Feb. 1, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



101 



strong in bees. You can then give them a super of sections 

 or extracting combs, as you wish. Place the remaining combs 

 of brood and honey in extracting supers over the colonies 

 weakest in bees you have in the yard ; the young bees hatch- 

 ing will strengthen them, and any honey stored in them, or 

 already in, will come good for feeding in fall or spring. 



As soon as all, or nearly all, the sections in each super 

 are capped they should be removed from the hive, by raising 

 up and putting a board with a bee-escape under for a few 

 hours — not more than about 12 hours — when most of the bees 

 will have gone out. The supers should then be carried into a 

 room with one window, to which any remaining bees will By, 

 when the window maybe opened and the bees will return to 

 their homes. Any bits of comb on the bottom of the supers 

 should be scraped off. 



Now as to the care of comb honey: The supers should 

 be piled up as high as convenient, say about 15 high, outside 

 on the ground, with an empty super under. Place in a dish 

 on top a few table spoonfuls of bisulphide of carbon. Cover 

 up tight for about 12 hours, and it will be safe from any dam- 

 age from the wax-moth. 



The honey should then be carried into a warm, dry room 

 and piled so the air can circulate through it for 2 or 3 weeks, 

 or until you are ready to clean it up and pack for market. 



R. Lowey. 



OUT-APIARIES AND THEIR HANAQEMENT. 



Tn dealing with this question it might be considered. 

 by a meat many bee-keepers as one in which they had 

 little interest, as such a small percentage of those who 

 keep bees ever manage out-yards. However, I think if 

 we look a little closer into the matter we will find that it 

 i- of more or less importance in bee-keeping. 



I inly in rare instances do we find persons who are 

 fortunate enough to have a locality, a strain of bees, or 

 some superior system of management, which enables them 

 to keep a sufficient number of colonies in one yard to 

 allow them to be classed as specialists in bee-keeping, or 

 large producers of honey. Bee-keepers who are almost 

 solely depending upon their honey crop as their source 

 of income, are desirous that their crop should be of such 

 proportions as to furnish them ample funds for a com- 

 fortable living, and find that under ordinary conditions 

 such a quantity of honey cannot be produced in one apiary 

 alone, By distributing our colonies in yards away from 

 our home-yard we are enabled to allow our bees a much 

 larger area to gather nectar from without their having 

 to travel great distances. By doing this we can keep a 

 large number of colonies, devote all our time and study 

 to this one work, be a specialist in this particular line, be 

 always looking for better things in management, produc- 

 tion, and marketing of honey, etc., and we are accomplish- 

 ing for the bee-keeping world something which cannot be 

 overlooked. Besides, we are turning into a sole occupa- 

 tion a profitable and pleasant .work, which in a great many 

 instances is regarded as a mere side-line. 



From what I can learn from observation and other- 

 wise, the fewer number of colonies kept in a given area 

 the better the results secured. Taking this as a basis, we 

 will have to determine to our own satisfaction what is 

 going to be the limit of the number of colonies kept in 

 one yard, according to our own management and locality. 

 Speaking out of my own experience, I would suggest 100 

 good colonies in the spring, which might be increased to 

 150 during the season. To increase those numbers would 

 mean that you reduce the yield per colony, increase the 

 desire to swarm, and have a larger amount of bees and 

 brood to sustain on the nectar of the field covered. To 

 reduce the number means you reduce the income on some 

 investments, viz.. cost of establishing the yard, cosi of 

 maintaining the yard, attendance, etc. 



In establishing out-apiaries the first consideration 

 should be locality. The area to be covered by the bees 

 should furnish ample forage without traveling territory 

 covered by bees from other yards, which would place it 

 about 3 miles from any other large yard. See that the 

 territory has some honey-and-pollen yielding trees and 

 shrubs for spring stimulating, as well as a full quota of 

 basswood. clover, and perhaps a little buckwheat. A 

 locality can best be judged after a practical test of two 

 seasons, as sometimes a half mile materially affects the 

 yield secured. 



