AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



81 



dropped a few separators into the boiler 

 while the water was yet cold, to see 

 what effect it would have on them. I 

 could not see that it affected them in 

 the least until the water almost reached 

 the boiling-point, when the propolis dis- 

 appeared. 



What I was most afraid of, was, that 

 the separators while wet would cling so 

 closely together that the lye would not 

 reach every part, and that they would 

 not be perfectly clean. I was glad to 

 find these few did not bother at all, but 

 came out perfectly clean. I stirred 

 them with the poker while boiling, 

 although I do not know that it was 

 necessary, as I tried another lot without 

 stirring, and they came out just as 

 clean. I next tied up a bundle of .59 

 separators, that being the number I had 

 handy. Of course, they were tied 

 loosely. I dropped them in, having a 

 strong cord tied around the middle of 

 the bundle to lift them out by. I let 

 them boil two or three minutes, and took 

 them out; 32 of them were perfectly 

 clean. The rest, the center of the bun- 

 dle, still had some propolis left on, and 

 were treated to a second dose. 



Taking a very large quantity of the 

 separators at one time, there might be 

 more trouble than I think, about getting 

 them clean, but I do not believe there 

 would be if the water were kept hot 

 enough, and enough of the lye used. I 

 do not think any harm would come from 

 having it unnecessarily strong. 



I next tried dipping the T supers. My 

 boiler was large enough to clean only 

 half a super at a time, so I had to dip in 

 one-half, reverse it, and dip the other 

 half. Had I been able to dip one all at 

 once, I think I could have cleaned one a 

 minute. And they are beautifully 

 cleaned. I do not know of any other 

 way they could be cleaned so nicely — 

 quite as clean, I think, as when new. 

 We scraped all our supers before the lye 

 was thought of ; and while they are 

 much improved by the scraping, they 

 are not nearly as nice as when cleaned 

 with lye, and the scraping is harder 

 work. 



I did not have anything large enough 

 to dip a hive into, but of course a hive 

 would clean as readily as a super. With 

 convenient apparatus to work with, a 

 large number of such articles as separa- 

 tors could be cleaned at a time with no 

 very great amount of labor. It is such 

 a comfort to have everything clean ! 

 Wood separators are so cheap that we 

 have always thought it did not pay to 

 clean them. I rather think we shall 



conclude that it does pay, after this, 

 providing we can get them satisfactorily 

 dried in good shape. — Gleanings. 

 „ Marengo, Ills. 



Self-Hiving: Arrangements for Swarms. 



HENRY ALLEY. 



As I brought to notice the first suc- 

 cessful self-hiver, I naturally am inter- 

 ested in anything that appears in the 

 bee-papers in relation to these most use- 

 ful articles for the apiary. I recently 

 read much that Mr. Dibble has said 

 about self-hivers, and I must say that I 

 am amazed at some of his statements 

 and claims. 



Mr. Dibble, like several others, claims 

 to have devised the best of self-hivers. I 

 find, however, that before reading all 

 the wonderful things concerning their 

 devices, as given by the inventors, they 

 acknowledge that their swarmers do not 

 catch all the bees that issue — "only a 

 few bees and the queen." Well, it 

 seems that Mr. D. has simply arranged 

 the principle of my drone-trap, and 

 placed it at the side of the hive, instead 

 of at the entrance. The entrance, as it 

 appears to me, is covered by a nanow 

 strip of perforated metal. 



Mr. D. says that the trap (Alley's 

 presumably) clogs, etc. Well, if my 

 trap will clog with four rows of holes, 

 what will bees do with one entrance and 

 one row of holes ? The truth is, there 

 are 100,000 of my traps in use, and 

 they have always given good satisfac- 

 tion. The fact that the sale of them is 

 increasing each year, best attests to 

 their practicability. 



Now, if Dibble's self-hiver catches 

 only a few of the bees and queen when 

 a swarm issues, how can it be considered 

 an improvement on the trap ? The trap 

 has always done this to the satisfaction 

 of all who use them. 



Mr. D. gives notice that he has applied 

 for a patent for using the empty hive 

 over the one the bees are in, for hiving 

 swarms by this arrangement. I wish to 

 say that the first swarm ever hived by 

 an automatic device, was hived by the 

 same arrangement which Mr. D. pro- 

 poses to patent. Mr. D. says further : 



" 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 

 where our queens are. We must know 

 instantly, when passing through a yard, 



