256 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Kentucky Apiary. 



Wishing to keep my bee yard as 

 small as possible, 1 have studied con- 

 siderably how best to arrange the 

 liives so as not to be too crowded and 

 not spread them all over the place. 

 For two years I have had nearly all 

 of my hives in rows running east and 

 west, nine in a row, as follows : Two 

 joists or timbers 20 ft. long, 10 or 12 

 in. high, are placed on the ground, 18 

 in. apart, my Langstroth hives rest 

 across these, facing north and south 

 alternately ; under the rear end of 

 each hive a strip 2x2x1-4 in. is nailed 

 to the joist that Ults the hive about 

 enough to suit mc. At one end of the 

 row a hive is placed fronting east. 

 Over this row is a roof of rough 

 boards, about 6 ft. wide, 22 It, long, 

 sloping down towards tiie south, and 

 just high enough for me to work 

 under. The roof is nailed to scant- 

 ling Avhich rest in forked posts set in 

 tlie ground. It is light enough for 

 two men to carrj-, and Avhen the hives 

 • are set out of the cellar in March the 

 roof is set down on the ground at the 

 Avest end of the row, to break otl'the 

 cold winds and let the sun shine on 

 the hives, until May. When placed 

 on the posts again it is secured by 

 wire loops from danger of being mov- 

 ed by the wind. 



In'opcning a hive I stand behind it, 

 set the cover on a hive at one side, 

 and turn the honey board up edge- 

 wise against an adjoining hive with 

 the lower edge of it on the side of the 

 hive I am working. In a very short 

 time the bees tliat mav be on tlie 

 Jioney board run down into the hive, 

 so they are not in the waj^ when the 

 lionev board is to be replaced. If they 

 are black bees they rush back into the 

 liive in a great hurry. 



The rows of hives are placed about 

 20 ft. apart, or may be only IGft; 

 taking care, if they are near a fence, 

 to leave a passage near the fence. I 

 would preier my honey room in the 

 centre of the bee yard if there was 

 good shade. It is now at one side. 



I have experimented considerably 

 in making bee-brooms or brushes, but 

 liave found nothing to equal an eagle 

 quill-feallicr with the barbs trimmed 

 off about half an incli from the shaft. 

 My uncapping knife I want to be 

 very thin and hard tempered, with 

 the handle ])arallel to the blade, and 

 not an angle to it as mostoftiieju 

 are made. Tliere are several little 



conveniences in use that I will des- 

 cribe for the benefit of beginners. A 

 pan, to hold caps and trimmings 

 Avhen extracting; made of tin, 16x30 

 in. and 6 in. deep. Two inches above 

 the bottom is a movable false bottom 

 of galvanized wire cloth, and in one 

 corner at the bottom is a hole witii 

 a thimble soldered in, and cork to fit, 

 so the honey that drains ivom trim- 

 mings can be drawn oti'. Across the 

 top of the pan rests a square stick, 

 supported by a block at each end, 

 with the edge next to you, rounded 

 off for the comb frame to rest upon, 

 and edge from yon, sharp to scrape 

 the honey knife upon. 



A box to carry combs in is indis- 

 pensible. Mine is made very light 

 and honey tight; it hold^s six combs, 

 is 9,^2 i»- wide inside, with upright 

 strips tacked in each end to hold 

 combs apart, and handles on each end 

 to carry by. 



I go to work extracting as follows : 

 One man works the slinger and un- 

 caps, one carries combs and handles 

 hives. One comb box is set down by 

 the table at slinger, with five empty 

 combs in another box, I go to a hive, 

 open it, remove tiie comb, the frame 

 slides down in the space in my box 

 like a window sash in a frame, put an 

 empty comb in the hive and take 

 another for the box. TIius I take five 

 combs, spread a cloth over the hive, 

 carry the combs to the extractor, take 

 up the empty box and get the other 

 five combs from the Jiive; by the time 

 I carry them to tlic extractor the first 

 five are empty, so tliey are returned 

 immediately to the hive and it is clos- 

 ed up. 



Worki'.ig ill this manner two men 

 will extract from :)0<) to 500 combs in 

 in a dav. W. C. P. 



A Frenchman lias discovered a method 

 of taming and removing bees, and secur- 

 ing honey by tapping on the sides and top 

 of the hives. We remember trying it iu 

 our youthful years, before we had heard 

 of the Frenchman. We tapped on a hive 

 belonging to an old farmer one night, and 

 the bees came out first-rate, but we didn't 

 care to stay to remove the honey some- 

 liow. It seemed to us almost any place 

 in the world would be desirable when 

 compared to the vicinity of that hive. In 

 this experiment, as iu tlie one conducted 

 by the Frenchman, the bees possessed all 

 their usual activity and vigor. So did 

 we. — Udcd Herald. 



