402 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



portunities for queen cell building-; as 

 a result, nearly all of the queen cells 

 are built along- the lower edg-es of the 

 combs. As my bottom-bars are nar- 

 row, only about ^s inch, it is an easy 

 matter to see the cells from looking- at 

 the bottom of the combs, and this view 

 may be secured instantly by simply 

 dropping- the bottom-board. The bees 

 can easily be driven up among- the 

 combs by the use of smoke, when, by 

 using- a hand mirror, if necessary, a 

 view can be secured that extends quite 



cellar for wintering, but I have many 

 times wintered some of them in the 

 houses. In this case, the lower en- 

 trance is closed in September, that the 

 bees may become accustomed to the 

 upper entrance, which is just at the 

 top of the frames. The reason for 

 using- an upper entrance in a house- 

 apiary is that there is always a 

 strong- draft in at the entrance and up 

 through the hives; and, by having the 

 entrance at the top of the hives, this 

 draft up through the hive is avoided. 



■•'-• ^ *ii'y » ' W »i > .ii 3 iji ( ni > 



-m-^m^^ 



.f 



A Nearby View of a House-Apiary. 

 At the left may be seen the foundation for the building of another house-apiary. 



a distaiice up between the combs. If 

 the light is insufticient, some one can 

 stand out of doors with another mirror 

 and throw a flood of sunshine under 

 the hive that is being examined. Such 

 an examination will show if there is 

 sealed brood in the combs, and we can 

 in this way determine if a young queen 

 has begun laying. These things may be 

 learned without any lifting of supers, 

 or tearing to pieces of the brood-nest. 

 As a rule, the bees are carried into a 



I use a chaff cushion over each hive, 

 or to be more exact, a shallow box 

 filled with chaff, the lower side being 

 covered with wire cloth, having a 

 piece of cotton cloth above the screen. 

 There is a cover over the top of the box, 

 nailed on, that there may be no spill- 

 ing of chaff, but there are numerous 

 small holes in the cover to allow the 

 moisture to pass oft". 



Verona Mills, Mich., June 11, 1904. 



