July, ItilH. 



2?,'.> 



American Hee Journal 



The cost of labor included building a 

 fence on one side of the apiary ground 

 and making a road about 300 feet. 



Our hives in the house apiaries are 

 made to take the regular Hoflfman 

 brood-frames the same as we used out- 

 side and to take the standard factory 

 10 frame supers for either comb or 

 extracted honey. 



The lumber for this building cost us 

 about $75 at the mill, and the other 

 material including windows, door, 

 paint, roofing, nails, cement for foun- 

 dation and spouting, etc., cost about 

 $50, making the total cost of material 

 $125, the labor, counting hired help at 

 cost, and my own time, $3.00 per day, 

 cost $145, including about $20 paid for 

 boarding our men part of the time near 

 the job, and we figured $30 for gasoline 

 and wear and tear on automobile, look- 

 ing after the job and taking our crew 

 back and forth nearly every day, as this 

 building is six miles from home. The 

 above makes a total cost of $300. We 

 sent to a mail order house for the roof- 

 ing, windows, door, and such things, 

 and saving some money on these. 



We used two kinds of sheeting paper ; 

 we put this on just ahead of the 

 weather boarding, putting on next the 

 studding, the heavy, regular red sheet- 

 ing paper and on this the tarred sheet- 

 ing ; the idea being to have the tarred 

 paper make it more secure against mice 

 or other vermin chewing through, and 

 the red paper, lighter in color, to make 

 the building as light as possible inside. 

 Of course, you could use any light 

 colored paper for this. 



It is important to have corners cut 

 out of the window lights at all four 

 corners, so bees may get out when 

 you are working with them. We also 

 have galvanized screens on the win- 

 dows outside, spaced out from facing 

 at top and extending up a little further 

 so bees can crawl up and out and to 

 prevent them getting back in, but these 

 interfere some with their getting out on 

 a cool day, and can be omitted if you 

 are careful not to leave any honey 

 exposed inside when there is no flow. 



We had enough extra lumber in 

 about all sizes for stair risers, treads 

 and scaffolding, so this could be left 

 up for the painters. Studdings are 

 placed 24 inches from center to center, 

 and one hive for each space. The win- 

 dows are just the right width so frames 

 can be set in without cutting out any 

 studding. Entrances are painted dif- 

 ferent colors so the bees can the better 

 find their own places. 



We have all our bees in house api- 

 aries now and would not like to go 

 back to the outside apiaries for several 

 reasons. We find in the first place we 

 can get more work done in the house 

 apiary on account of being able to 

 have things handier as well as more 

 independent of weather. We use all 

 10 frame hives, having same built in 

 solid in the last two house apiaries we 

 built; while in the first one we put in 

 hives previously nailed up. We run for 

 extracted honey almost exclusively, 

 producing a little comb honey at the 

 home apiary only. 



We go overall colonies in the spring 

 as soon as the weather permits to see 

 that all queens are clipped as well as to 

 clean out any dead bees or other refuse 

 that may be in any of them, and note 



general conditions. We make a more 

 thorough examination atthis time than 

 at any other time of the year. In fact, 

 many colonies may not have their 

 brood-nest disturbed again until fall 

 unless we have reason to suspect dis- 

 ease. Of course, if a colony does not 

 progress properly it is examined again 

 to ascertain the trouble. We are care- 

 ful to place supers on all hives before 

 they seem to be ready for swarming. 



I figure that as to cost, while we 

 had to make an extra investment to 

 change to house apiaries, the expense 

 in case of starting a new apiary is very 

 little more for a house apiary than that 

 for chaff hives and a necessary supply 

 house. But of course you would not 

 want to build a house apiary unless 

 you were satisfied that you would want 

 to keep the same location for a number 

 of years and could buy the ground 

 reasonable. 



Ebensburg, Pa. 



The Greening Method of Swarm 

 Prevention 



BY H. B. TURRF.LL 



IN the American Bee Journal for Sep- 

 tember, 1914, Mr. C. F. Greening has 

 an article in which he tells how he 

 prevents swarming in his apiary. His 

 method as set forth in his article is so 

 simple and so easily followed that one 

 would expect it to be adopted by all 

 beekeepers, provided it works out 

 according to his statement. 



