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THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



AMERICAN APICULTURIST 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 

 Henry A.lley, ^?Venh.am., Ivlass. 



Established in 1883. 



Subscription Price, 7 sets. Per Year. 



Entered at the P. O. Wenham, Mass., as second class 

 mail matter. 



HOUSE APIARIES. 



It is a wonder that more attention 

 has not been given to this most im- 

 portant subject. Pearly last spring 

 tlie need of a liouse for keeping bees 

 and one so arranged that it could be 

 warmed by heat of a stove was more 

 apparent than ever. It was then that 

 the plans were made for such a build- 

 ing to be erected in the Bay State 

 Apiary before another cold winter set 

 in. 



Well, the house is completed and 

 nearly all the colonies it will accom- 

 modate (about thirty) placed therein. 



This house was not devised wholly 

 for the purpose of wintering bees, but 

 more particularlj^ for "springing" full 

 colonies of bees. It was not intended 

 in the first place to heat the room in 

 winter, yet as James Heddon sug- 

 gests, it may be warmed up during 

 very cold weather, say when the tem- 

 perature outside is near the zero 

 point. 



Now a word about how the hives 

 are arranged so that the heat will be 

 economized and at the same time suf- 

 ficient ventilation given the bees while 

 confined in the hives. 



There are two rows of liives on each 

 side the house; one row above the 

 other. Tiie top hives rest on a shelf, 

 sufficiently elevated to admit of plenty 

 room for liandling bees, combs, etc., 

 under it; there being about four feet 

 of space between tiie slielf and floor. 



A round entrance hole, one inch in 

 diameter, is made for each colony as 

 a passage vva^' out of and into the hive. 

 Now instead of placing the hive against 

 the boards to prevent the bees from 

 getting into the room, about three 



inches of space is left and a frame cov- 

 ered with wire cloth is used to furnish 

 the needed ventilation, and to prevent 

 the bees from getting into the room. 

 The bees will be closed in, or rather 

 the outlet tln'ough the side of the 

 building will be closed by a cork stop- 

 per, thus keeping out the cold when 

 the temperature is so low that bees 

 cannot fly. 



The building is eight feet wide, 

 twenty feet long with six feet posts ; 

 sheathed overhead ; while the floor is 

 of double matched boards with thick 

 paper between. This effectually pre- 

 vents drafts of air at the bottom and 

 through the building. 



Tlie necessity of such a house as 

 the above has long been felt in the 

 Bay State Apiary. It is necessary to 

 rear queens, or rather start them early 

 in May. Al)out the 20th of that 

 month, a long cold easterly storm 

 usually sets in, and holds on about a 

 week. There is much work that the 

 queen dealer must perform, let the 

 weather be favorable or otherwise, or 

 all queen cells as well as queens will 

 be destroyed. 



The work of this sort always done 

 out-of-doors will novv be performed in 

 that new beehonse, as there is plenty 

 of room between the rows of hives for 

 conveniently handling the combs or 

 hives. Al)uut the 20th of March, or 

 as soon thereafter as the bees have 

 had a clennsing flight, the room will 

 be warmed and the temperature kept 

 as high as 70° until the weather out- 

 side is so warm, or the hives so full 

 of bees that artificial heat will no long- 

 er be needed. By this method there 

 is no doubt that all colonies having 

 good queens and plenty of pollen will 

 be advanced at least one month. 



Water will be su[)plied from asj onge 

 placed on the wire cloth at the front 

 of the hive, or on the screens over the 

 frames. 



Now if this arrangement is not prac- 

 tical, will some of the readers of the 

 Api make suggestions or criticise the 

 theor3^ 



