1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



687 



dling a crop of honey, and is the only Haw I have 

 been able to find in Mr. Covcyou's methods. 

 However, I understand tiiat he will abandon this 

 plan next season for another one which I will de- 

 scribe later. 



kirkpatrick's honev-house. 



Mr. Geo. H. Kirkpatrick, Rapid City, Mich., 

 who has several yards of bees in the raspberry re- 

 gion, builds all his extracting-houses small, and 

 depends on storage room elsewhere for his honey 

 and combs. His honey-houses differ from Mr. 

 Chapman's in that he puts the honey he uses into 

 a large honey-tank, instead of directly into the 

 cans. The houses are built about 12 feet square, 

 bee-proof, and about a third of the floor space at 

 the back end is let down three feet lower than 

 the main floor. In this lower part are located 

 the tank and scales, so arranged that the honey 

 from the extractor runs directly into the tank, 

 and from this tank into the 60-lb. can resting on 

 the scales. The honey is all extracted after the 

 season closes, and is in good condition to can as 

 soon as extracted; but it is left in this large tank 

 over night, then skimmed and drawn from the 

 bottom. This makes very clear nice-looking 

 honey, and handled this way it is of good quali- 

 ty. While Mr. Kirkpatrick is a convert to the 

 better way of canning the honey direct from the 

 extractor, he has not changed his outfits yet, but 

 probably will do so during the coming season. 



THE HUTCHINSON HONEY-HOUSES. 



The Hutchinsons have their outyards near 

 some of the abandoned lumber-camps, so they 

 build over the camp-buildings for a honey-house. 

 Usually these camp-buildings are much larger 

 than necessary, and partitions are run across to 

 make the bee-proof honey-room. Besides the 

 main extracting-room, there is a small room of 

 suitable size for heating the honey before ex- 

 tracting. This room is lined with paper, to re- 

 tain the heat from the large oil-stove used to heat 

 the honey. The honey is taken off with escape- 

 boards, and stored in this room where this oil- 

 stove is lighted the night before they intend to 

 extract, with the result that, in the morning, the 

 honey is in much better shape than that just from 

 the hive. Honey just from the hive, especially 

 on cold mornings, does not extract very clean, 

 and requires a long turn of the extractor to get it 

 at all. 



A few times I have warmed the honey to be 

 extracted; and if things are arranged right, there 

 is no other way that is so satisfactory. The hon- 

 ey is just a little warmer than that from the hive 

 in the hottest weather, which makes it about as 

 thin as water, and of course it is thrown out of 

 the combs much easier, and the combs are ex- 

 ti acted very dry. 



EXTRACTING IN THE OPEN AIR. 



At one time I worked ten swarms of bees on 

 shares, for a neighbor, and I did the extracting 

 out of doors under a shade-tree. Every thing 

 was kept covered up as much as possible to pre- 

 vent robbing; then a smoker was kept going, and 

 the assistant would keep the smoke where it 

 would do the most good. This yard of bees had 

 not been handled, and the colonies had not learn- 

 ed the robbing habit, so they were not very bad 

 to commence with. 



THE IDEAL HONEY-HOUSE. 



The ideal honey-house for a hundred-colony 

 bee-yard would be a building 18 ■ 24, lathed and 

 plastered on the inside. It should be built at the 

 lower edge of the bee-yard, to facilitate wheeling 

 the honey from the yard. It would be better if 

 the gentle slope of the ground were to the south 

 or southeast. I would build the end of the build- 

 ing toward the bee-yard, with a good wide door 

 at both ends. The ground at the back should be 

 about six feet lower than the front, to allow a 

 platform wagon to stand with the top on a level 

 with the honey-floor for convenience in loading 

 and unloading honey, supplies, etc. 



Two-thirds of the floor on the end toward the 

 front or bee-yard should be built on a level with 

 the ground at this point for convenience in wheel- 

 ing in honey; then the third toward the back end 

 would be built two or three feet lower than the 

 front or main floor. The front floor would be 

 for the main workroom where the extractor, un- 

 capping-box, and combs are kept. The lower 

 floor would be for the honey-tank, scales, honey- 

 cans, etc., and the distance this lower floor should 

 be below the main floor would be determined by 

 the height of the tank to be filled; for the ex- 

 tractor would be set at the edge of this upper 

 floor, with the gate projecting over so the honey 

 could run direct from the extractor into the tank, 

 then from the tank to the 60-lb. can on scales. 

 The shallower the tank, the less difference there 

 would have to be between the two floors. 



Remus, Mich. 



BEE-KEEPING AMONG THE CELTIC 

 MONKS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Why Candles of Beeswax are Used for 



Sacramental Purposes; a Church 



Built by the Bees. 



BY FATHER MAURUS MASSE, O. S. B. 



As in the honorable mention you make of us 

 in the January 15th issue, page 83, you do not 

 seem quite certain whether we read Gleanings 

 and the A B C, I am penning these lines to as- 

 sure you that we do read them both with great in- 

 terest and pleasure. What you say of European 

 clergymen as being often ardent disciples of the 

 bee-keeper's art is quite true, and my researches 

 in that line lead me to conclude that it was still 

 more so centuries ago; for then it was not only 

 pleasure and profit but necessity that prompted 

 them to keep bees. To mention only the Celtic 

 monks of Great Britain, and, later, of Armorica 

 (whither they were driven by the Saxon invaders), 

 for whom I may be pardoned for taking a special 

 interest as one of their race and profession, many 

 a quaint story is related in ancient chronicles 

 about their apicultural successes. Thus we find 

 the following interesting account of the exchange 

 of their products with the Parisian abbeys: 



One day St. Samson, abbot and bishop of Dol 

 (in those times abbeys very often became bishop- 

 rics) and the bishop of Paris talked together about 

 their monasteries. St. Samson mentioned that 

 his monks were such good managers, and so care- 

 ful of their hives, that besides the honey, of which 

 they had an abundant supply, they had more wax 



