GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



£xTRACT/No Room 



i//ew qf£qt//pnient /n Honey //ouse 



PACKING /xOOM 



If, however, a great number of small a^ji- 

 aries are in operation, there should be suit- 

 able equipment at the most central apia- 

 ries, and the surrounding ones worked from 

 those centers. If the apiaries are very small, 

 consisting of only 30 or 40 colonies, it is 

 not economy to have even a small building 

 at each yard. 



If, on the other hand, the apiaries con- 

 sist of 50 to 60 colonies or more, it is more 

 economical to use a small cheaply construct- 

 ed building at each yard in which to keep 

 supplies which are ready for use, and wliich 

 can be hauled from the main yard, and 

 housed during the more idle time, and be 

 there in readiness for the rush. All sup- 

 plies not in actual use can be put in build- 

 ings of this kind, and protected from the 

 weather. I am speaking from experience 

 and for the South. 



As to what the equipment should consist 

 of, it depends partly on the kind of honey 

 produced. But let me first say that at the 

 home apiary and the central outer apiaries 

 there should be at least a cheaply construct- 

 ed workshop large enough to work in and 

 to hold the stock of supplies, both in the 

 flat and after they are in readiness for the 

 surrounding apiaries. Tliis building should 

 be separate from the honey-house, but near 

 it. 



CONSTRUCTION OF HONEY-HOUSES. 



Now about the construction of honey- 

 houses economically and for service. A 

 honey-house should consist of not less than 

 two rooms or two separate apartments. 

 Two rooms may be built large enough to 

 suit the room requirements of almost any 

 bee business. 



The floor of the rooms should be within 

 a few inches of the surface of the earth. 



and the floor in the packing-room, at least, 

 should be made of cement, and the sills of 

 the building should rest on a solid brick or 

 cement foundation unless good lasting wood 

 material can be obtained. The material used 

 for siding should be matched or well strip- 

 ped about the joints ; and it is needless to 

 state that the building must be bee-proof 

 throughout — even the wall or partition be- 

 tween the two rooms. 



Tliere should be a solid door not less than 



3 ft. wide between the two rooms, and one 

 of the same dimensions on the front side of 

 each room, opening from the outside, with 

 sliding screen doors on the inside. 



Each room should have not less than two 

 large glass windows, one opposite each door 

 on the side, and one in each end of the 

 room. The entire opening should be cov- 

 ered with screen wire. 



A wide smooth shelf or bench constructed 

 across the side of the room opposite the 

 doors will be necessary. In the packing- 

 room this bench is convenient for packing 

 honey, and in the other room it is used in 

 cleaning sujDers. We call this our super- 

 room. In honey-houses constructed for ex- 

 tracted honey we call this the extracting- 

 room. 



The floor of this room is elevated about 



4 ft. above that of the packing-room, and 

 steps lead up to it fi'om the door in the 

 partition. We plan for a slight elevation 

 in front of the outside door of this room, 

 in order that honey may be unloaded on a 

 level with the floor. We usually build this 

 room up on pillars of the proper height, 

 and leave it open underneath or remove 

 some of the earth from beneath, and make 

 a storage-room of it. 



The honey-tanks are inside the packing- 



