THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ends of the frames are securely fastened to- 

 gether by propolis. 



The drift of apiculture seems to be, as in 

 almost all other things, to specialty. 



If he is a queen breeder, he will not find it 

 convenient to take or attend to a large crop 

 of honey ; and if he is a supply dealer it will 

 very much interfere with either honey or 

 queens. But the production of, and caring 

 for, the houey the bees produce should be the 

 object of all apiarists, that is the fundamen- 

 tal principle on which apiculture rests. 



This country could easily spare some of its 

 Bee-Keepers. It needs more Apiarists. 



To increase the production of honey should 

 be the aim of every true apiarist. 



To do this requires his utmost skill and 

 constant vigilance, and he must provide for 

 the honey harvest months ahead, if he would 

 have his dish right side up when the honey 

 flow comes. He must have a strong colony 

 of young bees, well provided with wholesome 

 stores at the beginning of winter ; they must 

 also have a queen that is (jood, young and 

 vigorous. By good we mean a queen that is 

 from a pure mother, let her be mated as she 

 may. Queens should always be reared from 

 a mother that is pure, be it Italian, Carnio- 

 lian or Cyprian, and the mother should be 

 selected for her honey qualities, without ref- 

 erence to her propensitiy to produce highly 

 colored bees, only seeing that her bees are 

 all similarly marked and have the character- 

 istic marks of her race. In fact, to see that 

 she is purely mated. While the daughters of 

 such a queen will give the highest satisfac- 

 tion as honey gatherers without reference to 

 how they are mated, yet the mis-mated 

 queens should never be allowed to produce 

 queens. If they do the apiary is sure to have 

 a downward tendency. A mis-mated or 

 hybrid queen is no more tit to breed from 

 than a mule would be, were such a thing pos- 

 sible. 



There are a great mass of bee-keepers in 

 this country that need to be reached ; how 

 to reach them is the problem ? While they 

 are following to some extent the practices of 

 modern apiculture, yet many of them are 

 following far in the wake. They have only 

 adopted such things as supers and sections, 

 because they find it is to their advantage to 

 do so, as it makes their honey bring them 

 more money ; and many there are, very 

 many, that still produce " chunk " honey 

 and strange as it may seem they find a sale 

 for their product. The best thing the apiar- 



ist can do with one of this class is to induce 

 him to purchase one of the standard works 

 on bee-keeping or to subscribe for one of 

 our numerous and excellent journals on bee- 

 culture. This will have the effect of elevat- 

 ing him or breeding him up, if you please, 

 as much as using a pure bred male does on 

 the flock or herd. This will have the effect 

 on him, in time, if he has the mental ability 

 to back him, of making him a better bee- 

 keeper, if not indeed a thoroughbred. 

 Atlantic, Iowa. Dec. 14, 1892. 



The New " K. D." Hive and Super. — How 

 They are Made and Their Advantages. 



B. 0. AIKIN. 



/^H with what in- 

 W terest did I look 

 for and peruse the 

 December Re- 

 view ! It was too 

 short by far. Had 

 it contained one 

 hundred articles 

 from as many api- 

 arists and parts of 

 the country, liow it 

 would have reveal- 

 ed the condition, 

 wants and necessities of the pursuit. Amen, 

 Bro's Doolittle and Miller ; there are mil- 

 lions in apiculture, hut not to those who seek 

 filthii h(crc alone. 



Friend Doolittle, you can make a success 

 by taking at least half the crop of your out- 

 apiaries in comb houey. This article will 

 not tell you how in specific terms, but I 

 think it will throw a ray of light on the sub- 

 ject. 



But R. L. Taylor, y-e-s and B. Taylor too, 

 V)ut especially the former, almost deters me 

 from telling how. 



Bro. Taylor, there are some things apiar- 

 ists "want," and must have, and there are 

 both " necessity," and " possibility." Fur- 

 thermore, I want to say to you, that " inven- 

 tions " in the way of apicultural appliances 

 have not yet reached the top. That " con- 

 trivance " I " have been planning so long," 

 I am going to " dro2:> " rightinto the "camp" 

 by means of this article. 



Before entering into details I want to say 

 that we expect opposition and charges of 



