APICULTURE. 345 



this gentleman had had a colony of bees in that block the result 

 might have been quite different. I do not known how this is. 

 I do know the Jonathan and the Winesap as two examples that 

 have been proved by long trial unfruitful by themselves; 

 whereas, if placed close together in orchard form they each of 

 them become fruitful; so that bees may become a very impor- 

 tant factor to the orchardist, if he has a block of trees that are 

 unfruitful. This should teach the orchardists this lesson, that 

 it is better to plant several varieties near together. 



INCREASING THE WHITE HONEY CROP AND FINDING 

 A MARKET FOR IT. 



BARNETT TAYLOR, FORESTVILLE. 



How to increa'se the white honey crop, and then find a paying; 

 market for it, is the great question with bee-keepers. To make bee- 

 keeping- paj- we must produce a crop of surplus white honey; any- 

 thing- but the best grades now go begging for buj'trs. I once con- 

 tended that dark hone}- was as good as any, but I now respect the 

 popular taste that demands clover or basswood honey for table use. 

 There is but little excuse for having one-half or two-thirds of the 

 crop in dark hone}'. I can get a larger crop of surplus now than 

 ever before, under the same circumstances, and have it all white. 

 But to do this one must have, first, plenty of bees, and have them at 

 the first blooming of white clover, and then get the honey stored in 

 the surplus department and not in the brood nest, and to know how 

 to do this is the art of honey production. 



To have the bees at the time needed we must employ stimulative 

 feeding, and one of the chief advantages of the house apiary is that 

 it gives a more perfect place for doing this than anj' other plan. In 

 the house the bees are wintered on the same stands thej^ occupied 

 in the working season. At the approach of cold weather I svirround 

 the hives with a warm covering of dry sawdust; a feeder, constructed 

 especially for the purpose, is placed on each hive and hive-feeder, 

 and all covered with ten inches of sawdust. These feeders are so 

 constructed that the bees can take the sugar syrup without leaving 

 the warm cluster, and feeding can be done in anj^ weather regard- 

 less of rain or cold. ^ 



When spring comes we remove the sawdust down to the top 

 of the feeders which still leaves five inches of covering on the top 

 of the hives to keep them warm and of even temperature on frostj- 

 nights and cold days. The entrance to the hive is left open in win- 

 ter, the same as in summer, and the bees are at liberty to fly out 

 whenever the weather is warm enough to invite them to do so. 

 Covered warml}^ in their dry bed, with opportunity for an occa- 

 sional cleansing flight, the bees will winter well and begin spring 

 work full of health and vitalitj-. As soon as the bees begin to bring 

 in pollen in the spring, which is evidence that breeding has begun. 



