1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



7S7 



NOTES OF TRAVEL. 



THE SHOT-TOWEIl HIVES, ETC. 



p S we could not get our engravings ready 

 h in time to go with my notes of the 

 If different apiaries, we shall have to go 

 ■k back a little. Below is a picture of 

 one of friend France's apiaries. 



A GLIMPSE OF ONE OF E. FRANCE'S OUT-APIARIES. 



You will notice that the Kodak has a kind 

 of way of tipping objects out of shape un- 

 less they are right in the center of the 

 focus ; therefore the shot-tower hive in the 

 above, on the left hand, seems to be leaning 

 dangerously. In the center of the picture, 

 underneath a beautiful tree, you will notice 

 the framework of one of the extracting 

 tents. The frame is left permanent- 

 ly in each apiary, while the cloth is 

 unhooked and folded up and carried 

 from one apiary to another. A light 

 door is also moved along with the 

 cloth. With plenty of help it is but 

 a few minutes' work putting up the 

 tent and getting ready for extract- 

 ing. The hives in the picture are all 

 or nearly all of the - ' shot -tower" 

 " persuasion," therefore each hive 

 should count four. At first glimpse 

 you would say that friend France's 

 nut-apiaries are small affairs — may 

 be only fifteen or twenty hives being 

 visible ; but when you discover that 

 each hive contains four rousing col- 

 onies, it is not such a small affair 

 after all. Several questions have 

 been asked in regard to these shot- 

 tower hives — the size of the frame, 

 etc. The frame friend France pre- 

 fers is shown on page 776 of this 

 issue. The dimensions are some- 

 thing like 12x21, if I make no mis- 

 take. Of course, there is to be a 

 cross-bar in the middle, to separate 

 so large a comb. Now, when these 



large frames are used two stories high, 'and 

 in a tenement hive containing four colonies 

 each, no wonder the boys call it a " shot- 

 tower." Three such hives make a pretty 

 good load for a two-horse wagon ; but they 

 really comprise twelve hives. The cut at 

 the bottom shows one of the hives taken 

 separately. 



One of the first questions to ^be 

 asked is, "How do you get at the 

 frames of such a tall hive?" Well, 

 friend France is not only an advo- 

 cate of a tenement hive, but he ad- 

 vocates side-openiiiy hives; therefore 

 every one of the four sides of this 

 tall hive swings open, so you can re- 

 move the combs from the lower story 

 if you choose, without disturbing the 

 combs in the upper one at all. A 

 good many years ago it occurred to 

 me that a side-opening hive could be 

 made strong and substantial by hav- 

 ing two or more hives built together. 

 In the same way we can have a side- 

 opening hive in a house-apiary ; that 

 is, a hive may be made in this way 

 strong and substantial, and yet per- 

 mit one entire side to be taken out 

 in order to remove the frames from 

 the side instead of lifting them over 

 the top. Furthermore, friend France 

 is a firm believer in chaff packing. 

 Bottom, top, and sides, and every 

 part of the hive where it is exposed 

 to the weather, is protected by sub- 

 stantial chaff packing, chaff division- 

 boards, or chaff cushions, whichever 

 you have a mind to call it, or perhaps 

 a combination of all three together. I do 

 not wonder that such; hives winter bees, 

 even in Wisconsin, without any loss at all; 

 for four strong colonies, placed together so 

 as to form collectively pretty nearly a cube 

 of bees, with such protection as they have 

 all around them, are ever so much better 

 protected than we can very well fix a single 



FRANCE'S SHOT-TOWER HIVE. 



