T HE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



267 



travelling^ between yards. To be sure, 

 horses that are afraid of bees will 

 cause some trouble, especially after 

 having- had some experience in being 

 stung. There is rarely much trouble 

 in getting into a yard with a load, but 

 when taking off honey we sometimes 

 have trouble in getting away with a 

 load of honey. All of my out-yards 

 are so arranged that we can run a load 

 of honey, by hand, from five to twenty 

 rods away, where there is no trouble 

 in hitching on a horse. During the 

 past 25 years, I have met with no 

 serious accident in the use of horses 

 near bees, and do not think, with 

 proper care, they will be likely to 

 occur. 



NO NEED OF KEEPING A MAN AT EACH 

 YARD. 



When I had less experience than I 

 now have, I used to employ a man for 

 each out-yard during the swarming 

 season By so doing I was sure of a 

 large expense, whether I had much 

 honey with which to meet it or not. 

 For many years past I have preferred 

 to look after all my bees myself, with 

 one man to assist me. I do not find the 

 loss from absconding swarms any 

 greater, and I can know just how each 

 yard and hive is progressing, as the 

 season advances. 



I find one of the most difficult 

 obstacles to overcome in keeping bees 

 in large numbers, at some distance 

 from home, is a disposition to neglect 

 :hem. "Out of sight, out of mind," is 

 m old but true proverb. And I may 

 is well say right here that, to make a 

 success of many yards of bees, one 

 nust have the business thoroughly 

 ystemized. Hives, swarming, help, 

 very thing, should move like clock 

 vork; even the weather must not inter- 

 ere, and your horses must learn that 

 ou have got to be on time. Hives 

 hould all be of one pattern, every part 

 tting every hive in every yard, and so 

 onstructed as to be manipulated in the 

 uickest time possible. 



Time is the most valuable factor in 

 the business, aside from necessary 

 knowledge and skill. 



Whether hives should be made by 

 hive manufacturers, or near home, will 

 depend upon the ability of nearby 

 factories to accurately cut out just 

 what you want, and at less expense 

 than it would cost to have it doue at a 

 distance. 



OUT-DOOK WINTERING COSTS SIX 

 I^BS. EXTRA PER COLONY. 



Whether single-wallorchaff hives are 

 used will depend on the method of 

 wintering. I have always wintered, or 

 I should say, usually wintered, out in 

 chaff hives. From experiments I be- 

 lieve it takes fully six pounds more of 

 honey to winter average sized colonies 

 out of doors than in a good cellar or 

 cave. If 500 colonies are kept, it would 

 cost 3,000 pounds more to winter them 

 out of doors than it would in a good, 

 under-ground repository; an argument 

 that it is very hard to withstand. I 

 believe it less labor to winter out-doors 

 than in. I believe, however, that it 

 would be less labor to winter in a cellar 

 where bees are kept through the sum- 

 mer, than to draw all home to one 

 central place or cellar, though 1 have 

 had no experience in hauling bees 

 home in the fall and back again in the 

 spring, and, therefore, cannot speak 

 with much authority. 



Whether surplus comb or extracted 

 honey should be the object of running 

 out-yards, depends upon the amount, 

 and value of each, that can be secured. 

 I have always run my out-yards for 

 comb surplus, but am intending soon 

 to start one or two j'aixis for extracted 

 honey, exclusively, as I find a growing 

 demand for well-ripened liquid honey, 

 at good prices; many persons prefer- 

 ring it to comb at the same price. 



HOW TO PREVENT SWARMING. 



I presume there is nothing connected 

 with keeping bees in out-yards that 

 seems to the inexperienced .so formid- 



