August, 1916. 



American Hee Journal 



261 



<^^1rl\ 



several interesting lines of research. 

 The picture sliows the apiary build- 

 ing with the long line.s of beehives 

 which constitute the college apiary. 

 The bee department is provided with 

 ample quarters for their work. Ex- 

 periment for artificial mating of 

 queens is being carried on extensive- 

 ly. While it is too soon to determine 

 the possible value of this work the 

 results will be watched with interest. 

 DR. Leonard's home. 

 The evening found us at the de- 

 lightful country home of Dr. L. D. 

 Leonard, who is well known to many 

 of our readers because of his activities 

 as secretary of the Minnesota Bee- 

 keeper's Association in years past. 

 The doctor has an office in Minneap- 

 olis for his professional duties, return- 

 ing to his home at the close of the day. 

 A 20 mile trolley ride brings him to 

 as pleasant surroundings as can be 

 imagined. Although within two bocks 

 of the car line, he lives as quietly as 

 though he were a thousand miles from 

 the city. His home is surrounded by 

 native trees, and a little lake lies be- 

 fore his front door, where the water 

 birds come to nest and the water 

 lilies bloom in profusion. The Doctor 

 is great for experiments, and his 

 apiary has been the trial labratory 

 of many implements now in use in his 

 State. We plan to show some of his 

 inventions at some future time. Just 

 now he is experimenting with shallow 

 extracting combs with the idea of 

 preserving a set containing about 25 

 pounds of honey to be placed over each 

 colony for winter stores. With a bee- 

 space under these shallow combs, 

 which provides easy access to diffe'cnt 

 parts of the super for easy movement 

 between the combs, he hopes for bet- 

 ter wintering than on the full-depth 

 combs alone. His limited trial has 

 been very encouraging. 



F. W. RAV. 



Mr. Ray is a teacher of manual 



training in the Minneapolis schools 

 and at the same time a very practical 

 beekeeper. Kay looks for the dollars 

 rather than the fun to be had from 

 beekeeping. His apiary faces a 

 small pond which would be called a 

 lake in some localities. The bees 

 were piling in the honey at the time of 

 of our visit, and there was every pro- 

 spect of a satisfactory harvest. Ray 

 succeeded Dr. Leonard to the office of 

 secretary of the State association, 

 which office is now held by Prof. 

 France. He placed his big touring 

 car at our disposal and gave us a 

 most interesting opportunity to see 

 beekeeping about the twin cities. In 

 passing through the city our attention 

 was called to a small apiary beside 

 the sidewalk and next to the police 

 station. The bees are the property of 



the police captain, who also has an 

 apiary on the roof. It is unusual to 

 see bees In such a situation, yet we 

 were informed that they had not an- 

 noyed the thousands of people who 

 pass daily. As will be seen by the 

 picture the bees are on ground that 

 properly belongs to the street. 



THE APIARY INSPECTOR. 



In the evening a group of congenial 

 spirits sat down to dinner together at 

 the home of Chas. D. Blaker, the in- 

 spector of apiaries. In Minnesota 

 the office sought the man, which Is 

 unusual nowadays. There were sev- 

 eral candidates for the position, but 

 the leaders in the association got to- 

 gether and decided that Blaker was 

 the man they wanted. They went to 

 the governor with the request that he 

 be appointed. In Minnesota the in- 



THE F. W RAY APIARY IN MINNEAPOLIS 



EXAMINING THE QUEEN-MATING NUCLEI-PROF. JAGER. F. W. KAY AND 

 PROF. JAGER'S APIARY ASSISTANT 



spector is on salary, so that he is 

 free to give his attention to the in- 

 terests of the beekeepers throughout 

 the year. In most states the work is 

 paid for by the day, and since a man 

 must look after his own business it 

 sometimes happens that such matters 

 are not attended to as promptly as 

 they might be if the inspector had no 

 other duties. Mr. Blaker has a very 

 good system of records, so that con- 

 ditions in any locality can be follow- 

 ed up from year to year. He is now 

 president of the association. 



THE HOFMAN APIARIES. 



The morning of the fourth of July 

 our party went to Janesville to see 

 the Hofman apiaries. Mr. E. L. Hof- 

 man is probably the largest honey 

 producer in Minnesota. At present 

 he has 850 old colonies and an in- 

 crease of 90 making 940 colonies in 

 all. Hofman belongs to that rare 

 class combining neatness with good 

 practice and extensive production. 

 His hives are nicely painted, stands 

 are level, grass is cut, all equipment 

 is in place, and everything is slick 

 as the parlor of a Dutch housewife. 

 With seven yards, he has no time to 



