January, 1016. 



American l^ee Journal 



on the hives in big piles. 



Our large hive has a broodnest of 

 sufficient size to furnish room for a 

 very prolific queen to lay without 

 crowding. The need of excluders is 

 thus largely avoided. During the past 

 season excluders were used on part of 

 the hives at one yard because a few 

 queens insisted on going into the su- 

 pers to lay. Fourteen of the sixteen 

 swarms which issued at this yard came 

 from the colonies on which excluders 

 were used. The use of excluders hin- 

 ders the free movement of the bees be- 

 tween the brood-nest and the storage 

 space above. This free movement is 

 important if swarming is to be kept 

 within bounds, as the above experience 

 shows. With our large hives there is 

 little trouble from the queen laying in 

 the super if care is taken that no 

 drone-comb be present immediately 

 over the brood-nest. Our frame is 

 about two inches deeper than the Lang- 

 stroth frame, which adds greatly to the 



THE POLAND OUTYARD 



THE MILLIKEN YARD-CLOVER IS THE PRINCIPAL DEPENDENCE HERE 



will remain with the refuse unless 

 good equipment is used. 



The beekeeper who has never prac- 

 ticed the establishment of outapiaries, 

 has little idea of the possible difiference 

 in yield between two yards only a few 

 miles apart. These differences may be 

 due to several causes. Woodland flora 

 is quite different from that of prairie 

 land, and although many apiarists hold 

 that bees travel as far as eight miles in 

 any direction, we have never had them 

 go beyond three miles, and this only in 

 such a direction as offered the greatest 

 ease to their flight. Hills covered with 

 timber offer more or less obstacle 

 to their flight, and we feel quite posi- 

 tive that the longest flight of the bees 

 is on an easy grade, up or down aval- 

 ley. Winds, of course, probably also 

 have an influence, as the breezes bring 

 to the flying insects the smell of the 

 blooming fields and also help them to 

 get home after they are loaded. 



We have often had apiaries as close 

 together as four miles. As the vicinity 

 of the Mississippi river is usually 

 broken and more or less covered with 

 timber, the apiaries within two miles 

 of the stream have a variety of flowers. 

 But those located farther have, on the 

 other hand, a profusion of large pas- 



capacity of the brood-chamber. 



The accumulation of wax is no mean 

 item in a large apiary. The cappings, 

 of course, are the principal source of 

 this product, but the small scrapings 

 that are often thrown away amount to 

 more than one would think. If a con- 

 venient container is kept constantly at 

 hand in which to throw these bits of 

 wax the beekeeper will find it worth 

 while. Bur combs, propolis, scrap- 

 ings and other odds and ends add to 

 the total accumulation. In going over 

 our apiaries of nearly 600 colonies the 

 total was carefully weighed to deter- 

 mine the amount, and to our surprise 

 more than 30 pounds of wax was se- 

 cured from these remnants. 



In rendering the wax it is important 

 that the work be done very thoroughly. 

 Few beekeepers are equipped to get all 

 the wax, as has been proven many 

 times by extracting considerable quan- 

 tities from the slumgum which was 

 suppose Jly clear. A second or third 

 pressing nearly always pays, and even 

 then it often happens that much wax 



THE LEMAIRE OUTYARD 



