AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



83 



Tlie House-Apiary anil Small Hiyes. 



Written for the American Bee Jownal 

 BY B. TAYLOR. 



The building here shown is 8x16 feet 

 in size, and 8 feet inside in the clear. 

 The walls are of %-inch pine, 12 inches 

 wide, with the cracks neatly battoned as 

 shown. The hives rest on shelves prop- 

 erly placed in the inside. The door is in 

 the west end, hidden from view. The 

 only window is in the east end, as seen 

 in the illustration. The hinged open 



17th) contains 38 colonies, 16 on each 

 of the sides, and 3 in each gable, with 

 entrances for 7 more at the top on the 

 north side. These are intended for tem- 

 porary use only. 



The hives used are made especially for 

 house use, but are equally good for out- 

 door use. They are 16 inches square 

 outside, and 7 inches deep, and hold 10 

 frames 6xl3j^ inches, inside measure. 

 The 10 frames contain 800 inches of 

 comb space. Two hives are used for a 

 brood-nest when needed. Any side of 

 these hives mav be used for the front. 



The House-Apiary of Mr. B. Taylor, of Forestville, Minn. 



part is of wire-cloth, and is opened from 

 the Inside. Two bee-escapes are visible 

 over the window to let the bees out 

 when the window is closed. A sliding 

 sash with glass makes all tight when 

 needed. The general plan is clearly 

 seen in the engraving, and needs no des- 

 cription. 



The plan of the entrances is easily un- 

 derstood by the picture. They are made 

 to receive the swarm-catcher, several of 

 which are seen in the view. The photo 

 was taken when the yard was equipped 

 as in swarming time, when the catchers 

 are scattered over the yard, ready for 

 instant use. 



On the right the entrance to the winter- 

 ing cellar is seen. The house now (Sept. 



They are as cheap and simple as it is 

 possible to make a good frame hive for 

 extracted as well as comb honey. I be- 

 lieve them to be near perfection. 



The second colony on the left hand at 

 the bottom, with the smoker near it, 

 took the first prize this year for the 

 greatest yield of comb honey — 250 

 pounds. All the bees for this great 

 yield were reared in one section of these 

 small hives. I had about one-half of the 

 colonies in the house-apiary in two hive 

 sections up to swarming time. The re- 

 sult in white section honey was in favor 

 of the single hives. The colonies that 

 had double hives filled the top hive solid 

 full of honey, and seemed to have reared 

 no brood there, and they stored far less 



