•TUNE 15, 1915 



509 



brig)it virgins in an incubator; and tliat, moreover, 

 he has no trouble in introducing them over four 

 days old. Good extracted honey is the best feed for 

 virgins. Get your temperature right and feed ex- 

 tracted honey, and you will probably have no trouble. 

 — Eo.] 



A New Arrangement of Windows and Doors 



In roadiu:; an articlo by G. C Greincr some time 

 ago I conceived the idea of having two doors in my 

 honey-house. This makes it possible to keep one 

 door open all the time, screened, of course, while the 

 honey can bo carried in at the oilier door, where 

 the bci's ilo nut Ixilh -v wlion it is opened and shut. 



W/NDOW 



HONEY HOUSE 



PARTITION DOOR 



WINDOW 



DOOR 



W 



A 



5-^r-N 



WINDO\/\/A 



DOOR 



Bees escape from the window to the south in the 

 room with the two outside doors. This gives light 

 also while the doors are closed. It is quite close to 

 the door, but there appeared to be no other place 

 for it. It was necessary to have one window in the 

 first room on the sunny side, since bees escape more 

 readily on the warm side of the building. 



The building is located west of the apiary, where 

 it is both convenient and pleasant. Dimensions are 

 16 X 12. 



East Avon, N. Y. A. C. Gilbert. 



Major Shallard's Honey -room Burned Out 



Tn AiHil I had the misfortuno to have my honey- 

 room at the home farm. South \Voodhurn, complete- 

 ly destroyed by fire. The building was of iron, 

 10x13x14, and contained among other things 

 2000 pounds of wax, eight-frame power extractor, 

 wox-prp>i.<;, foundation mill, a quantity of carpenter's 

 tools, jig-Faw, etc. I first heard the roar of the 

 flames at 8 o'clock in the evening; and on running 

 out I saw the flames shooting out of the window 

 above the extractor-stand. Help arrived almost im- 

 mediately, and we cot the engine and saw-benches 

 away, and a quantity of hive material in the flat. 

 We could get nothing out of the building. The heat 

 from the burning wax was so great that it melted 

 the iron castings on the wax-press and also on the 

 extractor. An hour after the fire started the whole 

 building was red hot, and looked like a gigantic 



glowing lantern. It was utterly impossible to get 

 near it, and the water available had no effect. There 

 was practically no insurance. I have the building 

 up again all ready for extracting; but having to 

 pay out .€125 to replace the wax is not at all pleas- 

 ant, e.specially as the season has been a very bad 

 one. The loss is over £200. 



S. Woodburn, March 25. Major Shallard. 



A Beginner's First Winter 



Having spent the best twenty-six years of my life 

 as a traveling man over the entire United States, 

 and now having retired, and being a lover of bees, 

 I have taken up beekeeping for the pleasure there 

 is in it. While traveling I tried to keep four or 

 five colonies; but not being here to care for them 

 they were a failure, as everything is without proper 

 care. 



I purchased six stands of a friend, and went to 

 work. Although the business was practically a total 

 failure in Minnesota last year, I found myself in the 

 fall with 16 colonies and 15 lbs. of section honey, 

 aside from winter stores. All were heavy but five. 

 I feared these five would not winter; but I fed them 

 for two weeks on sugar and water, placed them in 

 the cellar with the rest Nov. 15, with about 10 lbs. 

 of stores each. I have a Root cellar separate from 

 the furnace-room, in which I set the bees. Over the 

 hives I placed a ventilator 2Vi x3 feet, with a 2^^- 

 inch pipe extending through the window. 



To do this I took out one pane of glass and re- 

 placed it with galvanized iron, so I could cut the hole 

 to fit ray pipe. Twice a week when carrying out 

 ashes from the furnace I would open all the doors 

 to the outside, and let in the fresh air for ten min- 

 utes. In extremely cold weather I would open the 

 door into the furnace-room every night, thus holding 

 the average temperature close to 45 degrees all win- 

 ter. I set them out April 4, and found them all in 

 fine order, but thought best to feed the light stands 

 for two weeks. All are doing finely. I think I 

 have thoroughly demonstrated that cellar wintering 

 is the most successful plan if thoroughly looked after. 



This year looks now to be a much better season, 

 two weeks earlier than last. In the place of natural 

 swarming I will experiment with the Alexander plan 

 of dividing. 



Fairmont, Minn. M. T. Haines. 



Comb Honey from Two-story Hive 



G. H. R., In Gleanings for April 15, page 335, 

 in answer to \V. L. Sherman, who asks, "What shall 

 I do with mj two-story eight-frame hives of bees in 

 the spring when running for comb honey?" is mis- 

 taken when he says, " It is practically impossible to 

 prodiice comb honey on top of a two-story hive." 



I do not know how it is in Wisconsin; but I do 

 loiow it works all right in Southern Florida. 



In March and April the orange-trees bloom here, 

 and my brood-chambers were so full last January 

 that I thought of extracting a part of it from the 

 frames to give the queen more room for depositing 

 eggs therein, and have a larger working force when 

 the orance bloomed. I undertook but one hive ; and 

 as there wa-s but little bloom at that time producing 

 nectar, the bees flocked in great numbers to the 

 open hive, robbing. 



I abandoned it, and thought out another plan. 

 On each hive I placed one super of twenty-four 

 sections on top of my eight-frame hives. I then 

 constructed some brood-chambers without bottom- 

 boards and placed them in the beeyard for future 

 use. 



My first swarm issued on March 15, and after 

 that it was a daily occurrence until all had swarm- 

 ed. 



The swarms were hived in the hiving-box. The 

 hive from which they issued was opened and the 



