70 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



March, 



in the museum at Lausanne, Geneva 

 lake. 



The people might have lived about 

 the time the acient Egyptians did, but 

 they lived in a dark age as compared 

 with the latter. 



FRANCE. 



• HANDLING STRAW-HIVES. 



(In giving the following, I do not 

 intend to encourage the keeping of 

 straw or box hives of any kind; but 

 the management here described could, 

 in some respects, be applied advanta- 

 geously to movable-comb hives). 



Mr. Denis Havard believes in mov- 

 able comb hives, at least in theory; 

 but for several reasons has kept the 

 old-fashioned straw hives. They are 

 of cylindrical form; their walls about 

 two inches thick. The inside diameter 

 Ts about sixteen inches, the height 

 nearly a foot. The top has an open- 

 ing of about three inches in diameter 

 which can be used when the bees need 

 feeding or when a super is added. The 

 supers used are like the hives proper, 

 except that their height is only about 

 six inches. The hives have two en- 

 trances, one at two inches' above the 

 floor (bottom-board) the other about 

 six inches high. The supers have 

 a:lso an entrance at about two inches 

 above the lower edge. Supers and 

 hives are provided with cross-sticks, 

 to hold the combs. 



The colonies are kept in a "rucher" 

 large enough to hold forty, placed 

 in two rows, one above the other. 

 (A rucher is a bee house or bee shed 

 closed at both ends and back. The 

 front is open and consists of shelves 

 upon which the colonies are placed. 

 One or two doors are provided at 

 one or each end. Mr. Havard's ruch- 

 er has two). 



In many parts of Europe the moun- 

 tainous, wild regions are covered with 

 heather and other fall-flowers. It is 

 customary to transport the bees there 



to get the benefit of it. Unfortunate- 

 ly this honey is quite dark, extremely 

 thick, and not good for wintering. 



In Mr. Havard's region, the bees 

 can have some flights during the win- 

 ter. It is only when there is more 

 than two months without fair flying 

 days that some of his colonies suffer 

 from dysentery. But that does not 

 often happen. 



As soon as his bees are brought 

 back from the heath region, the heavi- 

 est ones — 'those that may give more 

 than 30 lbs of honey — are taken up. 

 The entire contents are taken for hon- 

 ey and wax, after having driven the 

 bees out and united them with the 

 weakest colonies. To avoid fight- 

 ing, a few drops of essence of mint 

 are given the day before to the colo- 

 nies to be united in order to give them 

 the same scent, otherwise there would 

 be considerable fighting. The light 

 colonies are fed for the winter, a mix- 

 ture of sugar syrup with one-fourth 

 of good honey. The feeding must be 

 all done by the middle of September. 

 The upper entrances are closed and 

 cushions of oat chaflf placed on the 

 hives for protection. In very cold 

 weather straw mats, such as are used 

 by gardeners, are placed in front of 

 the hives for further protection. 



In March when the weather is suf- 

 ficiently warm, a general visit and 

 cleaning of bottom boards is done. 

 The upper entrances are opened, and 

 the colonies short of stores fed from 

 two to four pounds of good honey — 

 not more. From now until there is 

 plenty in the field, stimulative feed- 

 ing is practiced. His bottom-boards 

 are very thick and provided with a 

 kind of trough (something like the 

 .A.lexander feeder) for that purpose. 

 Every second or third evening a big 

 spoonful of honey is given to each 

 colony. During, the last part of April 

 all t"he colonies sufificien'tly strong- 

 receive a super, partially to retard 

 the swarming. He prefers to have all 



