SEPTKMBER 1 ">, 101 ; 



7 m 



cause lip could have 

 tasteued biiilap along' 

 the four- foot fence, 

 and tlien had a thick 

 grapevine above that. 

 In the photograph, 

 t w o sticks leaning 

 against the l)nilding 

 mark wlicrc the hives 

 stood. Tlie gate is just 

 out of sight at the Ict't. 

 If he had placed the 

 hives at the lower end 

 of the bai'u, or at the 

 sunny end of the small 

 unused pig-pen, which 

 is next to the fence in 

 the picture, he would 

 have had less trouble. 



Then I started on those home-made hives. 

 They had two-inch cleats around the outside 

 at the top. The covers were of tlie gable 

 lelescope tyj>e, and exactly the same size as 

 the hives, and so, of course, they rested on 

 lliem and fitted snugly inside the cleats. 

 The supers were a good bee-space smaller 

 ihan the telescope covers. The bees found 

 ihis s)>ace and just about filled it with 

 propolis. In.side the supers two-inch-wide 

 frames ran crosswise. Tlie liottoms of these 

 frames were narrow in order to let the bees 

 up into the su])ers: but on the other three 

 sides they fitted snugly together. The low- 

 er edge of the super and the bottoms of tiie 

 frames rested directlj' on top of the frames 

 in the hives. When I started to work I 

 tried to pry otf a cover with a screwdriver, 

 but didn't budge it. Mr. K. brought a 

 crowbai-, and after fifteen minutes of bard 

 work, on a hot day, that cover came loose. 

 I]\ery place was stuck up with pro^Jolis. 

 The space between the top of the super and 

 gable cover, as well as the super itself, was 

 full of comb Iioney which had been built in 

 every direction. 1 smoked the bees out of 

 the way, cut the coml)s, and pried loose one 



\ liiul place fol- 



■oliiii\' of bees. 



frame at a lime as best 1 could. It was 

 certainly an awful mess, because eveiy 

 fi'ame piiUeti apart. As soon as the old 

 frames and comb honey, as well as some 

 lialf-drowned bees from the first iiive had 

 been placed in a wash-boiler Mr. K. carried 

 it to the cellar. By the next morning the 

 bees had crawled out on the cellar ilooi' and 

 were easily swept up. If he had taken the 

 honey directly into the house those bees 

 would have warmed up and been harder to 

 handle. 



After the second hive was finished I 

 scraped earth over the honey on the ground 

 and took every precaution against robbing. 

 1 told him to burn the old frames as soon 

 as he cut the honey out of them, and to be 

 very careful not to leave the frames or any 

 pieces of comb where the bees could rob 

 tliem out, because it would make trouble 

 with his neighbors. Imagine my surprise, 

 a few days later, to find all the frames and 

 some combs in the back yard — entirely 

 clean. The street must have been a lively 

 place while the bees were getting that 

 honey. 



North lOasI, Md. 



ANOTHER TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF "AIR DRAINAGE 



nr JOSEPTt S. EWING 



I read with interest Mr. E. F. Atwaler's 

 article, \>. 49(i, June 15, on air drainage. 

 1 want to verify his statement from my own 

 experience. In the enclosed picture of my 

 apiary you will notice ))art of the hives set 

 out from the building so that the winter 

 wind sweeps around the corner. The others 

 stand back in the corner where there is 

 complete i)rotecti(.n from the wind. Last 



winter there was no lattice work as sliown 

 in the picture. The .seven hives that were 

 in the " sweep of the wind " this spring 

 came out in fine condition — scarcely any 

 hers on the bottom-board. On the other 

 hand, the thirteen that were protected had 

 great quantities of bees on the bottom- 

 boajd, and two hives were dead, the bees 

 being still between the fra:.".es with plenty 



