AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Jan. 4, 1900. 



for the operator to occupy the space at the rear of one 

 hive, and have ample opportunity to examine the frgnt of 

 any other. 



There is one vfide alley crosswise thru the center to 

 facilitate operations, and, if the apiary were a large one, I 

 would think others at convenient distances advisable. 



The hives are placed on stands fully four inches high, 

 but if the ground were liable to become very damp, and to 

 remain so any considerable time, I should recommend at 

 least six inches elevation. 



The shrubbery seen in front is currant bushes, and be- 

 tween them and the hives is a portion of a strawberry- 

 patch, which, because of the proximity totUp little clump of 

 elms, has become of little or no value. The yard is kept 

 well mowed with a lawn-mower, like the lawn shown in the 

 distance. The shadow of the foliage of a half-dozen little 

 elms sweeps around over the yard by the movement of the 

 sun, so that all get the benefit of it ; thus none of the hives 

 are in the sunshine, nor in the shade, all of the time. 



You will notice the hive that is open in the second pict- 

 ure is made of '4 -inch stuff. There are but few such, and 

 thej' were made by myself in an emergency. I do not recom- 

 mend them. The balance are of thin stuff, and are as easily 

 handled as any hive I've ever had, or know of. 



You will notice a sled standing against a tree. This is 

 of the same height as the stand, and when I wish to move a 

 hive the sled is backt up to the rear, the hive easily pulled 

 on to it, and is hauled away. I prefer the sled to any other 

 method of hauling, as it moves over the uneven ground 

 with less liability to jostle or jar the hive. 



You will also notice in the same picture a frame of bees 

 being held for a " time photograph." No veil, no smoke 

 (but smoker ready if needed) ; bees literally covering both 

 sides of the frame, and running all over my hands— one, 

 you will notice, stopt long enough to have her photograph 

 taken — and all this is done when my suit from head to foot 

 was black, excepting the hat. (The word " black " is itali- 

 cized for the benefit of those who say bees cannot be han- 

 dled by persons drest in such a suit.) 



Now, on looking over my description I believe it could 

 have been told in half the words had I taken time and had 

 done a little thinking. " Aye, there's the rub !" How few 

 do any real, hard thinking. 



I have tried various plans for arranging hives for con- 

 venience, but I like this best for all practical purposes. I 

 do not think I've lost a single queen by its returning to the 

 wrong hive. Kankakee Co., 111. 



Characteristics of a Successful Bee-Keeper. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



BEE-KEEPING is a business that requires the greatest 

 amount of attention to small details or minutia; to carry 

 it on successfully. The good bee-keeper is generally 

 more or less cranky, but he is most extraordinarily so on 

 the attention he pays to his bees, in the very smallest par- 

 ticulars. Everything must be arranged methodically (en 

 papier de musique), and it is only the man who is thus par- 

 ticular who may be depended upon for as great success with 

 bees as can possibly be achieved in the locality where he 

 lives. 



In every season, at every turn, the apiarist is con- 

 fronted with the need of attention to details. In early 

 spring he is to notice the signs of approaching starvation 

 in occasional colonies. B)' their behavior at the entrance 

 he will recognize the queenless colonies, and it is another 

 detail to furnish them with necessary larva; to enable them 

 to rear a queen again. The success and prolificness of this 

 queen depend upon the prolificness of the colony out of 

 which the brood has been taken, and that is still another 

 detail. 



When the crop comes it is a nice point to detect at a 

 glance the signs of approaching harvest, to furnish supers 

 at the proper moment, so the lack of them may not induce 

 the colony to swarm, and not to furnish them too soon and 

 have them stained by the unnecessary travel of the bees 

 over them. 



When the swarm is harvested there are a thousand lit- 

 tle things to look after — to recognize whether the queen has 

 been hived without having actually seen her ; set the hive 

 up properly so the combs may be built perpendicularly ; 

 fasten the guides in the frames correctly ; shelter the hive 

 against the too direct rays of the sun ; see that the grass is 

 kept down, that the bees are supplied with- a watering- 

 trough, if no natural stream is close at hand, etc. 



