18HU 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



375 



matter of arranging hives in the apiary, 

 for some time. 1 have never lilied the hex- 

 agonal arrangement in onr home yard, with 

 grapevines. 1 thought they were too close; 

 and so when we got down to the basswood 

 apiary we put the hives 12 feet apart, all 

 facing one way, each hive in the shade of a 

 basswood-tree. Much to my surprise I 

 found it took a good deal of time in running 

 from one hive to another. I then came to 

 the conclusion that we wanted them closer 

 together. Accordingly, this spring when 

 we set our bees out of the cellar I arranged 

 the hives in groups of four— hives 12 inoJhes 

 apart, and the growps 6 feet apart. The 

 first group was made like A, the next like 

 J3, and so on, each one differing from the 

 other. On the next row we start with C 

 just opposite A. By this arrangement you 

 will see that the entrances were facing in 

 all directions, so the bees could not mistake 

 where they lived. I thought it was very 

 unique, and so I was quite sanguine I 

 should like it But after I had worked 

 among the bees as so arranged, I became 

 very much disgusted. I could not sit down 

 to work at a hive anywhere without en- 

 countering the tlight of bees, especially 

 when I took a positoin at A, at groups 15 

 and C. The bees, seeing some great object 



DD 

 DD 



D 



■□D 



in the midst of their groups, would stop, 

 hesitate, buzz around, and fill the air. This 

 Is, to a certain extent, true when working 

 over one hive ; but it is four times as bad 

 when the entrances of the four hives are 

 close together. Group A does very well. But 

 if all were like this it would offer no dissim- 

 ilar arrangement for the bees. I have been 

 trying to think of some better arrangement, 

 and your plan strikes me as the best of any 

 thing I have yet seen. When our out-apia- 

 ry is set out for this season I propose ar- 

 ranging it on just that plan exactly. The 

 fact that it is similar to Dr. Miller's ar- 

 rangement, and the fact that you are one of 

 the most extensive bee - keepers of your 

 State, and that you like it, is much iii its 

 favor. The plan of avoiding the flight of 

 bees, in going about with wheelbarrows and 

 such like, is capital. There is one thing 

 which you have omitted to mention ; and 

 that is, the facility with which a lawn- 

 mower can be run among hives that are 

 parallel and square, instead of liap-hazard, 

 or on the hexagonal plan. In our hexago- 

 nal apiary it is very inconvenient to run a 

 lawn-mower around among the hives, be- 

 cause one hive comes directly in the pass- 

 ageway of the next row. We were obliged 

 to run it zigzag; and we found, several 

 times, that we had thereby given a hive an 

 unlucky '' tunk," as you so happily express 

 it. With your arrangement a lawn-mower 

 could be run straight along, clear through 

 the rows, without any zigzag about it. On 



three sides you would not encounter any 

 entrance. At night the entrance sides 

 should be mown down, when the bees are 

 not flying. Perhaps a good many apiarists 

 do not think it necessary to keep the grass 

 down with a lawn-mower. Of all things I 

 do hate, it is to wade through wet grass, 

 when the dew has been heavy the night 

 previous, in making visitations to the hives. 

 It is only a couple of hours' work a week to 

 run a lawn-mower through a whole apiary 

 of, say, 75 or lUO colonies ; and, aside from 

 the neat and orderly appearance, it pays in 

 other ways, for it keeps the bottoms of the 

 trowsers dry. and makes it necessary to wear 

 only rubbers We should be glad to get 

 suggestions from our correspondents, e. u. 

 In addition to the above, permit me to 

 say that, in most of the California apiaries, 

 they have come to the same conclusion with 

 friend Hatch ; that is, having narrow alleys 

 set apart for a pathway or thoroughfare for 

 the bees. The operator is not supposed to 

 go into these narrow alleys at all. As near- 

 ly as I can lemember. (i" feet was perhaps 

 the width of these; then a broader alley, 

 say 10 or 12 feet, was left for the operator. 

 Ot course, he can cross from one broad alley 

 to another, if he chooses ; but his general 

 work is to be done in the broad alley; and 

 in opening hives and working with them, 

 the narrow alleys are not to be occupied. 

 The bees seem to recognize this narrow al- 

 ley as their own allotted highway; and 

 when they are working heavily the narrow 

 alleys are literally full of buzzing bees, while 

 the broad ones are comparatively free. 

 These double rows of hives with a double 

 alley between them, may center, like the 

 spokes of a wheel, toward the door of the 

 honey-house. I would suggest to fiiend 

 Hatch that his hives mav be in straight 

 rows, and still be on the hexagonal plan ; 

 and this plan gives each hive a greater 

 amount of space than we can get in any 

 other way. 



CRATING AND MARKETING HONEY. 



Continued from last iasue. 



I HARDLY know whether this fact should be more 

 emphasized or not; at all events, hardly any one 

 likes candied comb honey whether they understand 

 its nature or not, and people who don't understand 

 this crystallizing- property of honey say instantly, 

 "Oh! that is manufactured honey, isn't it?" or 

 another fays. " That is some eujrar you have put 

 in." These friends compare the retail price of hon- 

 ey, 18 and 20 cts , with the price of sugar, 7 and S cts , 

 and think there is an immense profit to us in turn- 

 ing sugar thus into honey. Of course, they don't 

 know, nor can we very well explain, ihat the whole- 

 sale price of honey in barrels is about the same as 

 good sugar, thus making it out of the question to 

 adulterate honey profitably. Glucose makes an 

 unpalatable mi.xture, and can't be counted. 



Uijiht here, while speaking of the price of honey. 

 I wish to call some of our dear brethren to account 

 for selling honey so cheaply. One brother sold 

 •;'.i-lb. glass tumblers tor $1.00 per dozen in Toledo. 

 The tumblers cost, any way, 30 cts. per dozen, 

 whoUsale, leaving a Utile lefs than 8 ctF. per lb. for 



