626 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Auc. 



Last year, when we had foul brood, we used 

 to say that, as the apiary was a big expense, 

 yielding almost no revenue, we hardly felt 

 that we could put more money into it than 

 was absolutely necessary. Friend Hunt's 

 idea of keeping cinders under the hives to 

 keep away grass is a good one, though it 

 must be considerable labor at first. If the 

 weeds come through, sprinkle a little salt 

 where they start up. The cheapest way to 

 keep grass and weeds away from the entrance 

 is to sprinkle with salt. A couple of pails- 

 ful of rock salt will keep the entrances of 

 a hundred hives clear for the season. 



AMONG THE BEEKEEPERS OF VER- 

 MONT. 



CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE. 



RS\ HISTOL is a fine location for a crop of bass- 



{jal wood honey, as these trees are plentiful on 



f^ the hills and mountains. This crop is gener- 

 ■"^ ally gathered inside of two weeks. In 1883 

 Mr. Manum's best colony gave 312 lbs. of 

 comb honey. In 1885, when he obtained 19 tons of 

 comb honey, and 3 tons of extracted, from 150 colo- 

 nies, spring count, his best colony gave £28 lbs. of 

 comb honey; and that season, at the Mills Apiary, 

 near Bristol, his hive on the scales "gained in one 

 day while working on basswood, 33i4 lbs.; in 1 days, 

 123& lbs.; and in Ave days, 179)4 lbs." 



White clover is more plentiful, and yields better 

 on the heavy clay soil in the towns along the shore 

 of Lake Champlain, and for this reason several 

 apiaries are quite a distance from Bristol on the 

 west and north, one being within a quarter of a 

 mile of the lake, and 10 miles from home. 



We visited all the apiaries but two of the most 

 remote. All were of great interest to us, but we 

 were especially pleased with the situation of the 

 new one, apiary No. 6. 



The valley is long and wide, large enough to give 

 quite a meadow pasturage, white clover being plen- 

 tiful \V 2 miles away. On all sides, except the south- 

 west, were high ridges on which basswood-trees 

 were abundant. Here in an orchard on level 

 ground, well sheltered from cold north winds, they 

 were laying out the new yard. 



At each apiary is a building containing work- 

 room and honey-room, and one hive standing on 

 scales. A piece of section on which the hive num- 

 ber is stenciled in black is tacked in the gable of 

 each. Records of each colony are kept on a piece 

 of section, or smooth piece of wood, which is left 

 on the packing inside the case. 



In some hives we found the records of several 

 years giving dares of examination, when swarms 

 issued, when requeened, age of queen, etc., all kept 

 in a kind of shorthand familiar to many bee-keep- 

 ers. A book account of the important operations 

 requiring special attention at a certain time is also 

 kept in each bee-house. Hives are usually placed 

 in rows 5 feet apart and 1:2 feet between the rows, 

 when they face each other, and five feet between 

 when back to back. In setting hives, a long line is 

 used, the distance measured off, stakes temporarily 

 driven, and a hive set against each stake and 

 blocked up level. The packing is left about the in- 

 ner hive the year round, and hives are not changed 

 when once placed, unless to another yard. To pre- 

 vent an upset during gales in winter, each hive is 



tied by a large cord to stakes driven into the 

 ground. 



Most of the readers of Gleanings are familiar 

 with Mr. Manum's three-legged, swarm-catcher, in 

 the cage of which the clipped queen caught as the 

 swarm issues is confined, and on which the bees 

 cluster, and where they are left until there is plenty 

 of time to hive them. Mr. Manum places the catch- 

 er so the caged queen is as near as possible to the 

 Hying bees; or if they have clustered, he pushes the 

 cage into the cluster, or near by, and they soon 

 find the queen and settle around \v r. If the swarm 

 has gone some distance, or is in a high tree, the 

 cage is stood up in front of the old hive. When 

 tliey find they are without a queen they return, 

 find her, and cluster with her. That they may sure- 

 ly cluster instead of going back into the hive with- 

 out her, the hive entrance as well as that of one or 

 two hives next to it is covered with a sheet. 



Instead of carrying hives for the swarms, the lat- 

 ter are carried to the hives. A part of each swarm, 

 about one-third, is shaken off in front of each old 

 hive, and two or three of these reduced swarms 

 with one queen are put in each new hive. 



After the honey season, occasional trips to the 

 out-yards are sufficient. Then where bees are very 

 strong, and hanging out on the hive, new colonies 

 are quickly and easily made without opening hives, 

 by dipping off part of the bees and putting enough 

 with a nucleus, or into a hive of comb having a 

 caged queen. 



The bees are mostly Italians. Some of the apia- 

 ries have a trace of Holy Land and black blood. 

 The queen-rearing stock is selected out of this 

 large number. Especially good stocks are set apart, 

 and gradually culled down to a few of the best. 

 We saw some tine queens here— good size, with 

 thick and plump bodies, and darker than the usual 

 type. 



In the out-yards, the comb honey, when finished, 

 is disconnected from the brood-nest, and remains 

 in the outer case until cleared of bees. In the ga- 

 ble at each end is an auger-hole covered with a bee- 

 lead, which, if properly arranged, allows bees to 

 leave but not to return. In the honey season this 

 usually works well; but when robbers are trouble- 

 some too much dependence is not placed on it, and 

 there is on the inside a piece of wood or tin which 

 may be turned around over the hole, and so all pos- 

 sibility of bees entering be prevented. The cover, 

 which is fitted with a simple device, can be tipped 

 back, and is held by a cord. This saves lifting. To 

 hurry matters, the case is occasionally opened, and 

 a few puffs of smoke given; this causes many to 

 fly out, when it is again closed. When they ate 

 mostly out, the clamps are removed to the honey- 

 room and stood in piles just as they ate, except 

 that the propolis is first scraped from the top and 

 bottom to prevent them from being fastened to- 

 gether. There they are left until convenient for 

 teams to take them to the home houey-house. 



The crop at the apiary near the railroad is clean- 

 ed, crated, and shipped from there. In loading, 

 the teams are backed up, the heads of horses cover- 

 ed with a coat or blanket to protect them from the 

 bees, the honey is put in as quickly as possible, 

 and covered with a sheet; the driver mounts the 

 load; and as the horses are started, this covering is 

 pulled off and the bees are soon left behind. 



The home building is 16 feet by 31, and l l / 2 stories 

 high. The upper part is used for storing fixtures. 



