330 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD 

 LOCATION. 



A good location is first in the list, 

 and, should be selected with extreme 

 care. It is not enoug-h to have abund- 

 ant white clover, surrounding" each 

 yard, for white clover often fails to 

 secrete nectar. Heartsease fig-urcs 

 nearly one-half; and, if my locations 

 had not had the latter, I should have 

 been compelled to step down and out. 

 A location with plenty of clover and 

 heartsease, with basswood added, 

 would be ideal; furnishing- a constant 

 flow from June 5th till frost; except, 

 about 20 days, from the last of July, 

 to about the middle of Aug-ust. Sweet 

 clover, if it could be added, would fill 

 the gap. I can only speak of my own 

 locality. Water near by is of m.uch 

 importance; and, in selecting- a loca- 

 tion, I would go if possible to a creek 

 valley. Look the field over for two and 

 one-half miles around, and, even after 

 looking it over, you may not succeed in 

 getting in. If you can buy a patch of 

 ground by all means do it; if not, lease 

 a sufficient piece of ground for a term 

 of years, so that you won't be com- 

 pelled to move off right away. Try 

 and do business on substantial basis. 

 I own the land on which my apiaries 

 are located, except one, and that is on 

 my brother's farm, and, all goes 

 smoothly, and, is just to my liking. 

 Some years ago I agreed with a man, 

 to pay him $10.00 a year for setting a 

 yard of bees on his farm, without 

 specifying the time they could stay, or 

 even drawing up any writings, and in 

 two years was told to move oflf. An- 

 other instance was when a farm 

 changed hands, and again I was told 

 to move. Such experience is not pleas- 

 ant, and I promised myself to make 

 different arrangements in the future. 

 So, I say, own the land on which your 

 apiary sets, if you can. 



When the land is yours, set the bees 

 on, build a little honey house of drop- 

 siding. Put in a floor, and have a flat 



roof covered with tin. Make the house 

 six and one-half feet high, and five 

 feet square, with the door opening out. 

 This will hold a good load of comb 

 honey. Don't put in a window, but 

 have an opening, 18 inches square, on 

 the top of the back side, covering it 

 with a large screen cone Such a little 

 house as this can be hauled on a 

 wagon or a sled to any place where 

 needed. 



Such a house is sufficient for the 

 comb honey producer, who has a large 

 honey house at home, that will hold 

 all of the honey from all of the little 

 houses for the season's run. The house 

 at home will need plenty of light, as 

 here will be done all of the work of 

 crating and cleaning, and nearly all 

 other work. My little houses cost 

 $18.00 each. 



My cellars are sixteen feet long, by 

 seven feet wide inside measure, and, 

 seven feet deep. They are stoned 

 solidly all around, except the doorway, 

 boarded over head with groove roofing 

 and battened. The roof should be 

 quite steep to insure against leakage. 

 There is a door left in one end 

 of the attic, and over the upper floor 

 are spread four inches of planer shav- 

 ings. A ventilating chimney, one foot 

 square, runs up ten feet above the peak. 

 This ventilator is madefiom boards, 

 one by twelve. I have found this venti- 

 lating chimney very valuable in con 

 nection with those small cellars, 

 packed chuck full of bees. Much honey 

 is saved by using these cellars, even in 

 anopen winter, and $28.00 builds such a 

 cave. I find them to give entire satis- 

 faction. There's no bother about the 

 bees until it is time to take them out. 

 These cellars should be well down in 

 the ground, with a good thick coat of 

 planer shavings on the floor over head, 

 so as to keep the temperature high, say 

 45 to 50 degrees. Ten dollars will pay 

 tor a shed in which to run in a team of 

 horses. Fifty-one dollars for housing 

 stock, covers the bill in each yard. 



