Vol. XVXI. 



NOV. 1, 1889, 



No. 21. 



TERMS 

 2 



SRMS: $1.00 Per annum, in Advance; ") J? <,4- ri~hl i qTi o rl 7TJ IX 7% r*, clu r 

 Copies for$1.90; 3 for$2.75; 5 for $4.00; -C/«S LU/Ul/l/O flitsU/ VIV J. O i <J • | than! 

 or more, 75 cts. each. Single num- I published semi-monthly by -j Hi|; 8 



r. 5ets. Additions to clubs maybe f Hies 



\A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, OHIO. 



Clubs to different postofflces, not less 



90 cts. each. Sent postpaid in the 



and Canadas. To all other coun- 



of the Universal Postal Union. 18 



per year extra. To all countries 



not of the U. P. U., 42 cts. per year extra. 



OUT-APIARIES, NO. (XVIII. 



HARVESTING. 



'HEN extracting at an out-apiary it would be 

 very convenient to have a house in which 

 to extract, as you have been used to doing, 

 perhaps, at home. Very likely, however, 

 you will conclude that the inconvenience 

 to the people will be more than the convenience to 

 you. In a good season you may find little difficulty 

 in extracting in the open air. But if you are not 

 an old hand at the business, I warn you to be very 

 careful about getting the bees to robbing. If a sin- 

 gle bee gets a load from one of your combs you are 

 likely to get into trouble. Have robber-cloths, and 

 keep every thing you can covered up. If today 

 you get along all right, with no appearance of rob- 

 bing, try it the same way next time, only be sure to 

 set your extractor in a different place, for in the in- 

 terim some bees may have had a taste of the drip- 

 pings that you left in the old place, and will be on 

 the lookout for more. Have plenty of water, and 

 keep every thing clean. Remember it's only when 

 bees are busy gathering, that you can extract in 

 the open air, and sometimes they gather only in 

 the forenoon. Possibly it may not be wise for you 

 to attempt extracting at all, without cover, unless 

 you are a very careful person; and, no matter how 

 careful you are, it is only sometimes that you can 

 be safe to operate outdoors. At all other times you 

 can use a tent, even if you do feel cramped for 

 room. Perhaps you think I lay more stress on the 

 danger of robbing than I should. I hardly think 

 so, for it is even more important at out-apiaries 

 than at home. At home, if the bees get to robbing 

 when you are nearly through work in the after- 

 noon, you can stop and finish the job the next 

 morning; but you can't work that way when you 

 are running several apiaries. Besides, it's worse to 

 start robbing where other people live. 



In harvesting comb honey at an out-apiary, allow 

 me to suggest that it is quite important that you 

 should be careful not to get robbing started, espe- 

 cially toward the close of the season. Oftentimes 

 you will do well to manage quite differently from 

 the home plan. It may be you find several supers 

 of sections (remember, when I say super it may 

 contain wide frames or what not), ready to come 

 off just before you are through your day's work, 

 and you are quite anxious to take them home with 

 you. Give the super a heavy smoking before tak- 

 ing it off the hive, so as to drive down all the young 

 bees; then after the super is taken off, one hand 

 can make a steady application of smoke while the 

 other plies the brush. Another way is this: After 

 taking the super from the hive, having given it the 

 smoking first spoken of, put it on the top of an- 

 other super that is to be taken off, say on No. 21. 

 In the same way you can pile them on No. 21 till it 

 is as high or higher than your head, so you must 

 get something to stand on to get at the upper one. 

 When all are piled up in this way, load your smoker 

 for business and play away on the top without a 

 moment's cessation, driving the smoke down into 

 every opening, and after a little while an assistant 

 can take off this upper super with not a bee in it. 

 But the smoker must keep at work while this super 

 is being taken off, playing away on the one next 

 under it, which has already been strongly affected 

 by the smoke driven through the upper one; and 

 by the time the assistant has disposed of the upper 

 super, the next will be ready to come off, and so on. 

 When you get down to the last one that is to be tak- 

 en off, the bees will probably not all leave it so 

 readily; and if you have another pile ready to take 

 off, it may be best to put this last super on the next 

 pile. Instead of putting the pile on a hive you 

 may think best to start it on the ground. Usually, 

 however, it is best to make these piles on hives and 

 leave them till the next day you come. Then in the 



