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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15 



REES' APIARY IN WHICH THE HIVES ARE ARRANGED IN 

 CIRCLES ABOUT THE HONEY-HOUSE. 



not make much difference, for it is not safe 

 to take horses too close to the bees, and the 

 honey must be taken some distance in the 

 hand-cart any way. 



On the side of my honey-house, opposite 

 each full-length row, is the number of the 

 row or street as I call it. The row of hives 

 is the street, and not the passageway be- 

 tween. The stand or space where the hive 

 rests is the street number; and if the hive is 

 moved it takes the number of its new place. 

 The half-rows are numbered in fractions, as 

 indicated. Then the circle of hives nearest 

 the honey-house is called first, and the next 

 one to it second, and so on. Each location, 

 then, is known by two numbers, the first in- 

 dicating the row and the second the circle, 

 whether first, second, third, fourth, or fifth. 

 When I refer to any special hive, calling it 

 by the numbers, my helper can go straight 

 to it. 



Lytle, Texas. 



ary is arranged in the form of 

 groups the apiarist can save a 

 good many steps, for he can sit 

 on one hive and work another. 

 He may not have to take more 

 than three or four steps to work 

 five hives. If you were to fig- 

 ure out the actual mileage in 

 walking from one hive to an- 

 other and back until every hive 

 is leached, on your plan, you 

 would find it quite a distance. 



As a general thing, we may 

 say that a mathematical arrange- 

 ment, one that looks nice on pa- 

 per, does not work well in prac- 

 tice. The strong colonies will 

 absorb from the weak, because 

 young bees are quite apt to join 

 with the strongest flying force 

 in front of any particular hive, 

 especially if they are a little con- 

 fused as to their exact location. 

 Each particular hive and group, 

 if the group plan is used, should 

 be given as much of an identity 

 of its own as possible; for bees, 

 like human beings in a big city, 

 often get confused, and this con- 

 fusion rather works to the disadvantage of 

 the bee-keeper in that some colonies become 

 abnormally strong while others become 

 weak. A colony too strong will swarm; but 

 one that is too weak, or that loses its force 

 to its neighbor, will not do much in the sec- 

 tions or supers. — Ed.] 



PREVENTING CANDYING OF HONEY. 



How the Sun's Rays May be Utilized to 



Sterilize Honey and Prevent it 



from Crystallizing. 



BY H. R. BOARDMAN. 



[While the arrangement you use has some 

 advantages, yet where land is limited it is 

 not the most economical method. The 

 hives near the outskirts of a yard are further 

 apart than those near the center. Then, 

 moreover, the arrangement has the disad- 

 vantage that it makes the hives so nearly 

 alike as to location that the bees would be 

 more or less confused as to their entrances. 

 As nearly as we can gather from the illustra- 

 tion, the entrances are all pointing outward. 

 We would suppose there would oe less of 

 confusion if some of the entrances pointed 

 in the opposite direction, thus giving the 

 bees a better chance to locate their particu- 

 lar hive. 



The most economical plan, so far as room 

 is concerned, is to place the hives in groups 

 of two or three, or even five. When an api- 



[Noticing-, some years ago, that honey in glass next 

 to a window exposed to the sun's rays did not candy, 

 while that in ordinary tin cans would become solid, we 

 began to wonder whether the sun's rays did not have 

 a chemical effect upon the honey, for the heat at that 

 time was not very great, and could at no time have 

 been higher than the natural temperature of the room 

 — possibly 75. Some time after this, A. I. Root, in one 

 of his letters from Florida, mentioned incidentally 

 that his neighbor, E. B. Rood, had a method for pre- 

 venting extracted honey from granulating that he 

 thought was new and valuable, and then explained 

 that it was done by putting bottled honey in solar 

 wax-extractors. Of course we were immediately in- 

 terested, and wrote to have Mr. Rood send us an arti- 

 cle describing the method more in detail, and particu- 

 larly to tell how long he had used it. Mr. Rood com- 

 plied with this suggestion, as will be seen by our issue 

 for Aug. 15, page 496. At this time we published a note 

 from our stenographer, W. P. Root, who had also no- 

 ticed that honey standing in a window did not granu- 

 late like some of the same kind in a tin can. 



Our readers will remember that Mr. H. R. Boardman, 

 a bee-keeper and a close student, some years ago sent 

 us some samples of his extracted honey, which he said 

 would not granulate. He desired us to give it a thor- 

 ough test, and hoped we might try some of it in the 

 family to see how we liked the flavor. One jar of it we 

 took home; and it is needless to say it was as tine as 

 any extracted clover we ever tasted. Our friend did 

 not at the time explain how he treated this honey, but 

 merely remarked that he thought he had a method 

 that was reliable. We placed a couple of jars out on 

 the window-sill, just opposite our editorial desk. This 



