1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



747 



out mungst folks what is; these folks are eddi- 

 cated. Hitch up yer collar, Gimp; speak when 

 yer spoke tu; but otherwise keep yer tongue 

 clapper shet down." 



With this admonition she turned him over to 

 Mr. Buell. 



Before they embarked for the return trip, 

 Fred told Mr. Buell that he could use Gimp for 

 a few days in his apiary. "But, land o' Goshen! 

 It would give me the lockjaw or something 

 worse to have him a,round in that condition." 



" Never mind that," said Mrs. Buell. " Come 

 down Tuesday morning and we will have a 

 brand-new boy for you." 



LOCATING AN OUT-YARD. 



HOW TO CALCULATE ON BEE-RANGES; HOW TO 

 PREVENT THIEVES FROM STEALING. 



By Hari-y Howe. 



Late in the season last year I bought two lots 

 of bees to be taken in the spring; so, over wi n- 

 ter I had to consider where to locate them. The 

 first step was to take out my "bee-map " and 

 look for unoccupied territory. This map shows 

 the results of years of study of the surrounding 

 country as regards bees and bee-pasture. On 

 it is marked every lot of ten or more colonies as 

 far as I know for miles around. It is a road- 

 map showing all the roads as well as the hills 

 and valleys. One of the first things noticeable 

 is that there is not a bit of unoccupied space 

 for ten miles or so in any direction, while it is 

 twenty in some. My rule is to draw circles of 

 one and one half miles radius from the lots of 

 fifty or more, and one mile from those;.of fless 

 than fifty. Any space not covered by these 

 circles is unoccupied. For a new location there 

 must be room to draw another circle without 

 cutting any of the adjoining circles. 



There is another point lo be considered just 

 here, however; and that is, that the range cov- 

 ered by a yard is not a true circle, but a more 

 or less irregular figure, depending on the lay of 

 the land. It will extend more than one and 

 one half miles up and down a valley, but less 

 than that over a range of hills. It is seldom 

 that the bees will work over into another val- 

 ley. 



Another thing to consider is, who owns the 

 other bees? One might hesitate to locate as 

 close to a yard belonging to another as he 

 would his own. 



In my case I have a yard at Danby, 21 miles 

 south. There is only one lot of forty between 

 there and Ithaca, 7 miles. There is no buck- 

 wheat to speak of for about three miles south 

 of Ithaca, on the Danby road, which made it 

 necessary to locate at least four miles south of 

 there. This gave me a space of about six 

 square miles in which to locate. 



Now came the immediate location. Up to 



this time I could work by the map. The field 

 work came nfext. This consisted first of riding 

 over every mile of road in the required limits. 

 There were several conditions that had to be 

 met. The yard must be sheltered from Ithe 

 wind, in a valley, in preference to uplands. It 

 must be back from the road, where the bees 

 could not bother passing teams, yet it must be 

 easy to reach to work. The more secluded the 

 spot, the better it would please me. I have no 

 fears of any one disturbing the bees or stealing 

 the honey. So far as I know, no one has ever 

 taken a pound of my honey. I always make it 

 a point to give every one who comes along all 

 he can eat. People soon come to know that, If 

 they want some honey, all they have to do Is 

 to get in sight when I am there. This is the 

 plan followed by Mr. W. L. Coggshall with 

 equal success. 



The place finally chosen is on the northeast 

 side of a valley. There was an empty house 

 still in good condition that I rented for a honey- 

 house, while the bees are back of the house out 

 of sight of the road. The front yard is so grown 

 up with trees that the bees have to rise away 

 above the road to get out that way. The bees 

 are in the shade about half the afternoon, 

 which seems to be a good thing, at least during 

 hot weather. It is only about three miles down 

 the valley from my Danby yard. 



As it stands, my three yards are ail near 

 empty houses, and far enough from neighbors 

 so that there is no complaint of the bees dis- 

 turbing any one. Mr. Coggshall has located 

 three new yards this season, the plan pursued 

 in each case being much the same. One of his 

 locations was picked out two or three years 

 ago, but was not secured until last winter. 

 It is in the midst of a twenty-acre basswood 

 orchard. 



West Groton, N. Y. 



SUPPORTING FOUNDATION. 



USE OF LITTLE SQUARE STICKS INSTEAD OF 

 WIRE. 



By Dr. C. C. Miller 



I am sending you a frame of brood-romb as a 

 sample of those I am having filled out nowa- 

 days. You may remember that I had on hand 

 the problem of getting frames filled without 

 having any space left between the comb and 

 bottom-bar. This I accomplished by filling the 

 frame full of foundation, then cutting out a 

 strip half an inch or more in width at a dis- 

 tance of an inch or so above the bottom-bar, all 

 but an inch or so at each end which was left 

 uncut. Two points were accomplished by this, 

 aside from the one of getting the comb built 

 clear down to the bottom-bar: Cutting out the 

 strip made room for the foundation to sag, and 

 it left the depth for sagging a good deal less. 



