T 



^e (|)ee-)\eepeps' jACX^ietS: 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Interests of Hor]ey Producers. 



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W. Z, HDTCfliNSON, Editor and Proprietor. 



VOL XII, FLINT. MICHIGAN. SEPTEMBER 10 l?00. N0.9. 



MANAGING AN OUT- 

 APIARV FOR EXTRACT- 

 ED HONEY. BY H. P. 

 MINER. 



As to my methods in niana.L,niig the out- 

 apiary shown on the opposite page, there 

 certainly is nothing new, unless it be the 

 w/.mianagenient; as I practice doing 

 only such work as is absolutely necessary. 



The apiary is located with a well-to-do 

 farmer, who keeps watch of the bees, and 

 fences the same against stock; boards 

 myself and help while there, for which 

 he gets one-fifth of the honey. Besides 

 the share of honey, he receives 50 cents 

 each for hiving swarms; hence it will be 

 seen that it is necessary for me to visit 

 the apiary only occasionally. 



My first visit in the spring is generally 

 about the first week in April, when I re- 

 move the chaff, take off the burlap, and 

 corncobs that 1 use as a Hill's device, re- 

 place the frame-covers that are used in 

 summer, and, after seeing that the bees 

 have a queen and plenty of honey for 

 two weeks or more, I dump back the 

 chaff into the winter case to confine the 

 warmth. 



About May ist they are again over- 

 hauled, chaff taken off for the summer, 

 queenless colonies requeened or united, 



when I leave them until May 15. . At 

 this visit (May 15) there are generally a 

 few swarms, although not always; supers 

 are added, depending on the strength of 

 the colonies, seldom more than one super 

 per hive at one time. 



From May 15th this apiary is generally 

 looked after about once in ten da3-s until 

 October ist; as it has an almost continu- 

 ous, lig/it, honey-flow, commencing with 

 soft maple, then in the following order, 

 elm, boxelder, willow, dandelion, rasp- 

 berry, white clover, bassvvood, mannuoth 

 clover, then the wild flowers of the river 

 continue until freezing weather in the 

 fall destroys the last ones — the asters. 



This light flow, lasting all summer, 

 makes it necessary to use large hives 

 holding II frames 11 x I7^:s inches. I 

 have 9 and lo-franie hives, but they are 

 not the thing for this apiary. 



There are swarms from May loth until 

 September ist. I had one new swarm 

 September ist that built its comb from 

 starters, and gave a surplus of 20 pounds, 

 besides having plenty for winter. This, 

 however, is an exception. 



The extracting is done only when the 

 dark honey of fall flowers is likely to dis- 

 color the light honey; and I pile on the 

 empties as long as I can; sometimes 



