THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



7? 



sible for this to become clogged by drones or 

 rubbish. Drones will work to the extreme 

 front end. and fuss there out of the way un- 

 til they become exhausted and fall down on 

 the bottom-board, to be scooped out occas- 

 ionally through the lower entrance G, which 

 is kept blocked up tight. It matters not 

 how many drones a hive may contain, the 

 excluder will never be found so stopped up 

 that there is not ample passage for the full 

 working force, and for complete and per- 

 fect ventilation. 



Another advantage in having the excluder 

 as it is here is this: A free and open en- 

 trance, with no zinc to pass until the bees 

 are inside the hive (a great advantage, I 

 find), affording excellent opportunity for 

 rapid passage to and from the hive, besides 

 aiding perfect ventilation and a direct and 

 short path to either hive. 



The little strips of wood, F, F, shoved into 

 the entrance, are on pivots, to open like 

 gates, as shown. These are to support the 

 zinc and wood while in the mail, and are to 

 contract the entrance for any cause when 

 necessary. After a swarm has been hived, 

 these gates can be closed entirely, and the 

 lower entrance opened to them, when the 

 board will act as a bee-escape to reinforce 

 the swarm as the young bees hatch out. 



E. L. Pbatt. 



Beverly, Mass., -Jan. 10. 



The editor of Gleanings comments as 

 follows upon the foregoing. 



"When Mr. Pratt first sent the new device 

 for 189.3 we were not favorably impressed 

 with it, and wrote him to that effect. How 

 ever, we instructed our artist to make a pic- 

 ture of it, and the result is shown above. 

 Subsequently, in following the description 

 through more carefully, we found that Mr. 

 Pratt had still preserved the vital principle 

 of his other hivers. that were so successful 

 with us last summer; viz., that the bees on 

 returning go back through an entrance to 

 which they have long been accustomed, but 

 into a different hive, preceded by the queen. 

 If the reader will understand that the lower 

 entrance, G, is supposed to be closed, he will 

 readily see that the bees are obliged to use 

 the entrance E only. Of course, before they 

 have swarmed they pass through the en- 

 trance E upward to hive No. 1. After 

 swarming they return to the same entrance, 

 and thereafter pass downward to hive No. 2, 

 because the main attraction — the queen — 

 has gone down below, into an empty hive, 

 affording those conditions that are supposed 

 to satisfy the swarming mania. 



The device above differs from the one of 

 last year, in that the perforated zinc in 

 front of the entrance, as at D, was, in the 

 1892 hiver, placed before the entrance G. 

 This seemed to be objectionable to some 

 (although we never so regarded it), that the 

 bees should travel through an empty hive 

 every time in order to get to the brood-nest 

 in hive No. 1, from which it was expected 

 they would swarm. Mr. Pratt, contemplat- 

 ing this objection, has, in the 1893 hiver, 

 placed the entrance centrally, so that it af- 

 fords equal access to both hives. 



Although Mr. Pratt says nothing about it, 

 we assume that the apiarist, at his conven- 

 ience, after the swarm has issued, say with- 

 in two or three weeks, removes the parent 

 or upper hive, opens the entrance G, and for 

 a time at least allows the bees to have access 

 to both entrances. After they have become 

 partly accustomed to the lower entrance, 

 this special swarming-device is to be remov- 

 ed, and the cover replaced, when of course 

 the entrance G will be used exclusively. 

 There will be, of course, a little confusion 

 for a day or two, but the bees will very read- 

 ily adapt themselves to the change. 



We see no reason why this latest pattern 

 should not work as well as the one of last 

 year; and as it is simpler, and avoids the 

 long bee travel, it will doubtless be prefer- 

 red to the others. The queen also will be 

 more likely to get into the lower hive be- 

 cause the light from the entrance E is so 

 close to the apex C of the zinc cone. This 

 may make all the difference between success 

 and failure." 



A Condensed View of Current 



Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



How many words of reading matter, by 

 actual count, did the several journals place 

 before their .January readers ? To be sure 

 this is not the weightiest consideration in 

 judging relative merit ; but it is usually one 

 consideration. I say usually, because if a 

 journal succeeded in keeping its matter far 

 above the average in quality many readers 

 would prefer a medium quantity, so they 

 could read it all, to the difficult job of culling 

 to get the best in a " Benjamin's mess " of 

 five times the amount. As matters now 

 stand, however, the journals that furnish the 

 least quantity are quite as apt to be low in 

 quality as the big ones are ; and it would be 

 almost stretching things to say that any 

 journal is keeping its columns entirely clear 

 of matter which the reader might skip with- 

 out serious loss. Moreover the little-end-of- 

 nothing-whittled-out journalism if extinct 

 is not sure to stay so. At any rate let us for 

 the moment inspect the actual amount of 

 "gold and silver, wood, hay and stubble" 

 set before us. The pronouncing class will 

 now come forward, 



TOES ON THE MARK. 



Bee Matter. Total Reading 



Am. Bee .Journal 58.675 Same 



Gleanings 42,229 64,685 



Canadian B. J. 24,254 Same 



Guide 16,.566 18,316 



Review 15,099 16,836 



Apicultarist 9,205 Same 



Am. Bee Keeper 7.093 7,770 



Progressive 5,959 Same 



