1882 



GLEAXIiTGS rSr BEE CULTUIlE. 



231 



OlilVER FOSTER'S HOUSE APIARY. 



A SUCCESSFUL 14-HIVE HOUSE APIAUY. 



vfr^nr-JERE is a sketch of the hoi:se apiary I promised 

 J™ to describe. It is 6x10, and 7 ft. high; i feet 

 — at sides. The roof is of inch boards, matched 

 to turn water. They are nailed at top to a 3x4 scaat- 

 ling:. which passes under the ridge the full length, 

 and at the lower side to a similar piece shown at A. 

 These are supported in the middle by posts, B B. 

 Between these posts are hung trap -doors which 

 open out as shown at C. 



FOSTER'S HOUSE APiAKY. 



There are T two-story hives on each side, with a 

 space of two feet between the rows. The frame 

 used in this apiary is 9?4xl2?4 inches. The inside 

 walls of hi%-es are of half-inch stuff. The 7 hives of 

 each row ai"e all built together in one box 9 ft. long, 

 and wide and high enough iu lower story to take the 

 frame crosswise. The partitions between the brood- 

 nests are half-inch boards, and 15 in. from center to 

 center. The top stories are built to take the frame 

 across the other way, and are 20 inches long, which 

 makes it easy to remove lower frames. The spaces 

 at sides and ends, and below each row of hives, are 

 filled with chaff. Chaff cushions are used la top sto- 

 ry in winter. The entrances pass out from under 

 the brood-nests something like this:— 





.^^r^Lq^Q 



J 



GHOUND-PLAN OF ONE SIDE OF APIARY. 



The portico on Nos. 3 and 5 prevents bees mixing. 

 As I said, this house is a success summer and win- 

 ter. I would rather handle bees In it any time than 

 elsewhere. When it is warm, and I want to work in 

 the "open air" with a nice shade overhead, I just 

 open all the doors. When robbers are tr^mblesome, 

 I open one door in front of the hive I am working, 

 and all the bees that take wing lly out. In extract- 

 ing, bees can be shaken into top story or in front of 

 ontrance. When I said that 1 intended to "adopt 

 this principle unanimously," I meant that I would 

 place the colonies close enough together In winter 

 to keep each other warm. But I reserve this sub- 

 ject for another time. Oliver Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, Linn Co., Iowa, March 9, 1JS3. 



The idea of having a little door or window 

 over each hive is, I believe, something after 

 the plan Of a house apiary built by friend 

 Nellis *, but as we have never heard any fa- 



vorable report from it, we had supposed it 

 was eventually dro])ped, like almost all of 

 the otlier house apiaries, ^o doubt but 

 tliiit the plan of friend Foster will work well; 

 but it seems to me it would be rather expen- 

 sive, having so many doors to work nicely ; 

 and I am a little afraid, too, that in the 

 hands of the average bee-keeper it would 

 get out of repair. Notwithstanding this, I 

 ieel very much inclined to make just such a 

 house apiary now, and I rather think I shall 

 like it. Our own house apiary is now desti- 

 tute of bees, but we are talking of stocking 

 it up again, just as soon as we can get bees 

 enough ahead to raise comb honey. 1 be- 

 lieve more honey will be secured in a house 

 apiary than in hives outdoors, on an average. 



FOUL BROOD. 



WHAT OUR OLD FRIEND, J. BUTLER, ADVISES ABOUT 

 IT. 



SN writing on this subject, we do not expf^ct to 

 tell you any thing new, but to give a little of 



' our experience. Probably no man in this sec- 

 tion has suffered so much loss from foul brood as 

 our old friend Ezra Rood, of Wayne, Michigan. At a 

 convention in Jackson he was asked the question, 

 "What shall we do with it?" and his reply was, 

 "Bury it so deep that it can never be resurrected;" 

 and after 3 years' trial with it we fully indorse what 

 he said. 



It seems natural to most of us to try to do some* 

 thing, in some way or other, to save something out 

 of the wreck; but after a number of trials, spend- 

 ing money and wasting time, and then suffering dis- 

 appointment, we say positively, do not try to save 

 either bees or combs. In the first place, foul'brood 

 stocks are weak iu numbers, and the best of them 

 will not contain more than the bulk of a fair second 

 swarm; and if the bee-keeper tries to save them 

 they will cost him more than they are worth. We 

 have been through the mill, and think we know 

 whereof we speak. We have, in a number of cases, 

 saved the bees, and confined them 48 hours without 

 honey, in a clean hive; then transferred them and 

 set them at work, and after a while pave them a 

 frame of brood to help them along; but in nearly all 

 cases they are still infected with foul brood. 



In the October, 1880, No. of A. B. J. was a long 

 article on foul brood and its positive cure. Wo used 

 the remedy, but the combs still remained foul. And 

 now, friend Novice, if I were going to give advice it 

 would be, "Don't spend money and time to no pur- 

 pose." 



In locations where smallpox has been raging, 

 great care is used to prevent its spreading; and I 

 am fully persuaded that the same care is needed to 

 prevent the spreading of foul brood. But if we go 

 dabbling around, trying to save a little honey or 

 wa.x, the chances are that it will tend tostill further 

 spreading of the disease. I was at first fearful that 

 swarming would tend In the siimc way; but ff)ul 

 brood will not be augmented by swarming, for not 

 one in twenty with mo has ever cast a swarm, be- 

 cause foul -brood stocks can't mature queens. 

 They build quoen-cells, but I have never found one 

 that contained living larvte, but all rotten foul 

 brood. 



Now I will tell you what I save, and how I do iU 



