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QEORQE VV. YORK, Editor. 





40th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL, JANUARY 11, 1900, 



No, 2, 



Keeping- Bees as in the Old Country- 

 ing Lang-stroth Hives. 



-Ventilat- 



BY JOHN R. SCHMIDT. 



THIS article is the result of a stroll with my camera out 

 among some of the bee-keepers of Cincinnati. The 

 desire generally strikes me about the time of the year 

 when our honey season is over. No special route is laid 

 out, but just to go out and find some one who keeps bees, 

 and to learn his ideas of bee-keeping, and what result was 

 obtained under his management. Most bee-keepers gen- 

 erallj' have some hobby, or special way of managing their 

 bees, which they think is the best and only correct way of 

 getting a good crop of honey. No doubt many of these 

 ideas are good, for just such ideas finding their way into 

 our bee-literature are combined either wholly or partly by 

 some bright bee-keepers, and as a result we have as to-day 

 the advanced methods of modern bee-keeping. 



Two of these ideas, which I am about to describe here, 

 attracted m^' attention more than usual, sol promptly 

 adjusted my camera and " fired away." 



One pleasant Saturday afternoon, being inclined to 

 take one of these trips, I packt my camera, and as it was 

 only a few hours until dark, my trip necessarily had to be a 

 short one. so I decided to call upon Mr. C. H. W. Weber. 

 As Mr. Weber carries on quite an extensive business it is 

 necessary for him to be located in the citj' — yes, " right in 

 it" — that expresses it exactly, and he is " in it " in more 

 ways than one, for he also has his apiary of 32 colonies in 

 the city on the roof of his store. 



After talking bees for some time, Mr. Weber said : 

 "Come up, and I will show you my bees now " — having 

 seen them a few weeks before. So we started to climb 

 stairs, and after climbing three flights we turned to our 

 right, and there we could view that "city roof-apiary," 

 which has been mentioned so often in our bee-literature, as 

 it was formerly owned by the late Chas. F. Muth. 



After keeping bees on this roof for many years with 

 perfect success, Mr. Weber says he is going to arrange 

 them all differently, and has a plan which will protect his 

 bees from the extremes of heat and cold, to which they are 

 subject. 



Taking me to one side of the apiary, he showed me a 

 row of hives which he has just completed in arranging ac- 

 cording to his plan (see photograph). This row is composed 

 of regular dovetailed hives about five inches apart. They 

 are securely incased, excepting the front, with %-inch 

 boards up to the top of the brood-chambers, a space of about 

 five inches being left all around the hives, and this space 

 is tightly packt with chaffer planer-shavings. After they 



are packt, boards are fitted in the space between the hives 

 even with the top of the brood-chambers, to keep the pack- 

 ing dry, and make them all rain and snow proof. So far 

 this is nothing more than chaff hives, only on a different 

 plan, but you will notice in the photograph that there is an 

 additional roof over the hives, and is also boarded up in the 

 rear. 



The top part of the rear is hinged, and may be raised 

 to allow the sun to shine on the top of the hives in early 

 springtime. During winter, when the cold, unbroken west- 

 ern winds sweep over the house-tops, this arrangement is 

 closed down securely, and the hives are thoroly protected. 

 Weak colonies with plenty of stores will winter just as well 

 as strong ones, and, in fact, every hive in the row will be of 

 uniform temperature, as the heat radiates from one to 

 another thru the chaff between the brood-chambers. The 

 additional roof over the hives is to protect them during the 

 middle of hot summer days. 



After explaining the advantages of such an arrange- 

 ment, Mr. Weber said, in his good-natured German way, 



Por/wn of a Citicinnati Roof-Apiary. 



" That's the way they keep bees in the old country." (With 

 emphasis on " that's "). I askt him. if he wouldn't have 

 trouble with queens entering wrong hives, as they were all 

 built and lookt exactly alike. He said that as he has only 

 32 colonies, he can easily know the exact condition of each 



