378 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



nectar comes through the plant np into 

 the flower, and no kind of fine, atmos- 

 pheric conditions of the weather can 

 do so after one of deep frost in the soil. 

 To those who depend upon clover as 

 their main source for a crop of honey, I 

 would say, look into this, and see if it has 

 not been the same in your own locality; 

 and when you have learned for yourself 

 that the conditions that I have described 

 are not favorable for a good crop of hon- 

 ey, you will feel like going a little slow 

 in getting a large stock of supplies, un- 

 til vou see some prospects of needing 

 them. 



Some may like to know how I learned 

 that maple trees would give but little or 

 no sap when the soil was dry beneath 

 them. 



In my sugar works were two ravines 

 where the soil was always moist, and in 

 these ravines the sap would run freely 

 in the dry seasons, while on the ridges 

 there would be little to gather. In a wet 

 season the trees on the ridges would fur- 

 nish sap just as freely, or better, than 

 those in the ravine. 



I have seen clover secreting honey 

 abundantly along the fence corners 

 where the snow had drifted on and kept 

 the frost out. I could see the bees, as 

 thev alighted on the clover heads, put 

 t'ltir tongues into t le petals and stay 

 there as though there was something 

 to be had, while a few rods to one 

 side, where the clover was ju-^t as 

 plentiful, they would appear to do 

 nothing except to alight on the clover, 

 run over the blossom, and then sing 

 away to the next head. Now. what made 

 or caused the difference in the secretion 

 of honey in clover heads, only a few feet 

 apart, on the same kind of soil, and in 

 the same atmosphere, if it were not the 

 cold beneath the plants? I have never 

 noticed any bad effect from four or five 

 inches of frost, if it did not pull and kill 

 the clover; it is the deep freezing that 

 stops the flow. 



Cy\ 



PC^HE BEGININNG OF AN 

 APIARY. A HANDY TOOL- 

 BOX. BY \V. W. LATHROP. 



My Apiary in 1S97 consist- 

 ed of one hive of black bees, and this 

 photograph shows how it looked early 

 one' morning soon 

 after I had transfered 

 llieni from an old box- 

 hive. I now have ten 

 colonies of Italians in 

 Danz. hives. When- 

 ever I open a hive I 

 have my tool-box on 

 the side, as shown in 

 the accompanying pho- 

 tograph. I never lose 

 my tools, for when not 

 in use each one is hung 

 in its place. The two 

 sticks in the pockets at the ends belong 

 between the brood-frames and the end of 

 the hive. The box will hold two frames 

 easily, so I always have plenty of room 

 inside the hive to examine combs with- 



LATHROP'S TOOI^-BOX .\TT.\CHED TO 

 THE SIDE OF -A. HIVE, 

 out being crowded. I use pieces of old 

 barrel staves for smoker fuel, and my lit- 

 tle wood basket always goes around with 

 nie and has its place w ith the other tools. 



PeK.\lb Junction, N. Y., Dec. 13, 1900. Bridgeport, Conn., June. 18, 1900. 



