664 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Oct. 18 1900 



i1/r. John Diveky and Apiary. 



after a sumptuous dinner at his elegant home, hitcht up his 

 speed-awav horse, and took us to visit a few of the bee- 

 keepers in that locality. The honey crop the past season 

 had been only about a quarter the usual amount, the princi- 

 pal source being- sweet clover, we believe. 



We first called on Mr. John Mareth, who has a very 

 nice yard of some 80 colonies. He runs principally for 

 comb honey. Mr. Mareth is a pleasant young man, work- 

 ing in the shops as a foundry-man, so he has but little time 

 to devote to his bees. Still, he is making a success with 

 them, as he well deserves to do. 



Mr. John Divekey was the next '• victim " we saw, a 

 picture of whose apiary is here presented, and is the oldest 

 bee-keeper in the place. He is contentedly sitting on one 

 of the hives. 



He was born in Germany, and there commenced hand- 

 ling bees when 10 years of age, using at that time the old 

 straw hive. He came to his present place in 1857, and in 

 1858 built the comfortable home that he now lives in. At 

 the rear is a large lot that extends to the river, on which he 

 has kept bees for 42 years. Tho he has held the position of 

 foreman of the coach department of the C. B. & O. railroad 

 shop all these years, his spare time has always been spent 

 with the bees, and none in that locality has had a longer 

 or more practical apiarian experience than he. At times he 

 has had as many as 225 colonies. 



Mr. Divekey was the first bee-keeper there to import 

 and introduce the Italian bees, in the days when the intro- 

 ducing of queens in boxhives was an entirely different 

 process from the operation in the dovetailed hive of to-day. 

 Tho many years have past over his head, he still has the 

 same interest in his bees, and works with them with even 

 more pleasure than he did 40 years ago. With his quiet, 

 homelike disposition, Mr. Divekey is always ready to tell of 

 his experiences, and to impart his information to those less 

 informed. 



Last spring- he had 40 colonies, and now has 90, all in 

 first-class condition. He expects to kill about one-half the 

 number this fall, and extract the honey from them, keep- 

 ing the empty hives with full combs for the new swarms 

 next season, considering them of great benefit to the new 

 swarms each year. Aside from his extracting he %vorks 

 entirely for comb honey, and reports about an average crop. 

 He is using the new 8-frame dovetailed hives with fence 

 supers, believing them the best he has ever used. Bee- 

 keeping has been to him, these many years, a "side line" 

 of pleasure and profit— a pleasure because ol the success he 

 has made, and a profit because of the assistance it has been 

 to him in gaining his very comfortable financial circum- 

 stances. 



Mr. F. L. Taylor is another bee-keeper who lives quite 

 near to Mr. Norris. By the way, Mr. Norris has a very 

 small apiary at present which he expects to increase 

 another year. He now spends most of his time in looking 

 after his extensive property interests. 



Mr. Taylor has kept bees in his present locality about 



eight years. He works much on the same plan as Mr. 

 Divekey, tho he prefers and uses 10-frame hives, using the 

 T super. He thinks the 8-frame hive is all right if it is 

 lookt after often, and the colonies fed when necessary, tho 

 he can see nothing gained, and is very certain the bees in 

 10-frame hives will get along with less attention, and are 

 pretty sure to have enough to eat, and make a larger and 

 stronger colony. 



Mr. Taylor is in the jewelry business, but his greatest 

 pleasure is the bees. He introduced six 3-banded Italian 

 queens in July, 1899. and three golden Italian queens. All 

 are doing well, as all were successfully introduced. He 

 thinks the 3-banded Italian queens better layers than the 

 golden, tho the golden colonies are very strong. 



Mr. Taylor has 22 colonies no-w, and does not expect to 

 keep over 30, as he is on the river bank in the center of a 

 city of 22,000, and not over three blocks (in a direct line) 

 from the post-office, city hall, etc. We take pleasure in 

 showing a picture of Mr. Taylor's neat apiary, which is 

 just at the rear of his jewelry shop. The gentleman in the 

 picture, apparently drest like a Chinaman, is the jovial 

 owner. 



We also met Mr. Sylvester, who has 25 or 30 colonies. 

 He is a contractor and builder, and has little time to devote 

 to his bees. 



We returned to Chicago after spending a few very 

 pleasant hours among the bee-keepers mentioned. 



Eighteen Years' Experience with Bees. 



BY A. MOTTAZ. 



I FIRST started with a stray swarm that I caught. Then 

 I got " Langstroth on the Honey-Bee," " A B C of Bee- 

 Culture," and some minor books, and subscribed 

 for Gleanings in Bee-Culture and the American Bee Jour- 

 nal. I increast my bees slowly, aiming for extracted 

 honey rather than increase. Tho my winter losses have 

 been light (except winter before last, when I lost 50 percent 

 in one apiary), my increase has been from bought bees. 

 Timely and careful spring and early summer management 

 does prevent swarming for me. I now have 140 colonies in 

 five different apiaries, spread 10 miles apart, or between 

 extremes, mostly in 10-frame Simplicity hives, tho some are 

 in 2-story chaff hives, and some in new 8-frame dovetailed 

 chaft' hives, with two half stories, one for extracting and 

 one for comb honey. I have not had them long enough to 

 express any opinion on them. I have serious doubt if there 

 is any hive better for extracting than the regular 10-frame 

 Simplicity, tiering as necessary, having at least enough of 

 them and combs, or foundation, to tier three high. 



I handle my combs in the hives. I have a high wheel- 

 barrow, with corn cultivator wheel, and legs high enough 

 so that it will just clear the grass or rubbish when I stand. 

 The barrow consists of only the frame, being as light as 

 possible consistent with the strength necessary to carry all 

 I can wheel. 



I have adopted the castor-wheel platform for two hives, 

 which I lay loose on the barrow frame, projecting two or 

 three inches to one side, so as to rest that side on the table 

 in the honey-house as I wheel in, then it is the easiest 

 thing for me and my assistant to take hold of each of the 

 other corners and roll the platform on the table, which is 

 made just high enough so that it is on a level with the bar- 

 row, just wide enough to hold the platform lengthwise, and 

 long enough to hold the two platforms, the one empty and 

 the full one. 



I have an extracting-house 15x8x6 feet, on iron truck 

 wheels 28 and 32 inches high. It has a door behind; tveo 

 single sash windows at opposite sides, and one in front, all 

 provided with removable sash and wire screen with bee- 

 escapes ; round roof, railroad-car fashion ; fioor of fencing 

 drest and matcht on foundation like a hay-rack, only more 

 crosspieces ; side and roof frame 2x2 inches, and '3 inch 

 boards 6 or 8 inches wide. It is lined all around inside with 

 sheeting, to close all cracks. The roof is double, with 

 building-paper between. The whole thing ready to work 

 with driver in, weighs 3,300 pounds. I haul it as near to the 

 apiary as possible. I have for the horses a pair of covers 

 extending all over the head and nose, and also a rope 100 feet 

 long with hooks at both ends to pull away a distance, if 

 bees are very bad. We have done one extracting, and are 

 much pleased with it. 



I use duck sheets on the hives, and they work nicely to 

 flap in smoke to drive down the bees. I leave one end 

 sticking to the hive, raise one end, blow a puff of smoke to 



