178 



THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW. 



this season. I had intended to start for 

 Chicago in one week, but fear that absence 

 now might interfere with my experimental 

 work, and this mus-t not be. I will be at the 

 bee-keepers' meeting in October if well 

 enough to go. 



I will have a photo, taken of the new house 

 apiary when I can get an artist here. Will 

 give a full description and my latest experi- 

 ence with the house plan to readers of the 

 Review. 



I shall make it my special business this 

 year to finish my eight years' work on the 

 non-swarmer. I am confident that the plan 

 that has no traps of any kind, holds the 

 trumps. I have tried a large number of de- 

 vices, and always found that some obstacle 

 would turn up. The revolving stand proved 

 to me that none of them were needed. I re- 

 gard the revolving stand as clearing away 

 more fog than any experiment I ever tried. 

 It led to the practicability of a single en- 

 trance for two swarms in a single hive. I 

 now have the partition of wire cloth, two 

 sheets }4 inch apart ; the idea is to have the 

 warmth of both colonies for the entire hive 

 at all times. This is what I claim as my dis- 

 covery, two swarms in a single hive with 

 one entrance for both, and to be worked as a 

 single colony without swarming. I claim 

 this and will let others have all queen catch- 

 ing traps. I see in May Review that friend 

 Langdon kindly criticises my plan. He 

 seems to think that my way makes it neces- 

 sary to always cut queen cells. I expect to 

 work my 4iives before there are any queen 

 cells started, and then there will probably 

 never be any started, but if there are, with 

 hives depopulated of bees, and with my wire 

 end frames which can always be lifted with- 

 out any tools except the fingers and put in- 

 stantly in their place again, it will be but a 

 few moment's work to clip queen cells ; and 

 I will here say that there will be no more 

 likelihood of queen cells in my plan than in 

 friend Langdon's. The only thing that I do 

 not like in my plan is it does not work in the 

 house apiary, and I have not yet seen my 

 way clear to adapt it to house use. I shall 

 try to solve the problem and as I have never 

 been stalled in getting out of mechanical 

 diflficulties, I hope to succeed in this. Friends 

 Aikin and Langdon are both younger than I 

 am and have more of their lives ahead of 

 them, and success to them means much 

 more than to me. Here brothers Aikin and 

 Langdon is my hand, and my hearty wishes 



for your success. I assure you there shall be 

 no jealousy between us on my part. 



To say that this has been a very disastrous 

 winter and spring to bee-keepers in the 

 Northwest, is but to tell the truth. The For- 

 estville apiary has lost thirty-three per cent., 

 while many have lost all. One man near 

 here lost seventy-five out of seventy-eight ; 

 another in Olmsted county, every colony 

 (253), and so it goes generally. At this date, 

 May l.^th, the fruit trees are not in blossom. 

 The box alders, soft maples and willows are 

 not fully in bloom, and the buds are hardly 

 swelled on the trees, but the clover is star-- 

 ing as never before. I anticipate a good 

 honey crop for those that keep their bees 

 booming. 



The good swarms in the house apiary win- 

 tered in as perfect a condition as you could 

 possibly ask. Many of the bottom boards 

 are as clean as in summer : the combs dry 

 and entirely free from mold, and now warmly 

 covered with sawdust boxes, in each of 

 which is one of my new feeders with which 

 the feed is taken directly into the brood nest 

 without the bees leaving the cluster and 

 where I can, and have for some time, been 

 giving each colony one-half pound syrup 

 each evening, without lifting a cover and in 

 less than two minutes time. The bees are 

 just booming while those outside are getting 

 weaker each day. Do you wonder that I am 

 filled with enthusiasm ? 



I shall give each colony '4 pound of syrup 

 each night regardless of the honey they may 

 have in the hive. This I shall continue until 

 white clover blooms. 



I will at the time of such blooming, have 

 the hives just booming with bees, and then 

 with more than 150, 24-section supers, each 

 filled with 12 sections filled with leveled 

 combs and the other 12 filled with thin foun- 

 dation ; I am going to get some honey if the 

 flowers are not entirely dry. At the end of 

 basswood I will take off all the sections, 

 crate all finished ones and immediately ex- 

 tract all unfinished ones, and sell, as I did 

 last year, this extracted honey for at least 

 12}^ cents per pound, and I will get the 

 highest market price for the comb honey, 

 and make some money if any can be made 

 from bees in Minnesota in 1H'.»8. With one 

 of the handy comb levelers I will immedi- 

 ately level the empty combs to equal size, 

 set them away in a clean, safe place to use 

 in the year 1894. 



