1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



179 



Whenever I place a frame in, I have to brush 

 some robbers off, and they follow me every- 

 where, and prove, in truth, demoralizing, as 

 Novice says. 



I intend to return to my original idea, of con- 

 structing an apiary in a straight row. With 

 this view, I have built a stone foundation, 120 

 feet long and one foot high. On this I propose 

 to erect an apiary, 120 feet long by eight feet 

 high, and portioned off into ten or twelve divi- 

 sions. The whole structure to be surrounded 

 with boards, fore and aft, and covered with a 

 shingle roof. The planks witliin the south side 

 part, will be nailed as low as the upper part of 

 the hives, in such a manner that none can be 

 stolen. The ten divisions will be painted with 

 different colors, so that the bees may easily 

 recognize, at a long distance, the division in 

 which their proper hives stand. The fronts of 

 all the hives will also be painted of different 

 colors. Before the hives a row of boards will be 

 ])laced, standing at a distance of four feet, sepa- 

 rated by partition board four feet long, the 

 whole filled with saw dust. Tlie whole structure 

 will have an appearance of a row of Quinby 

 ([uoen-yards. Tliis may serve for queen-yards 

 ;ind other purposes. Behind the hives, during 

 the cold spring weather, a row of broad boards 

 will be placed erect. The space between the 

 boards and the hives will be filled with chaff or 

 other warm stuff; and the hives also covered 

 four inches deep. At one end stands my new 

 bee-house, wherein my hives are now in winter 

 quarters. My bee-house is entirely above ground, 

 and is provided with a window the full height 

 of the apiary. Therein will stand my honey 

 machine for my season's operations. A railway 

 provided with a car and a box containing fifty 

 frames, is to run the whole length of the apiary, 

 from the side of the bee-house. On the box 

 hangs a small broom brush for brushing off bees, 

 and a small lever for lifting frames, if necessary. 

 Several small windows, provided with shutters, 

 will be situated on the south side, to admit 

 plenty of light, and, by means of the shutters, 

 any amount of darkness will be at command. 

 At some point near a window will be placed a 

 desk, supplied with writing materials, memo- 

 i-andum book, bee-cap, queen-cages, and other 

 items. In the spring I intend to feed my bees 

 in conical bee-feeders, without top or bottom, 

 three inches high, and two inches in diameter, 

 made of zinc. These will be sunk in a suitable 

 hole in the honey-board, with a piece of muslin 

 or other stuff. Every evening each hive will 

 receive from a suitable can, half a glass of warm 

 maple sap, mixed with a solution of the best 

 sugar. The feeders will be covered with a piece 

 of board or a block, to shut tight. 



In future my hives will all be of one pattern, 

 containing twelve frames, one foot square, and 

 so constructed that two can be used together, 

 one being set on top of the other ; and the hives 

 ])rovided with two fly holes if necessary. As I 

 have them arranged, the frames will all hang at 

 proper distance. I use no cap to my hives, but 

 only a honey-board with a flange all around. 

 The bottom board I intend to nail fast, usim,' 

 half inch boards, so that it will fit snug all 



round. The weight of each hive is marked on 

 it with oil paint ; also its proper designating 

 number in large figures. 



I know some will object to my hives standing 

 all in a straight row, because of the danger of a 

 loss of queens. To this I reply, that every 

 fertile queen ought to have portions of her wings 

 clipped ; and new queens ought to be raised by, 

 or rather bought of a reliable queen breeder. 

 Natural swarming, too, ought to cease, with the 

 introduction of the movable frames. The objec- 

 tion against my bottom boards being nailed 

 tight. 1 will answer by remarking, that a bee- 

 keeper ought to winter his bees in such perfec- 

 tion, that not a gill-glassful of dead bees can be 

 found in any hive in the spring ; and if so 

 wintered, the bees will make short work in 

 clean.sing the hive. When the bottom board is 

 nailed on the hive, it is easy to weigh and trar s- 

 port, if it happens that the owner wishes to 

 remove a hive to a different or preferable loca- 

 tion. If it becomes necessary or desirable to 

 clean a hive the frames can be taten out, placed 

 in an empty one, and so on. 



I regret much to see there are serious objec- 

 tions urged against the Davis Queen Nursery; 

 and wish we had further comments on this 

 topic. 



Friend Dadant has got the same trouble with 

 the Price hive that I have had. The hive may 

 be, in all respects, a good wintering hive out 

 doors ; but I cannot regard it as an improvement 

 on hives generally. When a man has made 

 quite a number of hives of any description, it is 

 an item of no small consequence, if he finds 

 they do not answer, to break down the whole 

 lot, and begin anew with some other form. 

 Hence these regretful contradictions and dis- 

 couraging representations. 



J. DUFFELER. 



Bosseau, Wii. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Honey Extractor. Its Use and Value. 



I commenced using the honey extractor in 

 earnest when the basswood commenced blossom- 

 ing, but used it only on such stocks as were not 

 in condition to stoie in boxes. All those that 

 were in condition to store in boxes were set to 

 work, and not meddled with, so far as the extrac- 

 tor was concerned. Thus you will see that my 

 extracted honey was obtained from stocks from 

 which I should otherwise have obtained no 

 surplus. And as it was my first season I was 

 very badly deceived, for at no time did I have 

 vessels on hand at once to contain over one-half 

 of the honey I ought to have extracted per day. 

 Our immense yield from basswood blossoms 

 lasted sixteen days ; and here I will remark that 

 I obtained as much surplus with the extractor in 

 three days from my poorest stocks, or stocks that 

 were not in condition to store in boxes, as I did 

 in three weeks from my best stocks where they 

 had the comb to build and store in boxes. I am 

 aware that this looks like a large story ; but my 

 bees completely knocked me off my pins, for I 



