78 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



MICE IN HIVES. 

 Again we come for advice. What 

 should we do witliout the Api and its edi- 

 tor? We want to make a workroom 

 sucli as you so often say every beekeep- 

 er should have for use in summer time, 

 for the multifarious duties connected 

 with the apiary ; not a shop where the 

 carpenter work is to be done, we have 

 that well equipped but too faraway, and 

 windows looking in the wrong direction, 

 nor a honey house for we have ample 

 storage room ; but we have thought of 

 something more in the style of an in- 

 closed grape arbor as it will have to 

 occupy the site of an ancient one. We 

 prefer it of octagonal form about ten or 

 twelve feet in diameter and so built as 

 to be ornamental as well as useful. Now 

 what we want to know is how to ar- 

 range the interior so to combine the 

 most convenience in this space. Of 

 course there must be a bench for work 

 and shelves, closets or drawers under- 

 neath for storage. Please throw a little 

 light on this vexed question and you 

 will great'y favor us. 



Now to take issue with you on an- 

 other question. You say in Jan. Api 

 that you never knew mice to trouble 

 honey when there was anything else for 

 them to subsist on. 



Last fall we piled several hundred 

 pounds of honey on a table in the attic 

 to ripen, never having learned that 

 mice would trouble it, but a short time 

 after we found four of our best sections 

 not only uncapped but the honey sucked 

 out clean as for as the combs were un- 

 capped and they had not touched the 

 comb on unfilled sections. Of course 

 we didn't wait to experiment further to 

 see what they would do again. We had 

 a two quart Mason jar of extracted 

 honey, saved to make candy in spring, 

 the cover of which was carelessly left 

 off; looking at it today we four.d 

 nearly half of it gone and a dead mouse 

 lying on top of the remainder ; how 

 they ever managed to get so much out 

 of the jar is the mystery, as it did not 

 stand within several inches of anything 

 else, and they must have jumped down 



from some taller articles on top of the 

 edge of the jar, but we are satisfied 

 mice will eat honey. Perhaps it is be- 

 cause ours is so nice, but please in- 

 struct beginners how, if they should be 

 fortunate enough to secure any honey, 

 to take care of it and avoid mice, moths, 

 mould and misery, for we have found 

 experit nee to be a somewhat expensive 

 teacher, as in this case, which is but 

 one of the minor ones. 



Mrs. G. M. Barker. 



Natick, Mass. 



How to construct a liones' lioiise and bee room 

 may be Ibiinil in the back i innljers of the Arr, 

 also in "Tliiity Years Among The I'.ces " 



Yes, we said mice woidd not meddle with honey 

 when there is anything else lor them to eat. In 

 the above case It seems to ns that honey was 

 about the only article of lood within their reach. 

 —Ed J 



PIIICK OK Tim 1J\Y STATE HIVE. 



After March 10 the prices of this hive 

 will be as follows : 



One or more hives complete $3.00. 



In the flat, liy the half dozen, each f2.50. 



Prices of the drone-and-queen traps will 

 also be advanced to the regular rates, viz. : 

 per half do/,en, )|2 00; per dozen, $3 50. 



We are now getting a large number of 

 orders for these goods and desire to get 

 over I he most of this class of trade 

 before our queen-rearing business begins. 



We shall import light Carniolan 

 queens to breed from this season and 

 shall do our best to keep the stock up 

 to its present high standard and surpass 

 it if possible. 



It is acknowledged by many that the 

 Apicui.turist is one of the best adver- 

 tising mediums for those who deal in 

 beekeepers' supplies. The fact that our 

 paper circulates largely, yes, almost 

 wholly, in the western states, offers the 

 best inducement to western supply deal- 

 ers as an advertising medium. Try an 

 AD. in the Api and satisfy yourself 'that 

 all we claim is true. We deal some in 

 supplies, but those who advertise in the 

 Api get nearly all the western trade. 

 We do not get much of it. 



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