124 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



the " breed." We never owned a bee- 

 A'eil and seldom have seen the need 

 of such a thing in our apiar3\ A Brig- 

 ham & Hetherington smoker is all 

 anyone needs to handle bees without 

 getting stung. 



Bee-veils should be worn as little 

 as possible on account of injury to the 

 eyesight. Tliere is no doubt that 

 the straining of the eyes in looking 

 through the fine meshes of a veil will, 

 in time, cause blindness. 



Like brother Kelley we would give 

 up beekeeping rather than wear a bee 

 veil. Our work is such that a veil 

 would be in use ten hours each day. 



Advice to beginners. 



" Siftings" advice to beginners to 

 start right is hitting the nail on the 

 head. 



Too many of those who commence 

 beekeeping do not look around and 

 investigate as much as they should 

 before investing their money in bees. 

 Many of the beekeepers of the pres- 

 ent day soon found when they had 

 had a little experience in bee-culture 

 that they started wrong and too much 

 in a hurry. 



Our advice to the beginner is to 

 visit several successful beekeepers for 

 the purpose of getting some practical 

 information concerning the best hives 

 and other appliances and go into 

 keeping bees understand! ngly. 



Keeping comb honey. 



I have known beekeepers to remove 

 honey from the hive and at once place 

 it in a cold, damp cellar. In a short 

 time the honey was nearly ruined. 

 The moisture of the cellar would con- 

 dense on the comb and that which was 

 not sealed when put in the cellar had 

 gathered moisture, soured ajid ran out 

 the cells, thus spoiling the honey as 

 well as the sale of it. 



Now our plan for keeping comb- 

 honey is this : We happen to have 

 considerable section honey this year 

 ( rather an unusual thing for us, I 

 admit ) and we propose to keep it in 



good condition until sold. The cases 

 as they were removed from the hives 

 were placed in a small room, the di- 

 mensions of which are about ten feet 

 square. There is but one window, and 

 to keep out flies, bees, etc., a wire 

 screen is used the whole size of the 

 window. 



When the weather is dry and warm, 

 the window will be opened to give 

 ventilation. In damp and rainy weath- 

 er, and in dog-day weather especially, 

 a good sized lamp will be placed in 

 the room to keep up the temperature, 

 and to keep the room dry and also to 

 to give better ventilation. 



Those who practise this method will 

 have to keep a lookout for the moth. 



Although these troublesome insects 

 do not often destroy honey in the 

 comb, yet they will work in it some, 

 enough certain to spoil the appearance 

 of many sections. 



Why tops of hives warp. 



Siftings says the to^js of his hives 

 warp. The only way to prevent it is 

 to send north and get some of our soft 

 lumber and. then dress the tops with 

 two coats of white lead. Make the 

 tops of seven-eighths-thick boards 

 and cross-cleat them by pieces three 

 inches wide. Boards of any kind with- 

 out paint will warp and. crack. 



The tops of our Bay State hives 

 ai'e made of boards but three-eighths 

 inch thick, yet they are so thoroughly 

 nailed and cleated that they do not 

 warp. Unless made of a good qual- 

 ity of lumber they will crack some 

 toward the ends, but this does not 

 cause them to leak. 



Self-hivers. 

 Kit Clover, whose article will be 

 found on page 121, this issue, says she 

 wants more light concerning the w^ork- 

 ing of the self-hiver. This device 

 will catch and hold any queen that 

 attemj^ts to leave the hive. I do not 

 say that every swarm that issues where 

 the hiver is used will be hived. If 

 not successfully hived in the new hive 

 the bees will retui-n to the parent 



