lOOS 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



637 



A PRIZE BEE AND HONEY EXHIBIT 

 AT THE VIRGINIA STATE FAIR. 



An Engineer and Bee-keeper. 



BY J. S. VODER. 



My exhibit of honey at the Virginia State Fair 

 is shown in the engraving. I had tour premium 

 cards attached — one for best display of bees; one 

 for best display of honey; one for best display of 

 comb honey; one for best display of extracted 

 honey. I feel proud of my first exhibit, as this 

 is my third year with bees. I started with four 

 iiives of bees in eight-frame Dovetailed hives, and 

 now have forty colonies in good condition. 



Roanoke, Va., Feb. 12, 1908. 



A BEE-SHED FOR SHADE. 



BY W. O. STEVENS. 



The bee-shed in the picture was built simply 

 for the purpose of keeping off the sun and rain, 

 as I winter my bees in the cellar. They are tak- 

 en from the cellar about the first or middle of 

 April, and they usually begin to gather pollen 

 about the middle of the month from willow and 

 poplar. 



I have sold all of the honey I have been able 

 to produce, for 25 cts. per lb., in the villages 

 near by, both extracted and comb. Bee-keeping 

 is not carried on around here to any great extent. 



South Paris, Maine. 



CUTTING BEE-TREES IN WINTER. 



BY E. L. MINER. 



The engraving shows a large red-oak bee-tree, 

 measuring 17 ft. in circumference, which was cut 

 Jan. 7, 1908, in Wayne, Ashtabula Co., O. A 



The shed is used only as a shelter in the summer from the sun 

 tered in a cellar. 



A BEE-TREE 17 FEET IN CIRCUMFERENCE CUT IN 

 MID-WINTER. 



large swarm of three-banded Italians was captur- 

 ed, although the thermometer stood at 15° above 

 zero, and it was snowing at the time. 



There was no brood at all in the combs, and 

 only about 10 lbs. of honey, all basswood, al- 

 though neighbors say bees had lived in the tree for 

 ten years or more. 



I did not transfer the combs to a hive, but 



brushed the 

 bees off the 

 combs into a 

 box prepared 

 with cushions 

 in advance. 

 The bees were 

 surrounded 

 with dry rotten 

 wood, and did 

 not get chilled 

 in transferring, 

 as we took 

 them out of 

 the tree by the 

 handfuls. 



I had two 

 hives contain- 

 i n g large 

 swarms in 

 double brood- 

 chambers, with 

 lots of honey 

 in the combs; 

 and on return- 

 ing home I 

 transferred the 

 bees from box 

 to the lower 



A SHED APIARY IN MAINE. 



, wind, and rain. The colonies are win- 



