is r r^ 



Or how to Realize the Most Money with the Smallest Expenditure of Capital 

 and Labor in the Care of Bees, Rationally Considered. 



PUBLISHED IHOTVTIILY. 



Vol. I. 



MEDINA, O., JULY 1, 1873. 



No. 7. 



STARTING AX APIARY. 



^jjjSpiND readers all, if you hav< 

 -L^ij us tlius far you are prob 



No. 7. 



i - c followed 

 robably now 

 ready for business, and to confess the 

 truth, we prefer during the extracting 

 season that you stand beside us and help 

 us decide upon the best plan to "run" it, 

 now that we have you fairly started. 



In the first place, those of you who 

 have, like ourselves, been in the habit, 

 until recently, of having the hives some 

 distance from the extractor, have of course 

 been accustomed to removing all of the 

 combs from the hive and then taking 

 them, at one load, to be emptied. Now it 

 seems to make but little difference wheth- 

 er the bees be left destitute of combs un- 

 til they are returned or not, for we believe 

 they alwa} r s wait patiently for them, or 

 whether the set of combs from the previ- 

 ous hive be given them. 



It would seem that the latter course 

 would send them to the fields again soon- 

 er, and we are quite certain that it makes 

 no difference to them whether they have 

 their own combs or those from another 

 hive, aud as a considerable amount of la- 

 bor is saved the operator, we shall recom- 

 mend the latter. 



The objections are that very soon the 

 identity of any hive of bees is lost, and 

 you have no particular choice stocks tu 

 .-how visitors, for all hives contain hybrids 

 or Italians, just as it happens, and there 

 is some danger of throwing a quantity of 

 brood and eggs under the care of a colo- 

 ny too weak to supply all their wants. 



With the ''hexagonal plan" of the api- 

 ary each hive is so near one of the doors 

 of our bee house that the work is not 

 very great if two combs be taken from 

 the hive, carried in to be extracted, and 

 two empty ones brought back ; when 

 robbers are not troublesome this plan is 

 very simple and does very well. 



The nearer our bees become pure Ital- 

 ians the greater is the difficulty of remov- 

 ing them from the combs, for the harder 

 heavy combs are shaken the more per- 



sistently they seem to hold on, and brush- 

 ing off a large number with our bunch oi' 

 asparagus tops is slow business. Now 

 comes the point where we want "head 

 work." If we take two combs from the 

 upper story first, and shake and brush off 

 the bees, the same ones will need to be 

 "got off" again, and still again ; which is 

 a troublesome process, besides being al- 

 most too much even for the patience of 

 Italians. If they are shaken in front of 

 the hive, as we did formerly, they are a 

 long time getting in. The thin honey is 

 thrown on the ground and door-step, and 

 attracts robbers, and the danger of losing 

 the queen is greater than when they arc 

 shaken on the top of the frames or direct- 

 ly into the empty hive. Lifting the top 

 story off and doing the lower one first 

 partially remedies the difficulty, but Nov- 

 ice says although he can carry "stoves," 

 etc., when necessary, he don't "hanker 

 after the job of lifting an upper story full 

 of honey and setting it down "somewhere 

 carefully if it can by any means be avoid- 

 ed, besides, bees that have been "well 

 brought up" and behave well when han- 

 dled in the ordinary manner are almost 

 sure to "kick up a row" when divided in 

 this unceremonious way without recourse 

 be had to smoke, and we cannot think 

 smoke necessary at any time during the 

 honey season. 



"Well, Mr. Novice," says "P. G.," "what 

 WOill^JOU have? It seems you can nev- 

 er be satisfied." 



"I would have an extra set of combs tor 

 the first hive, which should lie slid its 

 length backward and a new one put in its 

 place containing these combs. Now all 

 we have to do is to shake the bees into 

 this hive, and they can proceed with work 

 at once. When all the combs are out, 

 slide the hive just back of this (at the 

 next trellis) back, put the empty one in 

 its place and proceed as before.' 



"But, Mr. N., quite a number of bees 

 will remain in the empty hive, aud possi- 

 bly the queen; these must be jarred off, 

 and then, when the combs tire emptied, 

 they must be put somewhere. Why not 

 carry the empty bive i*to the house, and 



