Gleanings in Bee Culture 



Fig. 5. — A closer view of the grab-hooks for catching the bar- 

 rel while it is being weighed. 



that the grass has been cleaned off so that 

 the ground is level like a brickyard. In 

 front of every hive is a board running from 

 the ground clear up to the entrance. No- 

 tice Fig. 3, which shows the details of the 

 hive-stand as they are made at the Owl 

 Creek yard. This cleaning of all the grass 

 is largely for the purpose of "^ning away 

 ants that are so destructive in .ost locali- 

 ties in Florida. Mr. Marchant thinks there 

 will be no trouble from this pest provided 

 the ground where the apiary is located is 

 kept free from all boards, rubbish, vegeta- 

 tion, and shrubbery, including trees where 

 the ants are apt to form their nests. Later 

 on I will show you something how these 

 ants make nests in trees, and what fine 

 chicken feed they make. 



marchant's unique scheme for weigh- 

 ing HIS HONEY. 



Let us now step under the shed in front of 

 Mr. Marchant's honey-house, shown in Fig. 

 2. Here we see a mammoth pair of steel- 

 yards; and connected with them is some- 

 thing that looks like ice-tongs. See Figs. 4 

 and 5. This scheme for weighing honey in 

 barrels by means of big steelyards beats any 

 thing else I ever saw. They cost only $3.50, 

 and then all that is required is a long pole, 

 a support overhead, and an iron ring having 

 attached to it two iron rods with hooks on 

 the end. 



We will say we are now ready to weigh 

 up our honey. One man steps over to the 

 end of the long pole; the steelyards are at- 

 tached while Jhe second^man rolls the bar- 



rel under the pair of iron hooks. 

 The steelyards are dropped 

 down until the hooks catch over 

 the ends of the barrel. The bar- 

 rel is then raised just enough to 

 clear the ground. The weight 

 is taken, when the next barrel 

 is weighed in the same way. 

 The whole thing is shown in 

 Figs. 4 and 5. It is a great 

 scheme, and I am sure it can be 

 employed to advantage by other 

 bee-keepers. 



marchant's scheme for 



shading hives. 

 In Fig. 6 we have Mr. Mar- 

 chant's scheme for shading 

 hives. The ridge piece is made 

 of inch lumber a little longer 

 than the hive, with cheap shin- 

 gles nailed on to it at right an- 

 gles to each other, as shown in 

 the illustration. This kind of 

 shade-board is very cheap, and 

 its shape gives a little better cir- 

 culation of air between the 

 shade-board and the top of the 

 hive than the ordinary arrange- 

 ment lying flat on the hive. 



Fig. 7 shows a four-story ten- 

 frame colony operated for ex- 

 tracted honey. You will notice 

 this stands up on scales for re- 

 cording the honey-flow. The 

 hive next to it has three stories. Every 

 modern yard nowadays has a scale hive; 

 and as the honey-flow begins to taper off, 

 the bee-keeper will modify his plan accord- 

 ingly. 



In our next issue I hope to show you api- 

 aries up on stilts on that same Appalachi- 

 cola River, and a few snap shots showing 

 the river itself. I shall also have something 

 to say about the advantage of a river for 

 transporting bees_to new pastures. 



Fig. 6.— Marchant's shade-board. This provides 

 better ventilation than the ordinary flat shade- 

 board. 



