f87S 



<SLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



10) 



Iniilt — strong stocks gathering j)er)iU2)s 2 or -i 



ll)s. jxT (lay. jNow mind, they will Jiuvc ani;)lo 

 tunc to get itiill C'a])poiJ over, ;in<l our lioaey 

 ■will 1k' extra ni<'e, even if it tf<tf,s take an extra 

 •force of suncappL-vs. 



' ( )ur liouse Aiiiaiy i^ ne^irly reiidy for t2ie bees ; 

 5)iit iUi hive*i are to be ti'ied in the room ; there 

 are S siilcs to it, tacJi li feet ■\vi<le, ami 7 feet 

 iiigh, the east and west sides are occu2:)ied by 

 tiie large double doors mentioned, and theoth- 

 <'rs contain 'J hives eacli, S on the iioor, and y on 

 n 20 incia s.'ielf tJiree fenjt from the iioor. Noth- 

 ;Jng but an end board separates one hive from its 

 aieighbor, and as we «iean to avail ourselves 

 /)f frieml DeaJi's idea, we sJiail have no front to 

 the hive excej)t the division board; the L. combs 

 running parallel to the wall. Tliese division 

 ^)oards njce si.'uplj a shcM^t of glass lined with 

 iolded tin, allowing visitoi-s a fair chance to 

 see, and ailso enabling us to see when any 

 Queen needs another conib, without opening a 

 hive. Nothing but a <iuilt is needed ou top, 

 ^uul this permits of closing the hive up to thre^', 

 tMo, or evon one comb with greater liacility 

 than eveji tiic Quinby liive, the gla,ss division 

 boards moving in their places very easily'. 

 Tile lamp nursery is to Ix' located in the cen- 

 tre of the room — in place of the extractor at 

 present unless honey should come — and we 

 can tlispose of Queens as fast as hatched to 

 the ditifereut hives with great liicility. A 

 Queen register is placed ou the wall just over 

 each hive, and no numbering is neexled, for 

 <me can forget the locality no more than the 

 bees do. For instance, if we wish to send any 

 one to any hive in tiie house, we have only to 

 say "middle upper hive on north-east side," or 

 "lower left hand on south-west side." We shall 

 start cells for the whole ^!() to-morrow, and im- 

 less Ave are a bungler, each hive should have a 

 Queen by Aug. 1st, 



Ji/li/ 28(7t— Fifteen colonies are rejoicing in 

 the house Apiary, and more are being made 

 as fast as a Queen is found hatched or hatch- 

 ing in tlie lamp nursery. They have all been 

 introduced by letting them loose at once, some- 

 times at the entrance, and sometimes, espec- 

 ially if they are found after dark, by simply 

 raising a corner of the <]uilt and letting them 

 crawl iu ; sometimes a l)ee starts forivard as if 

 to attack, but invariably, after pulling them a 

 little an(l looking them over, seems to say, 

 "Why you poor young thing, i^o<>/ are not worth 

 noticing;" and the "young thing" never having 

 seen a bee before, crawls up the bees with the 

 same confidence with which a nev.'ly hatched 

 chicken cuddles up under your hand, Avhile a 

 Queen 4H hours old will run and peep, and get 

 killed in a minute. 



The two first hatched, (on the 20th) are now 

 laying, and although we have taken no pains 

 at all to make the entrances unlike, eitlier by 

 paint or otherwise, no confusion has I'esulted 

 at all. We took particular !)ains to see a 

 Queen take her flight, and think there is not 

 the least danger. .She took a look into the en- 

 trances on either side, it is true, and then 

 seemed to say, "This is not my house, nor this 

 one, but tAus one is" as she glided into lier own 

 3 inch auger hole; <re like them vastly, not 

 withstanding some of our friends ridiculed 

 the idea of 2 inch entrances. The walls 

 are 4 inches thick, you will remember, I 



and we worried about the bees having to crawl 

 this dist-ince, but bless y<.i;, they sweep right 

 in, and alight with tlieiv huge loads of poilen 

 directly on tJie outside comb. The door stei)> 

 are 14x10, and just sloping enough to carrv <jtl" 

 the water. The interior, work.s so p-rfectly 

 that we will give you a diagram of cue hive. " 

 A , 



I 



JG 



\\u 



Let A, A, 

 ing with its 

 inir paper ; 



represent 4 inch wall of the buiid 

 ■) <lead air spaces m.ide with liuild- 

 K, 2 inch entrance liole, J>, door- 

 step, C, shelf that liolds the hives, G, pane of 

 glass lOxLS, lined with tin, and made to hang- 

 on the rabbets like the frames .1. for a division 

 l)oard. H, I), is the quilt, made of duck, or 

 canvass, liP^ inches by 2(5: it not only cover.s 

 the top of the frames, but hangs down over the 

 glass division board, and exchules light. To 

 tivcilitate handling, a strip of tin 1 inch by l!)'.^ 

 is folded over each end, one l)eiug crowdetl 

 down in the rabbets tight up to the wall, and 

 the other, lying on the shelf C. When wc 

 wish to open a hive this strip is lifteil until the 

 frames are uncovered, and then it is laid across 

 the nail I, this takes the quilt entirely out of 

 the way, and leaves it so all adhering bees are 

 sure to crawl right down into the hive again 

 instead of meandering about the room and 

 utensils. In a house like this the Quinby smo- 

 ker is (juite unnecessarj', in fact it is a nui- 

 sance ; a ball of candle wicking, and a box of 

 matches we rtnd all sufficient to make the bees 

 go back when the quilt is raised, and to drive 

 them away from the spot where we wish to 

 grasp a frame. When you are through with 

 smoke, wet your ringers and pinch the end of 

 your string. If you want more volume, double 

 or treble the wicking. We were astonished to 

 rind that bees are much quieter in a darkened 

 room, and our outnide doors when closed make 

 the room as dark as ink ; by closing them par- 

 tiallj', it is amusing to see bees that are inclined 

 to l)e cross, hustle out, or get l)ack into their 

 hives ; in fact we have them in every respect 

 completely under our thumb, in warm weather. 

 Very few bees leave a comb when handling it. 

 and those that do, go outside and rind their 

 own entrance, almost as (juickly as when the 

 hive is out of doors. In shaking the bees ofl" 

 the combs, they generally crawl back into the 

 hive at once, but we have had a few heavy 

 stocks start in a l)ody and march all over the 

 walls and ceiling, but if no other hive is open 

 thfey will almost as quickly go back again, 

 when tlie room is darkened. The glass tfivis- 

 ion boards hung in the rab))ets work beanti- 

 fully, for we have a two frame hiv^', or one for 

 11 frames in an instant, and so easily is it 

 moved, that we usually draw it back a little in 

 removing frames, thus having a side opening- 

 hive after all. The convenience of working in a 

 clean tidy room room, having all your imple- 

 ments always right at hand — and all your 

 hives too for that matter — being always free 

 fi'om the annoyance of robliers, is truly, only to 

 be appreciated by actual use. We have not 

 yet tested the room with the extractor — the 