We rather expected to see some 

 comment on this method of swarm 

 control, in later issues of the Bee Jour- 

 nal, but so far none have appeared. 

 Would it be too much to ask that you 

 submit the article in question to some 

 of your regular contributors, and ask 

 them to tell us what they think of it ? 

 It seems to me, like a great many other 

 things, we read of in bee-keeping " im- 

 portant if true." 



For my part, I believe I should rather 

 see more articles such as Mr. Greening 

 contributed than so much about win- 

 tering and foulbrood. Wintering is a 

 subject of no especial interest in our 

 latitude, especially cellar wintering, 

 and as this subject, as well as bee dis- 

 eases is fully covered in the various 

 books on apiculture, and by publica- 

 tions of the State and national govern- 

 ments, it seems that those wishing 

 information concerning such subjects 

 might well be directed to the proper 

 sources of information, and to avoid 

 the endless repetition which we find in 

 the bee journals. 



To get back to Mr. Greening, he 

 states that his crop ran to from 150 to 

 200 pounds per colony. Such a yield 

 must have required good management 

 in addition to any non-swarming 

 method he may have used, >i' eat cc pas ' 



Wheatland, Ind. 



[The Greening method -,vas com- 

 mented upon in several numbers of the 

 "Questions and Answers Department," 

 especially in the number for May, 1915, 

 page 171. Mr. Greening was a success- 

 ful man, but perhaps a little emphatic. 

 We believe his method is excellent in 

 the production of extracted honey. 



though we doubt much its advisability 

 in comb-honey production. We do not 

 like his method of making artificial 

 swarms for the reasons given in that 

 May number. 



As to the value of the Greening 

 method, in extracted honey production, 

 we would be glad to hear from those 

 who tried it. 



Our correspondent wants us to 

 "avoid endless repetition." This we 

 aim to do. Yet if we were to give only 

 new things, we would have to be con- 

 stantly perusing the past years of the 

 Journal ; for it is astonishing to find 

 how many of the so-called new meth- 

 ods have been published at one time or 

 another and forgotten. Some things 

 bear repeating on account of their 

 value. Many good things, worthy of 

 putting in practice, are read and for- 

 gotten. 



Mr. Greening died July 1, 191.5, and 

 his death was recorded in our October 

 number, page 335. — Editor.] 



Hiving Bees from Combless 

 Pacloges— A Suggestion 



BV KENNITH HAWKINS 



TROUBLE in keeping many of the 

 bees in packages from going into 

 the air, if they are shaken at onee 

 into liii'es and not left to go down per 

 usual directions, has led me to a new 

 plan, at least nciv to me. I don't like 

 the plan of letting the bees go down to 

 brood or combs after opening pack- 

 ages and laying them above in a super, 

 as too often they fail to do so in rea- 

 sonable time. Trouble that way, led me 

 to think of wetting the bees with a 

 sprinkler as in making up queen-mat- 

 ing nuclei, to keep them from flying, 

 and now I do it with all packages, just 

 before opening cages. They never ily, 

 and are at once zchere they are ivanled 

 luithout delay. 



Care must be used not to use too 

 much water, and if the plan has not 

 been already given to beekeepers, I 

 would be glad to see it published, for 

 it is a bee saver, time sai'cr, and a sure 

 method. 



Plainfield, 111. 



Yield of Honey in Southern 

 Calilornia 



BY T- E. PLEASANTS. 



SOUTHERN California's honey yield 

 will be less than half a crop this 

 year. The honey is of good qual- 

 ity, and prices, so far as can be ascer- 

 tained to date, are considerably in 

 advance of last season. Buyers are in 

 the field trying to make contracts for 

 honey. So far, little has been sold ; 

 6K cents per pound is offered f. o. b. 

 shipping points for white sage, 6,'s for 

 orange honey, and 5 cents for amber. 



We nave had very unusual climatic 

 conditions. Our season might be sized 

 up as a flood followed by a dry year. It 



