984 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



will remember that I 

 said the climate in Ar- 

 izona is so very warm 

 and uniform that even 

 eggs, under some con- 

 ditions, if left long- 

 enough, will hatch 

 rig-ht on the pantry 

 shelves. 



After stopping- at the 

 beautiful fruit- ranch 

 of the senior Mr. 

 Chambers we took the 

 road ag-ain to visit 

 some of the out-yards. 

 The next place we 

 stopped at was the 

 Chambers Asj'lum api- 

 ary, so named because 

 of a public institution 

 in that vicinity. The 

 yard is right in the 

 midst of a lot of alfalfa - 

 fields, and hence it is. 

 of course, verj' favor- 

 ably located. 



Fig. 2 shows an in- 

 terior view and how 

 the hives stand on low 

 benches running from 

 one end of the shed 

 inclosure to the other. 



The object of this is to bring the hives 

 up to convenient working distance. Some 

 of them are deep square hives which he 

 bought up that he does not like. 



All through this part of Arizona are used 

 very extensively little square frames; and 

 when one buys up apiaries he very often is 

 impelled to take a hive and frame that he 

 does not like, and that was the case with Mr. 

 Chambers. As fast as he can, he is trans- 



FIG. 3. — THE CHAMHKKS EXTRACTING-HOUSI 



FIG. 2. — CHAM KI-.KS" ASYLUM APIAKV. 



ferring them into hives of Langstroth di- 

 mensions, as he finds they are more con- 

 venient, and better in every way; and in 

 this connection I will state that he is very 

 emphatic in that he wants thick-top-bar 

 frames one inch wide, and gentle Italians. 

 He thinks life is too short to fuss with poor 

 contrivances when it costs but little more to 

 have things right. I noticed that the bees 

 at this apiary — in fact, at all his yards 

 that I stopped at — were 

 verj' gentle. This is ow- 

 ing to the fact that there 

 are no breaking of burr- 

 combs, or very little of it, 

 to irritate the bees dvn-ing 

 extracting time, and the 

 tees themselves are from 

 imported Italian stock. 

 We could go all through 

 the yard without veil or 

 smoker; and this was in 

 marked contrast to my ex- 

 perience at some of the other 

 apiaries I visited in that 

 ]iart of Arizona where hy- 

 brids and thin top-bars are 

 used. 



Right adjoining the Asy- 

 lum apiary was an extr act- 

 ing-house. Fig. 3, having 

 wire-cloth sides at one end, 

 and covered with cheap 

 cloth for a shade. Mr. 

 Chambers has these struc- 

 tures at each yard; and 

 during times of robbing he 

 can carry on extracting se- 

 cure from intrusion;, and 



