104 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



■piQ 2. — View looking south from the apiary shown in Fig. 1. 



in the main, very little increase was made 

 the first few years I started to keep bees for 

 a living aside from buying the bees out- 

 right. At that time I could buy good strong 

 colonies at from $3.00 to $5.00 each ; and 1 



was still on the farm, 

 and working there 

 nearly every day; and 

 many a night have I 

 been on the road till 

 early morning on trips 

 bringing home bees 

 after I had worked 

 hard all day on the 

 farm, and was expect- 

 ed to be ready for duty 

 at 5 A. M. again. 



But things have now 

 changed; and instead 

 of buying bees at three 

 or four dollars a colo- 

 ny, or swarms at one 

 dollar, double those 

 prices will be asked, 



Fig. 3. — Corner of one of J. L. Byer's apiaries of 

 250 colonies; hives single-walled; natural protection 

 afforded by elevation to north, and bush on other 

 sides. 



still believe that, for stocking outyards as 

 well as making increase at such out-apiaries, 

 this is still the cheapest 

 plan, provided bees 

 can be bought as cheap 

 as they could be twelve 

 or fourteen years ago. 

 At that time a few 

 beekeepers of my ac- 

 quaintance allowed 

 much natural swarm- 

 ing, and would often 

 offer me stroni; first 

 swarms at $1.00 each. 

 T would take tlie iiives 

 filled with I'uU sheets 

 of foundation ; and 

 when bees were in 

 them I would go some 

 night and bring them 

 home. At this time I 



and often it is hard to get them at any price. 

 Just a word of caution to prospective pur- 

 chasers of swarms in localities more favored 

 than ours : 



In leaving hives for the bees to be put in, 

 be sure that all the frames are correctly 

 spaced, and fastened securely in some man- 

 ner; and if foundation is used instead of 

 combs, see that all sheets are well wired. If 

 self-spacing frames are used, the first cau- 

 tion is unnecessary ; but in all cases founda- 

 tion should be well secured. Neglect of 

 these small matters will lead to a lot of 

 trouble, as I found to my sorrow on my 

 first few trials of getting swarms. 



From the very first I started one outyard 

 in addition to the bees I placed at home. 

 This apiary already had some bees belonging 

 lo my father. This made it necessary to 

 tackle at once the problems incidental to 

 outyard work; and while the methods used 

 to control swarming are beyond the prov- 

 ince of this article, yet since the matter of 

 making increase is one of the items season- 



FlG. 1. 



Same apiary as shown in Fig. 3, packed for winter, 

 two hives in a case, all facing south. 