To remove the honey properly without damaging it, to 

 cleanse the sections and have them in attractive appear- 

 ance, to remove the traces of propolis, to keep the hive sup- 

 plied with sufficient room, and to put up the honey in shape 

 to make it most readily salable, are all nice points, and re- 

 quire niinutia;. 



But the greatest vigilance is necessary, and the practi- 

 cal apiarist best shows himself when any robbing is going 

 on. And the man who does not give the robbers a chance, 

 who always has his colonies supplied with queens ; who 

 always keeps the entrances of his hives sufficiently open to 

 allow of free entrance and exit, and yet reduces them to the 

 absolute necessities of the colony according to its strength ; 

 who manages to handle his bees with so much speed, dex- 

 terity and care as to avoid undue excitement — that man is 

 a bee-man indeed. This picture looks overdrawn, and yet I 

 have in mind a dozen men who, to my knowledge, have just 

 this much care of their bees, who do things in the apiary as 

 we say they should be done, but not as we do them our- 

 selves, for I regret to say I lack in manj' of these particulars, 

 and I cannot refrain from admiring these men, however I 

 may laugh at their too exact notions in ordinary things of 

 life. 



For the exact bee-keeper shows himself exact in all the 

 details of life. I have in mind a little incident that will 

 fully illustrate the precise method of the careful bee-keeper. 

 The hero I will not name, but if he reads this he will readily 

 recognize himself, even tho the incident happened j'cars 

 ago: 



I was extracting honey for him, and while I extracted 

 the first bucketful of honey he was in his cellar preparing a 

 barrel to receive the honey. The head had been removed, 

 and he had the barrel set upon blocks when I came down to 

 see whether all was ready. By that time I had one bucket 

 about full, and as soon as I found that all was right I went 

 upstairs to get the honey. He came up behind me. In a 

 short time I again descended the stairs with my pailful and 

 cautiously stepping to the spot where the barrel was placed 

 (it was a little dark) I poured my entire bucketful — on the 

 lid. I don't believe a drop of it got into the barrel. Fear- 

 ing that I might delay a little in bringing the honey, his 

 exactness and exceeding neatness had prompted him to 

 cover the barrel with its lid, for fear some little speck of 

 dust might fall in. A few hot words past. You might have 

 heard one man mutter something about other people's reck- 

 lessness, while the other was cursing the precise ways of 

 some people. But the quiet man had the best of it, for he 

 went right I0 work cleaning up that barrel, and it was a 

 job I can assure you, fori had evidently struck the center, 

 and the honey was evenly spread over the entire surface of 

 the lid, and over every stave from top to bottom ! 



The careful and successful bee-keeper has a neat home, 

 his wood-pile is arranged symmetrically ; if he has sawed 

 the wood himself you may be sure that not a single stick is 

 an inch longer than any other stick, and you may venture 

 to assert that every stick of that wood will fit inside of his 

 stove without having to be broken across somebody's knee. 

 His tool-shed is a model of order, his agricultural imple- 

 ments are kept in good repair, and his live stock is healthy 

 and well fed. If these things are not as I represent then he 

 is not as successful a bee-keeper as he might be, for bee- 

 keeping is, as Mr. Heddon once said, "a business of details." 



Hancock Co., 111. 



First Symptoms of Bee-Diarrhea in the Cellar. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes : " Last winter my bees 

 contracted what is known as ' bee-diarrhea ' quite early 

 in the winter, and I wish to know what can be done 

 with a colony of bees in winter quarters when the first 

 symptoms of the disease appears. Please answer thru the 

 columns of the American Bee Journal." 



If the bees were in the cellar, and the temperature of 

 the cellar was above SO degrees, Fahr., I would try cooling 

 the cellar. On the other hand, if the temperature was 38 

 degrees, or cooler, I would try warming it up to the tem- 

 perature first given, or a little higher. When the tempera- 

 ture of any cellar is just right it may be known by the 

 quietness of the bees. The air of any room is always the 

 warmest at the top, where any warmth-producing material 

 is in such room, and for this reason I always place the 

 strongest colonies as to bees or numbers in the bottom tier, 

 when putting them in the cellar : the colonies of medium 

 strength in the next tier, while all of the colonies having 



