1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



303 



One yard is wintered in cases holding eight colonies each. 



to move an apiary. It often happens 

 that outyards are left to remain in 

 poor locations when better ones are 

 within reach, because of tlie fact that 

 there has betn a considerable outlay 

 for honey houses, which are not easy 

 to move. 



Mr. Pettit says: "After several 

 years of moving machinery, first the 

 hand extractor and capping can in a 

 one-horse wagon, then the power ex- 

 tractor, engine and capping melter 

 with a team, and later in a motor 

 truck, I have become a convert to the 

 central apiarj' building idea." He ar- 

 gues that the central plant has the 

 following advantages : Less expense 

 for equipment, less wear on machin- 

 ery, better machinery is used, more 

 honey is extracted each day, e.xtract- 

 ing and packing is done at home, 

 honey can remain longer in settling 

 tanks, thus making a finer appear- 

 ance when packed, and finally, at the 

 end of the season, all equipment is at 

 home, where it can be looked after 

 properly. 



Advocates of an outfit for each 

 yard or a portable outfit to be car- 

 ried from place to place will be able 

 to advance a number of arguments to 

 offset these advantages. However, 

 the writer has not yet found an ex- 

 tensive beekeeper who, after giving 

 the central plant a thorough trial, is 

 not satisfied that it is the better plan. 



The Pettit building is 24.x40 feet, 

 two stories high. The lower story 

 has a concrete foundation, which 

 serves the double purpose of provid- 

 ing a suitable support for the building 

 and equipment and at the same time 

 making it proof against rats and mice. 

 The lower story is divided into three 

 rooms, one for the truck, one for ex- 

 tracting and the third for honey stor- 

 age. The building is provided with an 

 ample water supply and is connected 

 with the sewer. It is thus possible 

 to clean all floors and equipment 

 thoroughly after extracting and let 

 the wash water run directly into the 

 sewer through a bell trap in the cen- 

 ter of the floor. Upstairs there is a 

 cozy office and study, a store room 

 and work room for nailing up sup- 

 plies, etc., and a lavatory' with bath 

 where the men can clean up after the 

 day's work. 



The honey is extracted with a 



power extractor and carried directly 

 to the tanks by a lioney pump. Al- 

 though the Pettits use a steam knife, 

 they do not use the Bingham curved 

 handle knife in general use. Instead 

 they use a straight knife with blade 

 about 10 inches long. Mr. Pettit ar- 

 gues that the straight knife with long 

 blade has some decided advantages 

 over the other. 



The beekeeper has been a little slow 

 to adopt modern improvements to his 

 business, but electricity, gasoline and 

 steam are all helping to save labor in 

 the production of honey on a large 

 scale. 



WILD BEES 



Locations Selected by Swarms Left 

 to Themselves 



By V. Dumas 



The scarcity of bees in France 

 during the past few years has 

 caused me to look for bees, in 'the 

 wild state, or ill-located, as we see 

 it. In France, it is common to be- 

 lieve that anything which is out of 

 the ordinary belongs only to the 

 New World, that the business of a 

 bee-hunter is applicable only to the 

 virgin forests of America. Vet with- 

 in a radius of only 12 kilometers (8 

 miles), around my home, I have been 

 able to secure, in 2 years, over a 

 liundred colonies, for myself or for 



others. About another hundred, 

 which I discovered, were not taken 

 out, on account of the refusal of the 

 owner. It is evident to me that, if 

 my example could be followed, 

 lliroughout France, we could partly 

 restore our beekeeping, damaged be- 

 cause of the war. 



This bee hunting gave me the op- 

 portunity of making divers notes 

 concering the debated points, on the 

 influence upon the yield of the fol- 

 lowing condiitions: 



1. Capacity of the hive. 



2. The position of the entrance, as 

 regards the cardinal points. 



3. Its position at the top or bot- 

 tom. 



4. Exposure to air and weather. 



5. Position of the combs across or 

 lengthwise of the entrance. 



6. Size and temper of the liees. 



7. Size of their combs. 



8. Average of honey yield. 



I do not claim to settle, through 

 mi^ observations, every one of these 

 points. But experiments upon colo- 

 nies located according to their 

 choice, without either influence, must 

 have some value. 



The locations occupied by runaway 

 swarms, in my locality, are not very 

 varied. I found them as follows: 

 Between the floor and ceiling of 



a house 40 



Between shutters and window.-. 16 



Within the flue of a chimney 12 



In walls, hollow stone walls 8 



In hollow trees 8 



Between roof and ceiling (atitic).. 8 

 In the mantel-piece of chimney 6 



1. I found powerful colonies in 

 each of these positions. But the 

 space available, in each case, ap- 

 peared to have great influence upon 

 the development of each colony. The 

 most powerful one was located in a 

 great window frame (In France, the 

 window embrasures are yery deep, 

 because of the thickness of stone 

 walls, from 18 ito 24 inches. — Editor), 

 the weakest in a very small hole in a 

 wall. 



2. The orientation of the flight 

 holes was as follows : 



To the south 40 



To the east 20 



To the north 12 



To the west 12 



In vertical position 16 



In every exposure I found power- 



Hives arranged in groups of eight when big packing cases are used. 



