1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



55 



fore you get as many articles together again, on 

 any subject pertaining to bee-keeping, as good 

 as those are. 



NUMBEKING HIVES. 



Replying to S. E. Miller, page 802, Dec. 1st, I 

 would say: We used to number all our hives, 

 and keep records of every thing that was done 

 with them; but of late we do not keep any rec- 

 cords at all —only a card tacked on top of the 

 honey-boards of each colony, and that is used 

 only to show the condition in relation to the 

 queen. When we did have our hives numbered 

 we used a method similar to Mr. Miller's, but 

 we had four in a group. You see we use a 

 quadruple hive. We numbered the stands, be- 

 ginning at one end of a row at the corner of the 

 yard, then 1, 2, .3, and so the length of the row, 

 and back on the ne.xt row, taking the rows in 

 turn back and forth until all were numbered; 

 then the divisions of the hive were all the 

 same. The southeast corner was division one; 

 the northeast division was D. 2; northwest, D. 

 3; and southwest. D. 4. The divisions all being 

 the same, it is easy to remember them. 



A nice way to lay out an apiary for quadru- 

 ple hives is to have 5 stands in a row, and 5 

 rows; 5 times 5 is 25 stands; 4 colonies in a 

 stand, 4 times 25 is 100 colonies. Place those 

 stands 16 feet from center to center. Then I 

 would take the center stand for a place to put 

 in my extracting-tent. That would give us 96 

 colonies in the apiary. But I would notchange 

 the numbers of the stands, because I used No. 

 13 for the tent. It is very handy to have those 

 rows'contain just 5 numbers, as you can always 

 catch at a glance the number of the stand 

 where you are by just looking up and seeing 

 which row you are in. It is easy for me to keep 

 those numbers in my head. I don't want to 

 bother with numbers on the hives. But unless 

 one is raising queens to sell, what difference 

 does it make about the numbers'? We don't 

 keep them any more. We now tack on to each 

 hive, on the honey-board, a clean piece of white 

 cardboard, about 3 inches square. On that we 

 write dates, and any thing we want to remem- 

 ber about the queen, and that is about all we 

 care for. The condition of the colony shows 

 for itself when we open it, and there is very lit- 

 tle recording necessary; and what we do is done 

 with very few figures and letters. 



After our bees are put into winter quarters 

 we never meddle with them until warm weath- 

 er in spring. Some fine day in April we go to 

 one of our out-yards and open every hive to see 

 if they have feed enough. Then we note on the 

 cardboard the condition of the colony. For in- 

 stance, first the year, 189(') (that is not repeated 

 again during the season). Then say 4—10 (Apr. 

 10); then the condition of the colony, which 

 may be good or H-1 or II 2 or H-3. H-1 means 

 Jioney enough to last through; II-2 means that 

 ithe colony wants feed within a month ; H-3 



means very little honey — must be fed soon. If 

 there are any poorer than H-3 we change an 

 empty comb for a honey-comb from some colo- 

 ny that can spare it. We note also the strength 

 of the colony by B-1, B-2, etc. Then if there is 

 any feeding to do we note down the amount the 

 yard wants, and take that account home, and 

 come and feed when it is necessary. When it is 

 time to clip queens (which should be done be- 

 fore there is danger of swarms) we go over eve- 

 ry colony and see that the queen is clipped. If 

 we find a queen that has been clipped we mark 

 on the card " q. w. c," which means "queen 

 was clipped." If we find a queen with whole 

 wings we clip her and mark "c. q." We have 

 other short marks for what we do through the 

 season. There is plenty of room on a small card 

 for every thing for the whole season, and it is 

 good for only the one season, any way. 

 Platteville, Wis. 



HOUSE -APIAEIES. 



A FEW HINTS ON THEIR CONSTRUCTION. 



By E. E. Slingerland. 



Mr. Editor: — I note in Gleanings, page 903, 

 you are about to build a house-apiary. Per- 

 haps a few hints gleaned from my experience 

 may reflect a little light on your plans. I have 

 had the pleasure of handling bees in a house- 

 apiary for the past six years, and I indorse all 

 that has been said in favor of them, and will 

 add that this is certainly the way to care for 

 bees in order to save labor, which, you will 

 agree, is the greatest item of expense in the pro- 

 duction of honey. 



To be sure, the common outdoor hive must be 

 used, resting on shelves; the building painted 

 in colors, large openings not less than 4x8 in., 

 cut in various forms. These are closed in the 

 fall with a slide or board on the inside, with 

 small auger-hole, or slat, to admit entrance to 

 hives. In settled winter weather a board closes 

 all up tight on the outside. For admitting 

 light, one opening with shutter is sufficient for 

 every two hives. Don't make the building too 

 large; i. e., to contain any more cubic feet of 

 space than is necessary for convenience in 

 handling, on account of being much better for 

 wintering if in close quarters. 



A raised earth floor will keep dry, and does 

 not sound or disturb bees when walking or 

 working with them. With these large open- 

 ings at the entrances, and the openings to ad- 

 mit light at the hive one is at work with, I 

 have not been troubled with smoke to speak of; 

 but when I build another house I shall put in 

 ventilators to carry off smoke. Of course, I 

 could put them in the building I am using 

 now; but only on close sultry days have I felt 

 the need of any, so 1 neglect to do so. 



