1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



423 



SHADE FOR THE APIARY. 



A SIDE-HILI. APIARY. 



I am glad some one has taken up the subject 

 ■of shade in our apiaries. It is a subject on 

 which a great deal has been said, first and last: 

 but the only object in view seemed to be to 

 shade the hives and bees, and not the keeper. 

 I can see no season why, as long as we are go- 

 ing to shade the hives, we can not have such as 

 will protect the apiarist also, and make it more 

 comfortable and convenient for both. Of course, 

 this is not always possible; but when one has a 

 young orchard, or trees of any kind that are 

 not too dense, and are somewhere near wheiis 

 we want our liees, I say, why not put them 

 th?re? I like sunshine as well as anybody, but 



apple- trees, with a few sprawling peach-trees 

 in front. These treesare kept pruned, and none 

 of the limbs are ever allowed to grow so low as 

 to prevent the keeper from standing or walking 

 erect, without getting the hat jammed down 

 over the eyes, as Dr. Miller did. The picture 

 was taken in the fall, after the trees had shed 

 their leaves, and I had begun putting on the 

 packing-boxes, or outside protecting-shells. It 

 was such a beautiful morning when the sun 

 peeped up from its hiding-place, that I could 

 not resist the temptation to run over to my 

 neighbor, who is a photographer, and have him 

 take a shot. You will see by the picture that I 

 don't believe in bare ground for apiaries. Any 

 thing but going out and finding some of our 

 nice white hives all spattei'ed with mud after a 

 heavy rain. Chestek Olmstead. 



East Bloom field, X. Y.. Feb. ;j4. 



C. OEMSTEAD S SIDE-HIM- AI'IAliY. 



I think as Josh Billings did about the pudding. 

 I can see no reason for a person working over 

 colonies of bees with the scorching rays of the 

 sun pouring down on him from morning till 

 night, when, by a little forethought, it might be 

 avoided. I have sometimes thought of moving 

 my bees to some open plot and stai'ting a vine- 

 yard apiary, with grapevines to shade the hives. 

 I know such an apiary well kept would not on- 

 ly look nice, but would no doubt be for the very 

 best welfare of the bees. But after working a 

 few days in my brother's apiary, which is so 

 situated as to get the full and dii-ect rays of the 

 sun. I was only too glad to get back under the 

 sprawling limbs of tlie old harvest-apple trees, 

 where I could work quite comfortably, even dur- 

 ing very hot weather. 



I^end you a photograph of my apiary. It is 

 situated on an east side-hill, under the early 



[Fruit-trees not too dense make the best kind 

 of shade, and I doubt whether you would find 

 the grapevine as good. .Somehow (they do with 

 ns) the vines get neglected, and then the shoots 

 will stick out in the way, much to the discom- 

 fort of the apiarist. Your side-hill looks very 

 pretty.] E. K. R. 



DOOLITTLE'S QUEEN-CUPS A SUCCESS. 



KEEPING A RECORD ON THE HIVE-COVERS. 



It seems a little surprising that there are so 

 many who fail to make a success of Doolittle's 

 artificial cells. I tried them last season at dif- 

 fej-ent times and had scarcely any trouble with 

 them; but having the young queen fertilized 

 from the upper story of a hive, with a laying 



