How to Protect an Apiary. 



Mr. F. W. Chapman asked in our last 



issue, how to protect an apiary from 



human robbers. Below we give two plans 



as suggested by our correspondents. We 



have a plan of an electric arrangement 



which will be published in our next 



Journal : 



Bristol, Vt., Jan. 10, 1879. 

 The best plan I know of, and one that has 

 always worked well with me, is generosity 

 and kindness! I have one apiary 5 miles 

 from home and >2 mile from quite a settle- 

 ment, which has no other protection from 

 robbers, and I do not know that I ever lost 

 an ounce of honey or a hive of bees! In 

 the honey season I always have a plenty of 

 honey and spoons expressly for visitors, and 

 all understand that honey is free at this sea- 

 son of the year, and if my callers have any 

 empty vessel they are supplied with a little 

 honey to carry home, I have an apiary at 

 home together with a large number of grape 

 vines and other fruit in the heart of quite a 

 village, and I have never had any bees, fruit, 

 or honey stolen. The boys all know that if 

 they call on us they will be supplied with 

 what they want to eat. I advise all who 

 are troubled with human robbers to try this 

 plan, and I think they will soon find that 

 the ones who now steal from them, would 

 fight for them, if necessary. 



A. E. Manum. 



ANOTHER PLAN. 



I consider the business end of a bee the 

 best protection against robbers in the day- 

 time. In the winter the best plan is to have 

 the bees in a house under lock and key. 



To protect them during summer nights, 

 the time usually taken for stealing, build 

 a fence around the apiary sufficiently high 

 to keep a ferocious dog inside. Have only 

 one entrance to the yard and keep it locked 

 up doing the night. Probably the best dog 

 for this purpose is a blood-hound. Get a 

 Cuban if you can, but one from the "Old 

 Dominion" will do. I consider the blood- 

 hound the best for three reasons. He will 

 scent a stranger the quickest. He will 

 always give a peculiar yell on scenting a 

 stranger in the night. The blood-hound is 

 reared in a land where the people believe in 

 that kind of protection against thieves. 



The next best is the bailor mastiff. Never 

 get a half-blood, but get a full-blooded dog, 

 and one that is true to his nature. Get a pup 

 and train him your self. It is dangerous 

 dealing in strange watch dogs. If they are 

 good for anything they will mind no one 

 but the man who trained them. 



When the dog is old enough to take charge 

 of the apiary, chain him up in the day-time 

 and turn him loose in the yard during the 

 night. This will have a tendency to make 

 him sleep in the day and watch in the night. 

 Teach him that any one who comes into 

 that enclosure except by the door is a "thief 

 and a robber " If you have occasion to go 

 into the yard when the dog is in there, never 

 break the above rule, always enter through 

 the gate, calling the dog by name before you 



try to enter. Teach him that he has a per- 

 fect right to make a meal of anyone who 

 climbs over the fence after dark. You may 

 do this by having a stranger attempt to enter 

 in the night, when you are near to hiss him 

 on. After you have hissed him on, never 

 call him off, s if he is in the yard. In con- 

 nection with the word you use to set him on 

 use the words "get out." Never use these 

 words at any other time. 



In a short time you will have your dog 

 trained so that when a man gets on to the 

 fence in the night, and says, "get out," he 

 will have to kill the dog to get any further. 

 The dog meanwhile will give all the alarm 

 necessary to arouse any one within a half- 

 mile. Never allow him to give a false 

 alarm. 



The greatest objection to a watch dog is, 

 it is possible for him to be poisoned. You 

 may guard against this, by having a stranger 

 approach and throw him something to eat, 

 but you must not allow him to touch it. If 

 he persists in so doing, punish him for it. 

 Never feed the dog in the yard, but take his 

 breakfast to him after securing him in the 

 morning. Snap the chain into his collar and 

 then feed him outside of the gate. 



If these directions are followed I think 

 they will prove the best protection against 

 honey thieves. Wm. C. Leonard. 



Berkshire, N. Y. 



EST* Mr. Frank Benton is conducting the 

 Apiarian Column of the Michigan Farmer, 

 published in Detroit. 



t^We have engaged to attend the South- 

 ern Kentucky Convention at Gainsville, on 

 May 1st, and hope to see a large attendance. 



I^"We have received some exceedingly 

 nice, white and smooth material for a sec- 

 tion box, from Mr. A. E. Manum. It is very 

 attractive. 



EdpWe have in our museum a 6 inch comb 

 foundation machine made by Mr. John 

 Bourgmeyer, with samples of comb founda- 

 tion made on it. For a cheap machine, it 

 does excellent work. 



The Bienen-Zuechter, published by 

 Dennler & Zwilling, at Strasbourg, the 

 organ of the bee-keepers of Alsace and 

 Lorrain, contains an unsolicited, notice of 

 the American Bee Jouknal. Thanks. 



IJpSlabbekoorn Brothers of Zeeland, 

 Mich., have sent us a cap for hives, covered 

 with shingles. 1,000 shingles will cover 30 

 hives and make them water-proof, but the 

 labor of making the frame, sheeting and. 

 shuigling we think will offset any advantage 

 that may be claimed for it. It is added to 

 our Museum. 



