438 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



weak, so that much of the capped brood died for 

 want of bees to keep it warm. I tried to nurse it 

 through, but— "no go;" or rather, al go, for they all 

 went somewhere and never returned. 



I was stating my case to one man, and he re- 

 marked, "Well, I would have pinched that queen's 

 head otf very soon." I am sure, however, it was no 

 fault of the queen, for, a3 they kept dwindling, she 

 kept filling in the eggs. The last lime I saw her, 

 she had but about 50 bees and a spot of an inch or 

 so of brood, and the cells around the brood were, 

 some of them, nearly half full of eggs. She had 

 done her best to fulfill her duty. There was at all 

 times plenty of honey, and no disease about the 

 hive, and no dead bees, to speak of. 



Now, I have a theory which I think will explain 

 just why this coloiJy dwindled and where all the 

 bees, or nearly all, went to, and shall propose an ex- 

 periment which I shall try myself, and which 1 hope 

 others will try also, as it will cost but a few cents. 

 I think it will prevent to a great extent, if not en- 

 tirely, such fearful spring dwindling; but it will be 

 too long for this article, so I will stop here, and give 

 the cause next month, and the remedy still later. 

 A. A. Fradenburg. 



Port Washington, O., Sept. 22, 1879. 



THE HOME OF THE HONEY BEES. 



AN APIARY OF 500 HIVES. 



lj?SN"T it pretty? Had you worked and 

 J! planned and studied over it as we have, 

 — ' dear reader, you might perhaps appreci- 

 ate it in a different way from what you do, 

 hut I am pretty sure you admire it any way. 

 You observe there are 6 apiaries surround- 

 ing a central one, making 7 in all. There 

 are 61 hives in each apiary, and the small 

 apiaries of 7 hives each, in the corners, make 

 the number nearly 500. The hives in each 

 apiary are exactly 7 feet from centre to cen- 

 tre, and the streets are 24 feet broad. The 

 gravel walks in the centre of each street are 

 4 feet wide. The hives face different points 

 of the compass, as I explained in the June 

 No. Coal cinders are placed around each 

 hive to keep the weeds down, and then the 

 space before and around the entrance is 

 covered with clean, white sand. This is not 

 only to give the bees a clean and pleasant 

 dooryard, but it is to enable us, in passing, 

 to see if all is right. For instance, if robbing 

 has been going on, you will see the dead 

 bees on the white sand, even if you are quite 

 a distance away. Day before yesterday, in 

 passing, I saw a young queen on the sand 

 near the entrance of a hive, and out near the 

 grass was another one. 



"Hallo, Will," said I, "what does this 

 mean V" 



"Oh ! I forgot to cut out those queen cells," 

 said he, and he opened the hive "quicker," 

 and found nine good cells , and two torn down . 

 You see the white sand saved me 9 queen 

 cells, that one time. 



The grass is all kept in nice trim, with the 

 lawn mower, and the labor is very much less, 

 for so large an apiary, than to keep the 

 ground clean with a hoe, as I have formerly 

 recommended. It is now the middle of 

 October, but the grass, in consequence of 

 the frequent mowings, is as fresh and green 

 as in June. To add to the beauty of it, dan- 

 delions have sprung up, and their bright 

 yellow blossoms dotting the green here and 

 there make a prettier picture than I can de- 

 scribe, especially as one or more Italians are 

 found on every blossom, on pleasant days. 



On the outside of the row of evergreens, 



which are planted for a wind break, is a car- 

 riage drive, and this drive extends off to the 

 south, down by the pond, and through my 

 creek bottom garden, which I have been 

 telling you about. We planted 100 ever- 

 greens, and but tive of them died, and the 

 nurseryman says he will replace those. Of 

 500 grape vines, planted last fall, I believe 

 only about 7 died. The building with the 

 wings is the honey house, as we call it. 

 There we store all the tools and implements, 

 all the empty hives, the sugar for feeding, 

 &c. We are talking of a rail-road to run 

 through the apiary into this house, but the 

 light wheel- barrow seems to answer so well, 

 we may not build it. 



You will notice that the house apiary has 

 changed so much, that one would hardly 

 recognize an old acquaintance. To Mr. Gray 

 is the credit due, for having made it so pret- 

 ty, and so convenient for the bees, which 

 we are just putting in the upper story. The 

 old wood roof used to leak some, and so we 

 have put on a tin one. Leaking is a very 

 bad feature for any roof, for hive or building. 

 Tin, if kept painted, makes a sure thing of 

 it. The chaff tenement hive looks as large 

 as life, or a little larger, and perhaps "twice 

 as natural." You will observe, in the cen- 

 tre of each apiary, or near the centre, 4 chaff 

 hives. These are to assist in giving land- 

 marks, both to the bees and the apiarist. 

 Just now. we are giving chaff hives to all 

 that we decide to winter. The apiary is not 

 full of hives, as represented in the cut, but 

 we number, house apiary and all. just 314. 

 About 200 will probably be preserved for 

 wintering. The balance we shall keep for 

 those who want a queen very late ; and. after 

 the queen is sold, they will be united with 

 others. The grape vines, this season (the 

 first), have been trained on a single stake, 

 but they have made such a healthy growth, 

 especially those which have been mowed 

 around with the lawn mower, that we shall 

 have to get out 500 trellises, ready for next 

 June. 



I wanted the artist to get the inscription 

 on the flag, but the letters woidd have been 

 so small, you probably could not have read 

 it. Instead of a dozen or more rows of mam- 

 moth sunflowers, he has made only one, and 

 these resemble some tropical plant, more 

 than those out in the held. The masses of 

 foliage this side of the sunflowers represent 

 the borage. It is yet in full bloom, and cov- 

 ered fairly with bees from morning till night, 

 but nothing like the Simpson honey plant, 

 and the spider flowers. The spider flowers 

 are growing right down at the right hand 

 corner; the Simpson plant, at the upper 

 right hand corner of the honey farm. The 

 highway, where the man is riding along on 

 horse back, runs east and west. I wish I 

 could take you down by the pond and show 

 you my creek bottom garden; perhaps I 

 will some day. I was at work in it this morn- 

 ing, with my hoe, so early that I had to work 

 by the light of the stars. I knelt in the soft 

 rich ground (where the cultivator had been 

 running the night before among the plants) 

 and thanked God for this honey farm, and 

 the opportunities it gives me of helping you 

 all. 



