950 



GLEA:Nli^GS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Dec. 



0ai^ 0WN ji?inm- 



LONDUCTED by ERNEST B. KOOT. 



COXVENIENt'EiS FOR THE APIAKV. 



OW tliat the active work in tlie apiary 

 has ceased, 1 propose l)esiniiiiig with 

 this to write a series of three or four 

 articles upon wliat 1 shall call " con- 

 veniences for tlie apiary."' As the 

 term signities, I do not necessarily mean that 

 tlie tools or implements I shall i-econimend 

 are indispensable to a well-regulated apiary, 

 Itut, rather, are helps, or, more coirectly. 

 conveniences, such as I have found from my 

 experience of nearly ten summers in our own 

 apiary. Although I iiad more or less to do 

 with bees long before that time, my real ac- 

 tive experience does not date back over ten 

 years ago. I may toucli upon a few old 

 things, but I hope to present them in a new 

 light. With this brief introductory I will 

 lirst take up 



THE FOLDING UEE-TENT, AND ITS USES. 



J believe I have once or twice referred to 

 tlie bee-tent during the past year. From 

 these short occasional references, doubtless 

 many of our readers would be pleased to 

 know more of the various uses to which this 

 tent may be applied to advantage. As we 

 have just had some new engravings made of 

 it, I will tirst present to you the bee-tent 

 ready foi' use — the Hgure at tlie right indi- 

 cating the height of tlie tent. 



from the bottom to the top. They are 

 crossed in such a way. and bound with 

 strong cords, as to make a gable with con- 

 vex sides. The whole is then covered with 

 a sort of sack made of mosquito-bar. The 

 result is, that the entire weight of the whole 

 structure is only (i lbs. (How to make these 

 tents, see A B (' of Bee Culture, under head 

 of Hoi!iu.N<;.i 



AVlien it may be desirable to store it away, 

 it may be (piickly folded into a bundle, as 

 represented below. 



FOLDIXG r.EE-TENT, HEADY FO: 



If the fellow didn't look so awful conceit- 

 ed, I would own up that it is your humble 

 servant ; as it is, I will say that it is the 

 apiarist. 



You will observe that the tent is about 

 six feet from the ground to the peak. The 

 ground space is 4xB feet. Thus you will see 

 that there is ample room for a hive as large 

 as the chaff hive, with plenty of room for 

 the operator to work besides. The entire 

 woodwork in its construction is simply four 

 strips of basswood, S feet long, and tapering 



'Oni- artist lias shown tlic bottom l'riiif;'c of the tent as coin 

 iiion c'lolh; it is notUiuK Init a continuation of nios<niito l)ar. 



TKXT FOLDED. 



The tent, as thus folded, we shove into a 

 couple of loops four feet apart, made by 1 > - 

 shaped cords, attached to screw-eyes in the 

 ceiling of the work-shop adjoining the apia- 

 ry. The tents, as they haiig suspended in 

 our work-shop, are jiist al)ove our heads, 

 and yet within easy reach of the hands, for 

 immediate use as occasion may require. In 

 regard to its use we will first consider 



ITS UTILITY IN STOPPING ROBBING. 



As I have already told you, on page »io8, 

 1SS.5, how it can be used to atop robbing after 

 robbing has got fairly under way, I will not 

 go into details here. It is sutlicient to say, 

 that when a colony is discovered as being 

 robbed, quickly place the tent over the hive, 

 and anchor the former down. If 

 there is not' already a hole or 

 slit in the peak of the tent, one 

 should be made. The robbers, 

 on coming out of the hive, will 

 bump about in the cage for a 

 few minutes, and finally make 

 their escape through the hole in 

 the peak; but not: one will re- 

 turn the way he came out. In a 

 couple of hours all will be quiet ; 

 but, as the old adage runs, pre- 

 \ention is better than cure. 1 

 value it chietly as 



A PREVENTIVE OF ROBBING, 



^^^ which I will now proceed to de- 

 scribe more at length. We will 

 suppose that the honey-tlow has 

 suddenly stopped, and in going 

 over the hives we discover that 

 lobbers are just beginning to 

 show their annoying presence. 

 They follow us about, and just 

 as soon as the hive-cover and 

 enameletl cloth are removed they commence 

 their pillaging. If we proceed thus all day, 

 toward the latter part of it Ave shall find 

 quite a little swarm of robbers making re- 

 peated raids into the hives. We are then 

 obliged to contract the entrances of all nu- 

 clei ■-, and if we continue to work thus, the 

 next day we will unhesitatingly afhrm that 

 the bees are " unusually cross." 



Now, it would be very desirable to 

 avoid all this; hence we "will take our 

 "stitch in time." We proceed to the work- 

 shop, draw out tlie tent from its two loops, 

 which 1 described, and set it on end outside. 



