933 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



Fbiend Norman shows on p. £103 that I've 

 gone all wrong on the Layens hive. But you 

 see it's all the fault of Mr. Bertrand, who will 

 persist in printing the excellent Revue Interna- 

 tionale in French, instead of printing it in 

 English, that any one might read and under- 

 stand. 



L'Apicui.teur reports a case in which a 

 bee-keeper left some bees with a farmer, A, 

 who rented his farm of B. A got behind on his 

 rent ; B levied on the bees and sold them, 

 which the law allowed, because B had not 

 been previously notified who was the real own- 

 er of the bees. 



Extractors with the driving power at the 

 bottom, so as not to be in the way of the free 

 handling of the combs, are among the late in- 

 troductions in Europe. [We in America get at 

 the same result in a simpler and less expensive 

 way— a beveled gear, shaft and handle outside 

 of the can.— Ed.] 



Michigan State Agricultural College Exper- 

 iment Station encourages trial of rape as a for- 

 age plant: but I'm afraid it won't help bees 

 much, for the kind recommended. Dwarf Essex, 

 does not blossom the first year, and the Hybrid 

 Bird rape, which is an annual and a great 

 bloomer, is comparatively worthless as a forage 

 plant. 



The American Bee keeper says no better 

 place could have been decided upon than To- 

 ronto for the next N. A. B. K. A. convention, 

 but warns its readers to be on the lookout for 

 exorbitant rates for board and lodging. The 

 Kanucks did the nice thing by us when the 

 convention was there the last time. [And 

 they'll do it again.— En.] 



Editor York was banqueted along with a 

 lot of editors and publishers, and it had a good 

 effect on him. Getting in such a nice crowd he 

 concluded he was only a single individual, and 

 in an editorial report he uses the singular num- 

 ber throughout, using " me " instead of " us." 

 That's rieht, George; a man who has the snap 

 you have should get in front of the procession 

 among the progressives. 



A SUPER-CLEARER described by C. Daven- 

 port, in A.. B. J., consists of a bottom-board set 

 on top of the hive, and the super set on this, 

 with a hole in front large enough for one bee 

 to pass out easily. Put on at night and take off 

 empty next morning. As the entrance opens 

 outside, there's nothing to hinder robbers en- 

 tering ; but after 13 years' trial, generally 

 with 300 colonies or more, he has never had 

 trouble with robbers. 



Mailing queens to Australia has been a 

 losing business. C. Mansfield, in A. B. J"., lays 

 at least part of the mortality to the food ab- 

 sorbing turpentine from the pine wood of the 

 shipping-cages. On reaching Australia the 

 eandy tastes plainly of turpentine, and in one 



case he put a fresh queen and bees in a cage re- 

 ceived, and every bee died in three days. [If 

 the candy-hole of the cage is painted with 

 paraftine, this could not be. All our cages, 

 whether for foreign or domestic^ use, are so 

 treated. The trouble, in our own case at least, 

 has not been from the wood, but from the adul- 

 terated sugar that we supposed was pure. 

 Since discovering this fact we have had a fair 

 measure of success.— Ed.] 





LOCATING AND MANAGING OUT-APIARIES. 



A VALUABLE AND PRACTICAL TREATMENT OF 

 the subject, from A PRACTICAL MAN. 



By K. France. 



I have several letters from different parts of 

 the country, asking advice about starting and 

 managing out-apiaries. I will copy a part of 

 one of them, as I think some other man who 

 has several out-apiaries will give his plan, or 

 manner of handling out-apiaries, etc. I know 

 we don't all manage our out-yards the same 

 way; so if there are several plans laid out, the 

 beginner can choose for himself, or. perhaps, 

 combine some parts of each to suit his fancy. 

 Here is the letter: 



I am thinking of starting some two or three out- 

 apiaries besides the home apiary, and I am at a loss 

 to know just the best way to conduct them. I have 

 become acquainted with your name through Glean- 

 ings, and know that you have several yards besides 

 your home yard, so I have concluded that your 

 counsel would be worth something if you would be 

 so kind as to give it. What I want to know is this: 

 What arrangement do you make with men who take 

 care of them ? and how do you pay them ? I think 

 Captain Hetherington does not have any help. My 

 plan is this: To put out two yards, of 50 stands 

 each, next year, and get some one to just watch the 

 swarms, and hive them for me; and I had thought 

 of paying 50 cts. a swarm, while I will tend to the 

 rest of the work in connection with farming, as 

 they are a little uncertain. Do you tliink 50 cts. a 

 swarm is too much ? Do you think it is best to work 

 for comb honey alone, or comb honey and extracted 

 together ? We have always worked for comb honey 

 alone. 



He says bees pay only in connection with 

 farming. Then follows the address, but I can 

 not make it out. It is somewhere in Indiana. 

 I find that a great many people are very care- 

 less in giving their name and address. By all 

 means, write names plainly. After consulting 

 several good scholars to make out the address, 

 I wrote to him saying that I would answer him 

 through Gleanings, posted the letter, and it 

 went to several postoffices in Indiana and Ohio, 

 and then came back to me, marked "Could not 

 find him." But now to answer his letter and 