Xext locate the site for the yard, which is an all- 

 important matter. If possible choose a sheltered spot if 

 bees are to be wintered there outdoors, and have it shady 



if you desire trees. I prefer no live trees, but set out a 

 half dozen tufty cedars by standing them in tiles set in 

 the ground. You will see on your arrival in an instant if 

 any swarms have clustered. One of our most satisfactory 

 sites was in the center of a pasture-field about 15 rods 

 from the highway. 



A good, tight house, bee-proof and dry. is a necessity, 

 of course, but as out-apiaries are not permanent institu- 

 tions we can do very well with any means of shelter for 

 supers, empty hives, extracting outfit, etc., that sheds rain 

 and storm. A small tent can be made of cheap cotton 

 to extract in. if the building does not exclude robber- 

 bees, when the season arrives, for undoubtedly you will 

 have considerable extracting to do after the main honey- 

 flow is over, if you are an out-yard man. Another ad- 

 vantage the cotton tent has, it gets very warm with the 

 rays of the sun, and honey that is very thick can be easily 

 extracted in cool weather. 



"We like a good house al out own yards, where we can 

 store the honey when it i^ extracted until we have time- 

 to remove it to the railway station. This saves handling, 

 especially when we are busy; but if such is not available 

 the honey can be taken home in 60-pound tins as it is 

 extracted, and can be strained from the extractor after 

 taking it home. 



For wintering, if you do not wish to put the bees in 

 cellars or repositories they can be successfully wintered 

 outdoors, packed in suitable cases with 4 or 6 inches of 

 good packing around the hives. Set the cases about S 

 inches above the ground, and protect the yard with a tight 

 fence on the west and north sides 6 feet high to break the 

 force of the wind and keep out the snow. 



We now come to the most important question of all,' 

 "managing the bees." In the fall and spring we find the 

 bee-keeper (aided by what he can prepare during the 

 winter months I is quite capable of attending to several 

 apiaries, but when it comes to the busy summer season, 

 when the bees swarm and gather honey, you will have to 

 decide which plan of the many ways and means suits your 

 individual tastes, your locality, and perhaps hives. Any 

 plan that can be successfully applied to any yard can be 

 applied to an out-yard. 



Only, thoroughness is more essential in your work at 

 the out-yard than at the home yard, because the out-yard 

 will be. for a great part of the time, without any attention, 

 and many little things might get the benefit of your watch- 

 fulness at home that the out-yard will not receive. The 

 work must also be done systematically and seasonably, not 

 putting off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 



Dexis Nolan. 



Mr. Saunders said he did not count on a shady or 

 sheltered place for the bees. The wind would keep the 

 bees m wdien they ought not to fly. 



Mr. Deadman said when hoops of barrels are well 

 driven, nails should be put behind them to keep them from 

 sliding. As to wind, he preferred the bees sheltered and 

 shaded. If the wind happens to blow the way the hives 

 face, it does no good in keeping the bees in. 



Mr, Holtermann considered shade a very important 

 consideration in the prevention of swarming. As to bar- 

 rels, one should get good barrels which have not been 

 weather-beaten. Have cooper-tools and attend to them 

 properly. With his inside strainer in the extractor the 

 extracted strained honey runs through a rubber-hose 

 directly into the barrel. Mr. Holtermann can, and does, 

 manage with very little Swarming, by using large hives, 

 plenty of room, and ventilation in the super. 



Mr. Sibbald — Glucose barrels when emptied are 

 steamed inside to get out the last bit of glucose. This 

 melts off the original wax and makes it advisable to wax 

 them inside before filling with honey, to prevent the staves 

 taking up honey. 



Mr. McEvoy — When the barrels have not been 

 steamed inside they are all right, but otherwise they should 

 be waxed inside and painted outside. 



Mr. Holtermann — Leakage is intensified by change of 

 weather. 



Mr. Pettit related his experience by which he learned 

 to cooper barrels. They should be thoroughly dried, and 

 the hoops driven with a good steel driver and 4-pound 

 hammer. If the staves do not come well together at the 

 ends loosen the hoops and flag the cracks with flags or 

 even cotton cloth, then drive the hoops again. After the 

 barrels have ben filled and left in a hot room a week or 

 so, drive the hoops again. If they should persi-t in leak- 



