THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Ill 



runnins; some time in the simimer witli a 

 ]i(»or (iiu'i'ii, tlit'v .su]H'r('<'(it'(l Iier or rivlla-r 1 

 did; liut tln'V hardly more tiiaii ^'ot into 

 C'onilition lor winter." Tlie six li^nred np to 

 1,;200 lbs. and a tritie over, and foiu- swarms 

 of inerease. 



1 wonUI say that I liad tlie benefit of about 

 sixty emi)ty cards. My whole apiary of :!■> 

 swarms, in tlie si)rin,<j;! nave me ri,4()() tt)S., 

 and 32 inerease, and are now, Marcli 11th. in 

 close conhnement, nunihcrimj over'.m. The 

 therniouK'ter rangiu.n' troiii :58 to 4.") de,L(rees 

 above zero, all seem to he doin^ well. I 

 am inclined to the belief that a loiiji- one- 

 story hive will allow more inerease than any 

 other form of hive : hut as to surplus honey, 

 I choose to experiment farther before 1 

 decide. A. 11. 11a i:t. 



Appleton, Wisconsin. 



Wax Melting. 



It is a great saving to have a good place to 

 collect all scraps of wax. until melting time. 

 I make an article that costs only three or 

 four tlollars. that makes a good receptach-. 

 It is made in this way ; 



Get a piece of tin. zinc or galvanized iron, 

 about 3)^ feet long, and 3 feet wide, form 

 it into the shape of a sap trough, put ends in 

 of the same material, and in the bottom an 

 inch hole. Then get 4 panes of glass and 

 make a frame for them like a window sash, 

 and put it over the trough-shaped tin, mak- 

 ing it tight so that the bees cannot get in. 

 It is then ready for use. Set it in a sunny 

 place, and put in the comb, and in a short 

 time it will melt and run out at the hole in 

 the bottom. 8et one end up about six inches 

 higher than the other. 



1 put my bees out of the cellar on INIareh 

 3i)th. They were in good order. Four were 

 very weak and I expected to loose them. I 

 also lost four others out of 1.53 swarms. All 

 the bees that were wintered out of doors in 

 this vicinity are dead, so far as 1 can hear. 



Campton, Illinois. R. Miller. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Report of my Apiary. 



One year ago 1 had V.l:i colonies of Italian 

 Bees, in a second story rill )m, ICixiy t','et in- 

 side, double walls one foot thick, filled with 

 saw-dust; temperature ranged from 39 de- 

 gi"ees to BO degrees. I had on May 1st, 8fj 

 ^'olonies, 36 liaving gone up. I took 70 of the 

 best colonies left, anil united thein, so as to 

 make 44 colonies. On the l'2th of 31ay, 

 moved them (the 44) on spring wagons 

 (2 loads) IT miles to a large poplar 

 {liriodcndron tulipiferdfi) grove, where 

 thev gathered .5308 lbs. of honey, taken out 

 •witn extractor. On .Tune 20th. we took 30 

 of the 44 colonies :iO to a linden (tllki 

 americmid) grove, where they gathered 

 3259 lbs. of honey, also taken out with ex- 

 tractor. In all, S5C.T lbs, of honey. Tlie 10 

 colonies left at home, we made into 51 

 nuclei. August 7th, brought the 44 colonies 

 home, built up tiie nuclei into strong colon- 

 ies, fed them 140s lbs. of A. coifee sugar 

 made into syru]), 1 Iti. of water to 2 lbs. of 

 sugar, hoile(|. jiut uotiiing else in it. We 

 tt)Ok the combs all from s colonies, fed them 

 syrup, and had 80 eomos built by them, 9)4 

 xlOJ^ inches. Fed one colony 94'^ lbs. of 

 syrup, they built 10 full combs; we then ex- 



tracted 44^4 lbs. of syrup from the 10 combs, 

 so that the 10 conihs cost us •'?4.o(), with 

 sugar at 12 cts. ])er If). We liave sold 4.502 

 lbs. of honey lor ■■:? 1,0 15.99— SI lo.oo for cans, 

 being an average of 19.8 cents per pound. 



We have built a room 37x10 fec^t, 8 feet 

 high inside; wall one foot thiclc, lilled with 

 saw-dust, on the following plan: 



E 



u4..— Fruit House. 

 B.— Bee lioom 37 



xlO ft. inside, 8 



ft. high. 

 C. C— Hail Ivoad 



track for cars 



with bees to 



stand on in the 



iiouse. 

 P.— Rail Iload 



track into bee 



yardl footlower 



than C. C. 

 E. JS.— Side tracks 



for cars with 



bees to stand on 



w h e n o u t f j 



doors. I 



F.— Passage for 



bad air out un- 



der wall. I 



G.-^Ventilator for air above the ceiling to 



come into room at the floor. 

 JI.— Ventilator in ceiling for air to pass out. 

 I.— Small door into bee room. 

 J.— Door to give free ventilation at any time 



when necessary. 



I have cars built so that 20 colonies stand 

 on each car, 10 on one side and 10 on the 

 other; fronting 10 east and 10 west, set 1)4 

 inches apart, packed between with buck- 

 wheat chatf. When a day comes that the 

 thermometer shows 45 degrees in the shade, 

 we run tlie ears out of the house to let the 

 bees have a play. We have had them out 

 twice this winter. We have 100 colonies on 

 5 cars and 13 on another. Can run them all 

 out in twenty minutes. Will let them stand 

 on the cars until about the 12th of May, then 

 move them to pojilar grove. The chatf is to 

 keep them warm in the spring, after they 

 aie run out of the house permanently, initil 

 moved away. 



We have the yard in front of the bee-house 

 covered with gravel, so that when a bee gets 

 down on the ground it can get up on a peb- 

 ble to start on the wing again easily. The 

 yard is south of the house, ami is dry and 

 warm. 



