THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



181 



clogged. Mr. Crane showed me this smoker, 

 I believe, while I visited him two summers 

 ago; but I regret very much that I did not 

 take time to investigate it more thoroughly, 

 and I shall do so at the earliest moment. 



But there are some advantages which the 

 cold-blast smokers (particularly the Clark,) 

 have over the Bingham, or any of the hot- 

 l)last smokers with whicli I am acquainted. 

 Aside from the fact that the blast is cold, it 

 has very much more force. With an ordin- 

 ary Clark, a stream of smoke may be forced 

 through four or five hive-bodies or eight or 

 ten supers, for the purpose of driving the bees 

 out of the same. Again, with our cold-blast 

 Clark, or the Hill — a very excellent cold-blast 

 smoker by the way— you can start the tire 

 very readily— much more so than in the hot- 

 blast; and in replenishing they do not re- 

 quire the handling of a hot cone, although 

 Mr. Bingham has made an improvement in 

 his smoker by the use of a spiral-spring 

 handle, by which the cone may be removed 

 without burning the fingers. This safety de- 

 vice, while I at first liked it, I do not think is 

 strong enough to endure the twisting and 

 pulling often required to remove the cone top. 

 The Clark also, when well going, yields a 

 smoke for pungency nearly equal to the hot- 

 blast, and it sells at a price considerably 

 lower. For ordinary manipulations in the 

 apiary it answers very nicely. In the last 

 year or so, it has been improved considerably 

 by the use of perforaticms in the fire-box, 

 not only to increase the draft, but to prevent 

 fire dropping, soiriethmg that used to annoy 

 when the door was revolved enough to allow 

 a sufficient draft. The new blast-tube is so 

 large it rarely clogs up so as to make much 

 trouble, although it requires to be cleaned 

 occasionally; and the valve, in the bellows, 

 becomes in time a little wheezy from creo- 

 sote, although it may be cleaned with a little 

 care. 



For fuel we have tried rotten wood, hard 

 wood, pine sticks, sawdust, shavings, excel- 

 sior, paper, rags, peat, corncobs, and a 

 peculiar kind of sawdust that comes from 

 making hand-holes with a wabbling saw in 

 bee-hives. The last named we find to be far 

 superior to all the others. It lights quickly 

 and smoulders enough to give quite a dense 

 blue smoke. It is readily obtainable of the 

 supply-dealers. It should be remarked, 

 however, that the finer sawdust should be 

 carefully sifted out. 



Medina, Ohio, July 7, 1892. 



A House Apiary that Resembles a Passenger 

 Coach and How it is Success- 

 fully Managed. 



.IAS. IIAKKEK. 



HAVE successfully used house apiaries 

 more than twenty-five years. The first 

 one I made was about seven feet wide, 

 six feet high, twenty feet long, and held 

 forty-eight hives. The one I m now using 

 is forty feet long and resembles a passenger 

 car. The hives along each side might be 

 compared to the seats in the car ; that is, the 

 hives represent the seats and there is an alley- 

 way down the center. I use two rows on each 

 side. The bottom rows sit on the floor ; 

 then half way up is a shelf on which the 

 others rest. 



ITie house is used only in summer, it being 

 only one thickness of stock lumber nailed 

 up and down. Each alternate board has a 

 bee entrance cut in it. Up to each entrance 

 I push a hive so siiugly that no bees can get 

 into the house to bother while at work with 

 tfhem. 



I enter the house from the south end. At 

 the north end there is nothing except a small 

 opening for ventilation in the very hottest 

 weather. 



About three feet from the house I have a 

 row of grape vines that I throw entirely 

 over the house, making a complete shelter 

 during the hottest weather, and it looks like 

 one massive grape arbor with an entrance 

 in the south. 



Now on these shelves (previously men- 

 tioned) I set my hives, and I can work com- 

 fortably in there either by night or by day. 



I do not know how the house would answer 

 for raising extracted honey, as I run mostly 

 for comb honey. 



I place my sections on top of the hives 

 and as fast as filled or nearly so I raise them 

 up and on goes another super. On some of 

 them I have had 120 sections, and others, 

 upon which I used large sections, gave me 

 over 130 lbs. of fine comb honey. 



My section cases are glazed so that I can 

 see at a glance which colony needs another 

 case. I use no cap or covering of any kind 

 more than a piece of card board or bee-quilt 

 or anything to keep the bees in the top case. 



Some people have said bees will not work 

 in the light ; this is not true, for my bee 

 house door stands open night and day during 

 hot weather, and it is very seldom any bees 

 will be seen trying to get through the glass, 

 but all seem quiet and happy. 



