DKCEMBER 1, 1912 



S. D. Smith, of Anroraville, Wis., who, though nearly 80 years old, cares for lOo coloiiief 



OVER A HUNDRED COLONIES CARED FOR 

 BY A MAN NEARLY 80 YEARS OLD 



BY S. D. SMITH 



The picture shows my apiary of 105 colo- 

 nies. Although 1 am 78 years old I do all 

 the work myself. I have extracted about 

 2000 pounds of honey, have taken off a 

 good deal of comb honey, and have a whole 

 lot to take otf yet. 



Late in the season, even in September, 

 the bees began swarming, and they did 

 nothing but swarm every day, rain or shine. 

 Sometimes three or four came out together 

 and formed a big cluster. All my queens 

 are clipi^ed, so they have to go back, each 

 bee to its own hive. I keep all of my colo- 

 nies very strong. 



Auroraville, Wis. 



EXPERIENCES OF A FOUL-BROOD INSPECTOR 



Some Queer Hives and Frames 



BY J. E. CRANE 



Continued from page 727, Nov. 15th issue. 



Nearly all the hives in the town where 

 I began the work of inspection contained 

 Hoffman frames; and the first hive I at- 

 tempted to open I went at with a rather 

 heavy jack-knife. If I remember rightly, 

 the frames filled the hive from side to side. 



"Hold on there! you will break your 



knife," said the kind-hearted proprietor. 

 "I have a hive-tool that will help you out." 



He brought me a large flat file that was 

 too much worn to be used any longer as a 

 file. I believe the end was somewhat sharp- 

 ened. With this tool I was able to squeeze 

 the frames together and to loosen one so 

 ] could get it out. Then the rest came eas- 

 ier. ]t took some of the conceit out of me 

 when 1 found that the proprietor could 

 handle those frames in half the time 1 could 

 as I had never before tried to remove Hoff- 

 man frames from a hive occupied by bees, 

 having always used the Langstroth frame. 



The next place I visited I started to use 

 my knife again from sheer force of habit, 

 when I was called on to halt, and the own- 

 er of the yard called out, "Sonny, run and 

 get a chisel." 



1 kept hearing this or something like it 

 until "Sonny, run and get a chisel," became 

 a byword with me. 



1 found several old flat files in use. One 

 man had one with the handle gone and the 

 handle end bent up in such a way that it 

 fitted the end of the frame and could be 

 used to pry it loose, provided one knew 

 how. The inspector was willing to learn. 

 But the reader will inquire whether there 

 were no follow-boards that could be re- 

 moved. Yes, I found some, but they were 

 often so glued in that often there was dan- 

 ger of tearing them apart in trying to get 

 them out, and I found it more desirable to 

 crowd the frames together as best I could, 



