178 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



should bo housed, I have been studj'ing the subjcet 

 very carefully, and was in a position to appreciate 

 Mr. Vaudervoort's views as expressed in conversa- 

 tion at Detroit. The more I investigate and reflect 

 on the matter, the more persuaded 1 I'eel that the 

 iie.xt great step in advance to be taken in practical 

 bee-keeping is the construction of houses Avhich 

 shall bo permanent homes for the honej'-bees dur- 

 ing both winter and summer, and then good-by to 

 three fourths of the worry and trouble now con- 

 nected with putting hives into winter quarters and 

 taking them out again. 



I have been reading the ABC article on house- 

 apiaries; and, really, the arguments in their favor 

 therein adduced are so numerous and cogent that I 

 wonder they have not commanded more attention 

 from bee-keepers. But, if my memory does not 

 mislead me, these arguments have been, to a great 

 e.xtent, nullified by unfavorable opinions expressed 

 in Gleanings since the ABC book was published. 

 I think, too, the great objection urged in Glean- 

 ings as fatal to the idea of house-apiaries was, that 

 multitudes of bees would get into the house and 

 could not be gotten out of it back into their re- 

 spective hives again. If so, this is a notable exam- 

 ple of a difTiculty which requii-es only a little 

 thought, and a very simple device, in order toils 

 removal. Have the house totally dark, with the 

 exception of a little door just above the hive being 

 operated upon. Bees always fly for tlie light; and 

 there being none except what is admitted by the 

 aperture close to their own hive, they will quickly 

 go outside the hive, and hover about the entrance 

 to their own particular hive until quietness is re- 

 stored, when they will at once betake themselves 

 to their own domicile. 



Mr. Editor, if you will kindly republish, along 

 with this article, a couple of cuts and a communi- 

 cation which appeared in Gle.4nings for May, 188;J, 

 it will obviate the necessity for my saying more at 

 this time. The cuts and remarks give a complete 

 description of " Oliver Foster's house - apiary," 

 which is the simplest, cheapest, and most practical 

 thing of the kind with which I have met. I think, 

 too, it is almost a fac-siraile of the house-apiary 

 now used by Mr. Vaudervoort, and of which he 

 speaks in the warmest terms of commendation. 



By the wa.^■, Mr. Editor, you said in your foot-note 

 to Mr. Foster's communication, " I feel very much 

 inclined to niake just such a house-apiary now, and 

 1 rather think 1 shall like it." Did you do soV and 

 if you did, with what results? Your experience, if 

 you have had any in the actual working of that 

 jjlan, would be opportune and valuable just at this 

 juncture, when many of us are revolving the mat- 

 ter in our minds, and meditating the erection of a 

 house apiary of some kind when spring comes. 



Guelph, Ont., Feb. 5, 1886. Wm. F. Clarke. 



Friend ('., there are certainly many very 

 good reasons why house-apiaries should not 

 be al)andoned. I, too, had a long talk witli 

 friend \'<indervo()rt in regard to his house- 

 apiaries, and the way in which he succeeds 

 in getting large crops ot honey from them. 

 When \vc returned I'lom New Orleans we 

 rode a long distance with him. and discuss- 

 ed the matter pretty thoroughly. I tried to 

 take down some iigures in regard to his 

 large yields, but didn't get them. It I am 

 correct, he promised to write the matter up 

 for us, biit I thjnk he has never done so, 



You propose to obviate my great objection 

 by having the house totally dark, with the 

 exception of a little door above the hive 

 being operated upon. This necessitates a 

 little door that will open and shut over every 

 hive in the house-apiary — an item of no 

 small expense, you will" notice. The next 

 (piestion is, " Will it do the work when you 

 get it doneV"' Coe's house-apiary, you may 

 remember, was guaranteed to do this very 

 thing. I rode forty miles on purpose to see 

 it, and to see him do this little trick with 

 several others. The house was darkened 

 completely; tlie little door was opened, and 

 it was near the lloor too, so as to give the 

 bees evei'y chance to tly or crawl out. At 

 my suggestion, some bees were sliaken off 

 on to tile floor, at a little distance from this 

 door. Did they go for the daylight at once, 

 ;ind all get off from the ttoorV Not at all. 

 Ttiey did just as 1 expected they w^ould — 

 lliey went out when they got ready. But 

 we had to go out of the building, and come 

 l)ack after a while, before they went back. 

 If I mistake not, some of the young bees 

 didn"t go back, even then. I have tried all 

 of tliese things thoroughly ; and it is so 

 much more bother and trouble, compared 

 with hives outdoors, that no one I have ever 

 seen yet likes house-apiaries, unless it is for 

 raising comb honey. Keeping the floor 

 clean is one great obstacle with us ; and if I 

 were to build another, there should be no 

 floor— just the ground as it is outdoors ; then 

 if a bee is stepped on and mashed, you have 

 not got to scrub to make things look decent 

 again So far as securing the honey is con- 

 cerned, I believe I could get more honey in 

 the house-apiary than in hives outdoors. In 

 regard to the intolerable heat, somebody 

 suggested making a house apiary like a corn- 

 crib so that it would have nearly as much 

 circulation as all outdoors. The man who 

 made it, however, -afterward reported that it 

 didn't answer at all. Since wire cloth is so 

 cheap, it might be a little better inducement. 

 If you make it bee-proof, however, you are 

 going to have trouble with the bees inside, 

 that can not get out as before ; and if you 

 (lou'i make it bee-proof, you must look out 

 for robbers as you would if every thing Avere 

 outdoors. Friend Vaudervoort, I believe, 

 raises his (lueens in the hives outdoors, and 

 arranges every thing expressly for tlie pro- 

 duction of conib honey. Before reproducing 

 the article from Oliver Foster, we should 

 like to have him tell us how it answers by 

 this time. 



SALT, A NECESSARY ELEMENT FOR 

 BEES. 



SALT FOlt HEE.S; AN EXPL.i^N ATION OF THE UEA- 

 ■ SON WHV BEES GATHER MUD OR DRY EARTH. 



TTo S I have often observed, and studied for sev- 

 olt^, era! years the phenomenon described by 



f^[ John W. Niman, pages 9 and 10, 1886, I will 

 -»-^ give what light I have on the subject. I 

 have, with one exception, always found bees 

 sucking claj', as described, either in roads, barn- 

 yards, and other places containing the excrement 

 of animals, or the drainage therefrom, and hence I 

 goon concluded thst it was some constituent of this 



