ZDE^OTEE) EXCLUSIVELY TO BEES -A^HSTE- HONEY. 



Vol. IL 



MARCH 1, 1874. 



No. Ill 



HOW TO CONDUCT AN APIARY. 



No. 3. 



S "order is heavens first law" we trust we 

 i, shall be excused for considering that the 

 tirst work to be done in March is to put the 

 Apiary in complete order. Even before the 

 bees are removed from their winter quarters 

 we would insist that all rubbish of every des- 

 cription be cleaned up, if any has collected du- 

 ring the winter, and to avoid the unpleasant- 

 ness of walking about in the soft ground we 

 would the first thing, g,_t a load or two of 

 clean sawdust and make paths of it, to where 

 each hive is to stand, and a good broad one to 

 your own door. 



As soon as the bees are in their places we 

 .shall expect you to see to every hive daily, and 

 we appeal to the lady of the house if it is not 

 too much to tolerate having muddy feet con- 

 stantly coming in, to say nothing of the injury 

 to your own health, from standing in the mud 

 or wet ground and grass, if you should happen 

 to make a prolonged stay at something un- 

 usual about some of the hives; besides wher- 

 ever " Papa" or " sister" or " Auntie" goes, of 

 course the little one; will want to go too, in 

 fact should go, and we want to make it a pleas- 

 ant place for all. When we first took possess- 

 ion of our present apiary so many of the bees 

 got drowned during their tirst flight in the 

 spring in puddles and standing water, that we 

 got exasperated and in spite of frost and snowy 

 weather we went at it bodily and cut uuder- 

 draius 30 inches deep across the whole piece 

 every two rods, and then as no tile were pro- 

 curable right off, we sawed up pine dry goods 

 boxes and covered the drains with short boards 

 laid crosswise, then filled them up. That was 

 eight years ago this spring and there has never 

 been any standing water since, about our 

 apiary. 



A pine half barrel let in the ground at a 

 place where several of the drains meet, affords 

 a view at all times of the working of them, and 

 they have never failed to take away all surplus 

 water. 



We presume the success of our Concords de- 

 pends somewhat on these same underdrains, 

 and by the way these grape vines should be 

 pruned, by cutting all shoots down within two 

 buds of the horizontal arms, as soon as this 

 reaches our readers if it has not been done be- 

 fore. The proper time for pruning varies with 

 different localities, but it should be done soou 

 enough to prevent bleeding if possible, but. 

 prune them any way, for of all untidiness, a 



grape vine sprawling about the ground or ma' 

 king a brushheap of itself in an apiary is the 

 most lamentable. Your success pecuniarily 

 absolutely depends on keeping every thing 

 trimmed up neatly; and while we think of it 

 perhaps you had better make your sawdust 

 paths first, then you can work around the 

 vines and bees with pleasure. 



We believe we never enjoyed ourselves better 

 than when we had a wheelbarrow full of saw- 

 dust, the article being just scarce enough here 

 to make it precious, and our "better half's" 

 dust pan, (that was before the apiary could 

 afford one of its own) with which we sprinkled 

 just enough in the mud to make a clean foot- 

 ing, then rolled our barrow along and built a 

 little further until we had white streets along 

 beside and in front of the hives, that so capti- 

 vated the children, they were ready to scream 

 with delight, when told they were expected to 

 get the fire shovels and run over the paths and 

 pat the sawdust down until all was smooth 

 and hard ; stepping oft' into the mud subjects 

 them to the penalty of being chased by "Papa's" 

 wheelbarrow. 



Weak colonies and in fact all of them should 

 be well protected by Quilts, and if each colony 

 can have two or three 'twill not be amiss in 

 the spring. See that there is no crack nor 

 crevice where the warm air from the cluster 

 can escape, and keep the entrance so small that 

 the bees can just pass out and in. As the frost 

 is leaving the ground the stands will have a 

 tendency to thaw on the south side first and 

 thus tip them out of true ; but until we can 

 decide upon some remedy, which seems not so 

 easy, we can watch them and prop up one side 

 a little until the frost is out. 



We hope a number of our readers will try 

 the forcing plan given on another page, or will 

 even try bedding a hive in the south side of a 

 manure heap or one extemporized for the pur- 

 pose. We can at least thus at small expense 

 try the effect of a raised temperature, with ab- 

 solute protection from all frosts, on brood rear- 

 ing in the spring. 



In regard to stimulative feeding in spring 

 we really know of no better way than the "dry 

 sugar" given last month; when' the weather is 

 such they cannot fly, turn up one corner of 

 their quilt gently in the evening, and pour a 

 few spoonfuls on the cluster. 



Tis true by cutting a hole through the quilt 

 and covering it with wire cloth, we might do 

 it a little handier, or we might use a variety 

 of feeders but we dislike having so many traps 

 around or having so many quilts with holes 

 cut through them. 



