I3E^^OTEI5 E25:CIj-CrSI"V"EI-i^Sr TO BEES J^ISTID HOnSTE-ST 



Vol. III. 



SUPPLEMENT -JULY 1, 1875. 



No. VII. 



0?'K NEW "AIR CASTJLE." 



P:AR FRIEXDS •.— Wc are again much in- 

 terested in a new project, and for fear it 

 may be only another glass house experiment, 

 we prefer to talk to you about it in a supple- 

 jueut, feeling as we do that the pages of Gi^kan- 

 JNtrS should only lie occupied vv'ith matter of 

 real value. Should there be found any thing 

 of real use in the following Ave shall be most 

 heartily glad of it. 



Extracting is a laborious operation as 

 most of you know from experience, and a great 

 portion of the labor involved is the necessity 

 of carrying the combs from the hives to the 

 i^xtractor and back again. Whether we put 

 our extractor on a wheel barrow as IMr. Lang- 

 stroth suggests, or make a can with a tent on 

 it to run between two rows of hives a la Blake- 

 slee, or arrange the hives hexagonallj^ about 

 the bee house doors, in either case much labor 

 and lifting is involved. Again, if we carry 

 our bees into a cellar or bee house dui'ing the 

 winter <( la James Boliu and others, and be- 

 sides that, carry them back during unfavora- 

 ble spring weather, whether we do it by hand, 

 or wheel them in on cars, it is an expensive 

 -md troublesome operation. 



Now we need hardly say, that our bees 

 would assoouA"to/v their honey in one place as in 

 'inothej-, for that matter, they would store it 

 directly in the extractor without any trouble 

 :tt all. When a bee is flying home laden, why 

 do we insist on its carrying its load to some 

 spot, perhaps rods away from our extractor, 

 while we Avith surprising stupidity sweat in 

 the broiling sun, as we lug the heavy combs 

 to the extracting room and back again V . If 

 we don"t tell you of our most precious and 

 i)rilliant new hobby pretty soon, perhaps you 

 will begin to think we have got a "right" or 

 ;something to sell Unally. On the contrary it is, 

 if of value, a free gift, and is only accompanied 

 with a fervent prayer that it may aid j^oii to 

 success in your chosen branch of industry. 



The plan we are just about putting into ex- 

 ec jitiou is as follows : 



Suppose yourself furnished with a neat small 

 extractor, and all the implements for the busi- 

 ness, and located, — well anywhere, say in the 

 centre of your garden for instance. As it is 

 sometimes necessarj^ to extract during wet 

 iiud muddy weather, we think you had better 

 have a clean level floor about you, say for a 

 distance of seven feet from the centre of your 

 extractor. Now should you work very long 

 during a brisk yield of honey, in such narrow 

 quarters, you would probably lind it accumu- 



lating about you, so as to be vmpleasantly in 

 the way ; on this account and some others, we 

 will have a nice clean cellar under our plat- 

 form, capable of holding a large tin-lined tank 

 in which the honey may be allowed to stand i> 

 la Muth, until it is well settled, scum has risen, 

 etc. A suitable gate will run it from this into 

 barrels, and a car can convey them to the 

 wagon to be shipped. A side hill would be a 

 very convenient phice to make this cellar, and 

 at the same time have our extracting floor on 

 a level with the ground. Very well, now where 

 will we have our clever little friends unload 

 their burdens of sweets V We cannot very well 

 ask them all to put it directly in the extractor, 

 as that might lead to "onpleasantness," Init 

 can we not have 50 colonies store their honey 

 all within one yard of the machine V Now be 

 mild, and wait until we get our "Air Castle" 

 built, before you attempt to "kick it over." 

 It is our pet hobby, anil we might "flght like 

 blazes" if perchance you could not run the 

 fastest after you had done it. 



If you draw a circle on your platform, so that 

 it shall be at all points not more than 6 feet 

 from the center of your extractor, its circum- 

 ference will be about 36 feet, and if we should 

 plant 20 comb hives so that their entrances 

 were all outward, with the back end board 

 resting on this circle, we should be able to get 

 in about 25 hives. If we knelt before the 

 hives when lifting out the combs, (as ice usually 

 do,) a shelf containing another similar tier of 

 hives could be placed not more than 4 feet 

 above the floor, and still be out of our way ; 

 this would make the 50 ; and their entrances 

 being in a much larger circle, would be on an 

 average of about 2 feet and five inches apart, 

 and each oue would face a diflerent point of 

 the compass. We have repeatedly had bees do 

 well, when the entrances were less than 18 

 inches apart ; and by making them dissimilar, 

 we think that not even any danger to Queens 

 need be apprehended. As we have got these 

 hives in such excellent and compact shape for 

 wintering, perhaps we had liest put a double 

 sawdust Mall all around them, and a double 

 roof overhead. With this number of good 

 colonies grouped so compactly together, we 

 need have little fear of frost inside. As it will 

 be less work, we will make our building an 

 octagon, instead of a circle, and each one of its 

 8 sides will contain three hives even if we use 

 a frame as long as the Langstroth. These 

 three will be built all in one, with only very 

 thin boards to divide tiiem, and as all is well 

 covered from the weather, a thin cloth cover- 

 ing will be all the better, because we expect to 



