112 



THE BEE-KEEPEKS' REVIEW 



saw fall while we camped, the after- 

 noon of the fourth day. It wet us all 

 through, and poured in torrents down 

 over the bees and brood in the single- 

 walled hives. The chai¥ hives on the 

 top all had on covers. 



A few hives in the boxes worked 

 loose, so that the bees swarmed around 

 the wagons the last two mornings when 

 the teams were towing up the hills, 

 and the bees on the wagon that was 

 standing still would be bringing in 

 honey and pollen before the teamsters 

 would return. 



We had our two children with us; 

 were five nights on the road; travelled 

 four nights and put up one night to 

 sleep and dry our wet clothes. 



When we had kept bees four years 

 at Tustin, our little boy Harry was 

 born. We thought then our work was 

 too much divided, so that fall my hus- 

 band went up and killed 100 colonies 

 and moved everything home. 



We now have 200 colonies in winter 

 quarters. We killed 100 colonies last 

 fall and stored the honey for bnilding- 

 up-purposes. The bees are in three 

 yards three and four miles respectively 

 from our home-yard. 



Our two out-yards both made more 

 comb honey than the home-yard. We 

 do not watch any of them in swarming 

 time. For the past seven years my 

 children have helped in the yards 

 when we were dividing and hiving. 

 My husband usually farms, while 1 

 keep bees, although he can do his part 

 in the bee yard when he is needed. 

 The part he likes the best is drawing 

 home the honey, and helping to spend 

 the honey money. My little three-year- 

 old Harry, is also a bee-keeper. He 

 does all the work he can around the 

 shop — and bothers the rest of the time. 



I think Mr. Frey has done one thing 

 with bees that few have ever accom- 

 plished. Three years ago last June he 

 went to the Marion yard, four miles 

 west, to get two loads of bees for the 

 purpose of .starting an out-yard at 



Sand Lake, nine miles east of our 

 home. 



It was a dark night; and when three 

 miles on the road, as they were cross- 

 ing over a corduroy, his teamster, 

 while driving behind him with a load 

 of 18 large chaff hives on his wagon, 

 drove off the end of the corduroy, and 

 turned wagon, bees and all, bottom 

 side us. They were all large colonies 

 working in 4.5-pound supers, and the 

 supers were on. They loaded 11 of 

 them again, and then Mr. Frey had to 

 go home for lights and other things to 

 use, as it was raining by this time, 

 and he had to fish a part of the remain- 

 ing hives out of a water hole with poles. 



This yard proved a failure that sum- 

 mer, so he brought the bees home in 

 the fall. In all the moving of bees we 

 have done, tipping over included, we 

 never had a comb break out of its 

 frame. You see we use the right style 

 of frames. 



On the whole, out-yards have paid 

 us well. We often get our best crop 

 from the out-3'iirds. 



If 3'ou want experience that counts, 

 keep out-yards. 



Sand Lake, Mich., Jan. 30, 1906. 



[Some of the things that Mrs. Frey 

 wishes to know, are things that some 

 of the rest of us would like to know — 

 but don't know. However, let me be- 

 gin with the questions that I can an- 

 swer. For instance, why don't I pro- 

 duce comb instead of extracted honey ? 

 One reason is because I wish to run 

 out-apiaries, and swarming is more 

 easil}' controlled at out-yards when 

 run for extracted hone}'. Another 

 reason is that bee-keepers living in 

 that northern region to whi.:h I am 

 going say that the seasons are so short, 

 and the nights so cool, that bees do not 

 build comb and cap the sections so 

 readil}' as they store honey in ready- 

 built combs, and that they can ripen 

 and seal tine honey to better advantage 

 where they can remain and work in 



