616 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wavelets or News. 



Which Way to Face the Hives. 



Hives should face the east or south- 

 east, should be painted outside, but not 

 inside (white is the best color), and if 

 possible should be protected from the 

 north and northwest winds with some 

 kind of windbreak. Bees do better in 

 the open sunshine than in the shade, 

 but we do not work with them when the 

 mercury registers over 100°. — Exchange. 



Prompt Work. 



Plan your season's work in advance, 

 as far as you possibly can, and when 

 your plans are laid, make preparations 

 for carrying them out promptly. Do 

 not put off the manufacture or repair 

 of hives, stands, sections, or anything 

 of that sort, until the very moment they 

 are needed, for then you will either have 

 to do without them entirely at the time 

 they are most desirable, or stop in the 

 midst of other important work, to do a 

 little piece of business that should have 

 had attention six months ago. — Excli. 



One and. Inseparable. 



In England, a fruit-grower was sur- 

 prised to find that in one corner of his 

 garden, in which were placed colonies of 

 bees, the trees were heavily laden with 

 fruit, while those more remote had set 

 very sparingly. Then he called to mind 

 the circumstance of its being very dark 

 and foggy during the blooming of the 

 trees, so that the bees flew but a short 

 distance from their hives. 



The proprietor of a cherry orchard in 

 California found that his trees did not 

 bear remunerative crops after the fiat of 

 the raisin-growers, banishing the bees 

 to a distant canyon. Being convinced of 

 the necessity of bees to fertilize the 

 bloom, he procured some colonies, located 

 tliem in his orchard, and then realized 

 satisfactory returns. Horticulturists and 

 apiarists are like the American Union — 

 one and inseparable. — ExclmiKje. 



Handle Bees Carefully. 



In liandling bees, the greatest possi- 

 ble care should be used not to crush any 

 of them, not only because the lif(i of 

 every b<M! is valuable, but because If you 

 crusli a bee she gives off the poisonous 

 smell, and this irritates her companions 



and they will become cross, which will 

 result in a person getting stung badly if 

 he is not well protected with a bee- 

 veil, Qtc. 



In manipulating hives, sections, etc., 

 do not jar the hives any more than you 

 can possibly help, for this irritates the 

 bees. Many could account for getting 

 stung, to a lack of care on their part 

 along this line. I once employed a man 

 who was constantly jarring the hives in 

 putting on the covers and taking them 

 off, and, say what I would, it did not 

 seem to make any difference with him ; 

 consequently,! had to turn him off, much 

 to my regret, for he was just such a man 

 as I liked in every other respect. 



While he was with me for a week, the 

 bees became so irritable that I could not 

 go into the yard without being saluted 

 by angry bees — while before I could pass 

 all over the apiary bare-headed, and not 

 be noticed by the bees at all. — G. M. 

 DooLiTTLE, in Rural Home. 



How to Move Bees. 



We have recently had occasion to 

 move our bees a distance of about a mile, 

 and it was accomplished with but Uttle 

 loss. A cool day was selected, cold 

 enough to prevent the bees flying much, 

 and yet not so cold as to make the combs 

 very brittle. They were previously pre- 

 pared for removal by reducing the space 

 occupied, to Winter size, and placing two 

 half-inch square sticks across the top of 

 the brood frames, with the burlap cover 

 over that. We then removed the upper 

 story of the hive and placed the cover 

 over the brood apartments, and fastened 

 it on with small cleats, also cleating the 

 bottom board to the brood apartment in 

 the same manner. A piece of wire cloth 

 was then fastened over the entrance, 

 when all were ready to start. 



On the day selected for moving, the 

 bees were loaded into a wagon with five 

 or six inches of straw in the bottom of 

 the bed, and as the roads were soft and 

 not lumpy, by driving carefully we got 

 through all right. It turned cooler the 

 next day, and our bees were confined to 

 the hives three days, and then on a warm 

 day following, the wire cloth was care- 

 fully removed from the entrances, and a 

 shingle placed against the hive in such a 

 manner that the bees leaving the hive in 

 a liurry would fly against the shingle, 

 and thus be reminded to "look a leedle 

 o 1 1 d . " — Exchange. 



Kxtra Combs are handy to have 

 in stock — at huxst tliree for each hive. 



