934 



GLEANIJNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



strengthened by giving them brood from the 

 strong. If there is more brood in the yard than 

 to fill all the lower stories, then the surplus can 

 be used to make new colonies. In making new 

 colonies, be.sure to leave the old queen in the 

 old hive. Fill up a lower story with combs of 

 brood, with some honey. Put the honey at the 

 back of the hive; take some bees with the 

 combs — enough to make a good strong colony. 

 In fact, give them more live bees than you 

 want to stay there, because the old bees will go 

 back to the old hive. We can take these combs 

 and bees from several colonies. They won't 

 quarrel or fight at all. We may make one, two, 

 or several new colonies at this time — it depends 

 on the strength of the apiary. Those new col- 

 onies have no queen; they won't swarm under 

 12 days. The old ones won't swarm, because 

 we have taken away their surplus strength. 

 We will now leave them ten days; but before 

 we leave, be sure that there are no queen-cells 

 coming on in any colony. I would leave those 

 new colonies one story high. We use a solid 

 honey-board. Lay that on top of the one-story, 

 and cover over that. 



In ten days we are back again. Now, if 

 there is more honey coming in than enough to 

 keep the bees, we will extract all we can get. 

 This extracting will be dark, and the bees will 

 soon be gathering white honey. For that rea- 

 son we want to clear the combs of dark honey; 

 and while doing it we will do as we did before 

 — keep the lower story full of brood; and if 

 there is more brood, we will make new colonies 

 as we did when here before. Now we will put 

 on the third stories, filled with empty combs, if 

 we have them. If we have no combs, put in 

 frames filled with foundation; leave no queen- 

 cells in the old colonies; the new colonies made 

 ten days before will now want the second set of 

 combs, or foundation, and their queen-cells re- 

 moved, except one, that we will leave to hatch; 

 also, give these colonies one egg-comb from the 

 old stocks, and what new colonies are made 

 this time can be supplied with a queen-cell 

 from those new ones made ten days before. 

 After this, if honey pasturage is good, extract 

 once a week while the season lasts, working all 

 up to three stories high. Keep the brood in 

 the lower stories, and extract from the two 

 upper ones. Watch the harvest, and give the 

 bees time to fill the upper story solid full of 

 honey to winter on. All they get more than 

 that you can take in September. 



We don't get any honey here after the bass- 

 wood, about the middle of July. We let them 

 fill up well on basswood, and then let them 

 alone until the middle of September; then I 

 take off the third stories and pack them away 

 in the storeroom. At this time I see that the 

 second story is full of honey; take out of the 

 second stories all combs not full of honey, and 

 fill it out from the third; see that all have that 

 much, and pack away in the house the surplus; 



fill the top chamber with straw, and you are 

 ready for winter. 



The next spring, when there are warm day* 

 in March or April, look into each colony and 

 see if they have plenty of honey. If they are 

 short, take out empty combs and put in full 

 combs of honey from those stored away in the 

 fall. Be sure they have plenty; they will use 

 up honey pretty fast now, as they should be 

 raising brood fast. 



A TENT EXTK ACTING-HOUSE FOK OUT- YARDS; 

 HOW TO MAKE. 



I omitted to build an extracting-house. You 

 want one in every yard. We use a tent, just 10 

 feet square, outside measure. Put up a frame 

 in each yard; get 4 posts, 10 feet long; set them 

 3 feet in the ground, 10 feet square, outside 

 measure. Now nail on at the bottom a ten-foot 

 board on each side, a foot wide, then nail around 

 the top four more boards a foot wide, 10 feet 

 long; that will leave a space of 5 feet between 

 the upper and lower boards. Get 80 feet of thin 

 cotton cloth, a yard wide; sew two breadths 

 together, 40 feel long; that will just go around 

 your house for siding, between the upper and 

 lower boards. Sew on both upper and lower 

 edge some strips 3 or 4 feet apart — leather — 

 to tack through in putting on ihe siding. For 

 top cover we use eight-ounce duck that will 

 shed rain if we have a shower while we are 

 there. Put up a gable-end roof, raised 3 feet in 

 the middle. To do that you want two boards a 

 foot wide, 10 feet long; set one up at each end, 

 and nail to top and bottom board, and slant off 

 the top corner to fit the pitch of the roof; then 

 nail in at the top a 2x4 scantling, 10 feet long; 

 chamfer off the upper edges to fit the pitch. 

 Nail on to the end boards some strips of boards 

 to make a ladder to climb up when you put on 

 the top cover. Make the cover to fit your 

 frame, and sew on to the bottom edge some 

 strips of leather to tack through when you put 

 it up. You want a frame in every yard; but 

 the cloth part you can take down every night 

 and put it in a sack and take it home. One 

 cover and siding is enough for all the yards. 

 Each yard must have a frame. With us it 

 takes just five minutes to put on the cloth. For 

 a door, we can leave one end of siding loose 

 at the bottom, or can put in a screen-door. 



Platteville, Wis. 



[There are no bee-keepers in the whole Unit- 

 ed States who have their work better systema- 

 tized than E. France it Son; and this applies 

 not only to their bees but to their fruit-growing. 

 When I visited them this past summer I could 

 readily see one secret of their success — the evi- 

 dence of a liberal use of good brains to lessen 

 the labor of the hands. I am sure no bee-keep- 

 er can afford to fail to read carefully what Mr. 

 France has to say, even though he may not now 

 or ever expect to have out-apiaries. I can not 

 refrain from saying that the senior France not 

 only recommends, after having tried other 

 frames, the Langstroth, but the eight-frame 

 size of the hive. No deep frame is adapted for 

 tiering up, and hence the Langstroth, if for na 

 other reason, should have the preference. — Ed.] 



