942 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 





SHEPARD S APIARY OF HOME-MADE HIVES. 



with water from a watering-pan so they should 

 not want for water; and, besides, it would tend 

 to keep them cool. Of course, they were now 

 clustered under the netting, and reminded me 

 greatly of a big-sized box of black currants. 



The day proved to be a very hot one; but I 

 shaded the bees as much as possible and sprinkled 

 them with water every half-hour or so. The 

 trip of eleven miles took nearly four hours. The 

 driver was a colored boy, evidently very fond of 

 a horse, and on my hinting we might go a little 

 faster he confided that the steed was " powerful 

 slow," but if we gave it time it would surely get 

 there. For about an hour before we arrived, we 

 were threatened with a terrific thunderstorm, and 

 I felt very anxious, as we were far from shelter 

 most of the time. However, the storm circled 

 round us and happily kept off until about an hour 

 after we had placed the hives in their new loca- 

 tion. 



It took but a little while to place the stands, 

 unload the hives, remove the netting, and make 

 every thing shipshape. To make the bees take 

 full notice, smoke was freely used, and boards 

 placed in front of the entrances. 



Next afternoon the purchaser called me up on 

 the telephone to tell me the best hive had swarm- 

 ed, and wondering " what in thunder " he should 

 do about it. This was a proposition he had not 

 bargained for. I told him what to do, and I 

 heard no more about these hives until months 

 afterward. 



All bee-keepers know that 1907 was a poor 

 season generally; yet these hives gave my succes- 

 sor, after July 17, 210 sections of honey, and in 



addition four swarms. The news came to me 

 from my friendly rival in a free confession that 

 again I had bested him, he having secured 127 

 sections as against my total of 222 with 45 pounds 

 of chunk honey extra. 



Again the student with the Danzenbaker had 

 whipped the practical man with the Dovetailed 

 hive. Query: Wherein lay the secret of success.'' 



And so, you will think, here ended all my 

 troubles with bees. As a matter of fact, I had 

 for the moment lost my pleasure, but I carried 

 westward to the Pacific coast one incessant thought 

 — why did these three hives develop so unevenly 

 in the spring, and so unexpectedly.^ No, I had a 

 fine lot of bees, both at the beginning of winter 

 and the end, with an extra large quantity of 

 stores. "With millions in the house," why did 

 it not easily outstrip the other two? No. 2 was 

 the weaker of last year's new hives, but laid in 

 plenty of sugar stores, though not nearly as much 

 as did No. 1. No. 3 was in fine shape so far as 

 bees were concerned, but did not take down any 

 thing like a sufficient quantity of sugar and wa- 

 ter food. I was not surprised that it lagged in 

 the breeding-up race in the spring; but the other 

 two got on my mind, and so day and night I 

 cogitated over the facts from as many angles as I 

 could, but always without a satisfactory answer. 

 Mr. Alexander, in one of his luminous articles in 

 Gleanings, brought relief to my tormented 

 mind. Hive No. 1 was honey-bound — that is, 

 it was so "chuck full " of stores that the queen 

 could not find enough empty cells in which to 

 lay eggs. The remedy, had I known it, was to 

 Uge the extractor. Benton, in his book, recom- 



