps, as I have, 

 invalid parents to take care of. You 

 see, it is a good deal like the boy digging 

 a woodchuck beside the road on Sunday 

 morning. The minister comes along 

 and says, " My boy, do you expect to get 

 that woodchuck ?" " Yes, sir," the boy 

 says; "got to get it; the minister is 

 going to be at our house for dinner, and 

 we have no meat." The minister got 

 woodchuck meat for dinner. We have 

 got to "get there," as did the boy, and 

 get meat for dinner. Now, look at the 

 above picture, and I haven't a doubt but 

 you will want to ask some quetions. 



What, kind of hive do I use '? Eight- 

 frame, Q%\11%, Langstroth exactly. I 



