THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



279 



One can also by this arrange 

 through opening the sHde before the 

 openings between combs, upon sul- 

 try days, to give the bees great reUef 

 with the fresh air and draft which 

 the strong colonies require very much. 

 In winter during wet warm weather 

 one can make the hive cooler which 

 is often very serviceable ; yes, even 

 necessary, as I have found honey 

 running out of the hive at such a time. 



In addition to all this my wooden 

 hives stand solid, fit exactly one 

 upon another and have no instance 

 as yet, although they stand simply 

 upon one another without fastening, 

 of any being blown over; but how 

 often do the straw skeps stand lame, 

 get crooked and are bent with the 

 weight of honey. 



What havoc can the mice create 

 in the winter in the straw skep ; but 

 with the wooden their energies to 

 get in are vain. 



Lastly, the straw skeps are gener- 

 ally too large and lack many advan- 

 tages in consequence. One can 

 easily take in such, too much honey 

 from the bees, although not easily 

 too little ; but one can only leave to 

 much as one year's honey may be 

 worth more than another, even if 

 bees are left two winters of stores, 

 there is little lost as one can harvest 

 so much the more next year as the 

 bees will consume not a drop more. 

 Yet it is well when one can conven- 

 iently take the extra stores and the 

 interest from capital in the apiary 

 drawn yearly and renewed. 



glass is built over so one can only sec one 

 comb. Also a board through changing from 

 moist to dryness, crack and warp which is 

 unpleasant and injurious it' not known in 

 time. 



In placing underneath large straw 

 skeps I can furthermore not always 

 hit the time so that the last one will 

 be built full and this empty space is 

 very injurious in winter because of 

 the cold as well as in the fall and 

 particularly in spring because of 

 robbers. 



Again, my little wooden top stories 

 have many advantages which one 

 sees and finds only after using them, 

 one can reap a harvest with them in 

 even very moderate seasons. 



One can supply small, medium and 

 large swarms proportionately top sto- 

 ries and give them three, four or five 

 stories as is best. One can always 

 enlarge them as long as there is 

 nourishment in the field. One 

 can in the fall, middle of winter, in 

 spring, or when one wishes, help other 

 bees in want of stores and give 

 them one or two stories from colo- 

 nies having abundance of stories set 

 away. One can at all times of the 

 year in a few minutes unite two or 

 three weak colonies, place a weak 

 colony over or under a strong one. 

 If one has a strong colony which 

 swarmed late and did not have 

 enough time to supply itself with suffi- 

 cient nourishment for winter and one 

 does not wish to unite it with another 

 swarm one can give them a story 

 with honey and next season it will 

 be the youngest and best swarm, and 

 if he has not enough combs he can 

 get a lower story with empty combs 

 and there are many more advantages 

 of which experience is constantly re- 

 minding us. 



I would hesitate to recommend 

 this kind to all lovers of bees, had I 

 not been convinced of their superi- 



