October, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L '1' H U 



as I do not want any of the sugar stores to 

 get into the extractor. 



As soon as the white-honey flow begins 

 (and ours is from raspberries) I put the 

 queens all below the excluders, at this time 

 putting three to live frames of unsealed 

 brood above. Why unsealed"? Because I 

 am restricting the queen to one chamber. 

 Sealed brood will hatch sooner; and with 

 three to five empty combs, and the others 



Entrance passageway is % inch at A and 1 V2 inches 

 at B. nie outside entrance is contracted to % inch 

 by 2 inches in winter. C is front wall of brood- 

 chamber and D, front wall of building. E is slop- 

 ing alighting-board. 



mostly of sealed brood, the queen will not 

 be restricted in her laying operations for 

 some time, and swarming will be less likely 

 to occur. I use eight frames in my supers, 

 and there will be plenty of room for the 

 storing of honey above; but if there should 

 be a sudden heavy early flow I shall know 

 it from my scale hive at once and can 

 easily add more room where needed. Swarm- 

 ing? Yes, I have some. I am also four 

 miles away, and do not have any one to 

 watch for swarms either. I would if I could 

 afford it; but why spend more for labor than 

 the worth of the bees? I keep close watch 

 of the condition of the colonies from June 

 15 to August 15 — that is, as closely as I 

 can. If a colony swarms I sometimes cut 

 out all cells and sometimes try other jjlans. 

 Usually I cut out all cells; and after eight 



or ten days I return their own queen if I 

 have preserved her; otherwise I give a 

 young laying queen. It is not of much con- 

 sequence to have queens laying between 

 June 15 and August 1 here. There is very 

 little honey gathered, as a rule, between 

 August 10 and September 10, altho some 

 years when the weather is just right we 

 have a flow in September from asters. 

 Why I Like a House Apiary. 



After seven years ' use of the house I like 

 it more and more. I have 40 colonies at 

 this yard — all I want here — 28 in the house 

 and 12 outside in double-walled hives. I 

 have never been able to see any preference 

 as to the care or results. I can go to work 

 whenever I can go to the yard; wind, rain, 

 or hot sunshine does not stop all of my work. 

 Everything is under cover. Eobbers do not 

 bother. No pestering, ugly bees are follow- 

 ing one around. Brood is not so quickly 

 chilled. No carrying long distances. All is 

 secure from maurauders. I believe that 

 such a building, where slight protection is 

 needed, as in some of the south-central States, 

 would be the ideal arrangement. It would 

 shelter from the hot sun, yet the open win- 

 dows would give ventilation sufficient so 

 that it would always be comfortable to 

 work. The handling of honey in the house 

 is easy, tho work on the second shelf must 

 be done from the stepladder. I have never 

 had any difficulty with drifting of bees, but 

 have had some trouble in getting young 

 queens mated, and for that I rely on nuclei. 

 As to the cost, it is small. The building is 

 so plain that it could even all be cut out at 

 a factory, and almost any beekeeper could 

 erect it himself. I planned to make it 

 simple yet good. It had to be bee-tight, 

 which was accomplished by the use of good 

 lumber finished when dry. Such a building 

 all erected ought not to cost much more than 

 double-walled hives. 



Barre, Vt. 



SOME IMPORTANT FIELD MEETS 



FIELD meets 

 of beekeep- 

 ers have now 

 come to be quite 

 the fashion, and 

 a good fashion it 

 is. I wish it 

 were possible to 

 attend all of 

 them. I would 



go to many more, if some scheme could be 

 devised by which they could be arranged 

 on a consecutive schedule. This would make 

 it possible for Dr. Phillips and his staff of 

 speakers to take in more of them than they 

 can now do, on the present hit-and-miss 

 plan. I offer the suggestion that Dr. Phil- 

 lips be asked months ahead to arrange a 

 schedule of dates for all the associations 

 that contemplate holding field meets. I 



cA Few Field Meets 'which the 



Editor has had the Pleasure of 



Attending this Summer 



By E. R. Root 



have been able 

 to attend only a 

 few. The first 

 of the season 

 was in Massa- 

 chusetts. 



On July 26 I 

 attended a meet 

 of the Eastern 

 Massachusetts 

 Society of Beekeepers held at the home of 

 Charles I. G. Mallory, Worcester Boulevard, 

 Boston; and considering the threatening wea- 

 ther, dark clouds, and smart dashes of rain, 

 there was a good attendance. The principal 

 speakers were Dr. Burton N. Gates, just re- 

 turned from Canada, but now of Worcester, 

 Mass.; Arthur C. Miller, Providence, R. I.; 

 F. W. Frisbee, North Andover, Mass., and 

 E. R. Root of Medina. 



