APRIL 1, 1915 



287 



day (Feb. 1(5) all are flying, and iipdii 

 examination seem to be doing nicely. 



The maples are in bloom, and each colony 

 (and nucleus as well) is as busy as can be, 

 starting in the spring honey -gathering. We 

 do not need to pack the hives in this section 

 of the country, as we have only from four 

 to ten weeks with, say, an average of six 

 or seven weeks of any thing that might be 



called winter. But only a few days of this 

 is actual wint^er as known in the North. 



Arkansas, generally speaking, is a good 

 state for bees. In fact, the woods are full 

 of them — more in tlie woods than in yards; 

 but with the advent of sweet clover, which 

 is coming into its own, I think she may 

 take place as one of the leading honey 

 states at no distant day. 



Greenland, Ark. 



TAKING BEES FROM A CHUMCH 



BY W. J. WOOLLEY^ JR. 



The village of Sedgeberrow is an old-time 

 hamlet of about 300 inhabitants. It lies 

 under the shadow of the Cotswold Hills, and 

 is principally given over to farming and 

 gardening. The church 

 is a strong stone-built 

 edifice with stone roof 

 (not tiles). 



Between the ceiling 

 and the roof seven 

 colonies of bees had 

 built their homes. The 

 old inhabitants stated 

 that they had been 

 there for 30 years for 

 certain, and perhaps 

 more. But the vicar 

 of the church let them 

 go on the same old 

 way till this year, 

 when they began to be 

 a little more venture- 

 some, and one day 

 they swarmed while 

 the senice was being 

 held, and settled inside 

 the church. So the 

 vicar decided that they 

 all should be ejected 

 from the holy place, pack and baggage. 



He gave the order to a local firm of 

 builders to clear the bees, honey, and comb 

 from the building. They sent two brick- 

 layers over from Evesliam to investigate and 

 eject the bees if possible. The men started 

 bravely, and began to lake the stone roof 

 ofT the place where the bees were seen to 

 tly from; but in less than half an hour they 

 had to beat a hasty retreat down the ladders 

 to the ground. 



After a conflab they decided to leave the 

 work and get some one else to do it. So they 

 decided to come to the local expert and ask 

 me if I would undertake the job for them. 

 After visiting the church I offered to do the 

 work of clearing the bees and honey out if 



I had the gieater part of the honey and 

 the bees. As they could not do it themselves 

 they agreed. 



The roof is forty feet from the ground, 



Fig. 2. — Hoeness' scheme to prevent ants from getting into the house-apiary. 



and the bees had built their home at the 

 junction of the wall and the roof between 

 the rafters, and between the ceiling and 

 roof. After a good smoking, with the help 

 of the bricklayers I proceeded to take the 

 stone roof off over the nest, and found a 

 very large nest in the form of a triangle. 

 The longest combs were over three feet long, 

 and the nest was a yard wide at the widest 

 part. The majority of the combs were as 

 black as ink, and were built like the combs 

 in a skep or box. Some were straight, some 

 crooked, and some braced together in all 

 sorts of ways. After two days' work we 

 three cleared the bees and honey out from 

 the building. I did the work with the two 

 bricklayers waiting on me, and carrying the 



