1 8<fj 



(;i>H.\MN(;s L\ HKK ClM/rURK. 



•.'s:? 



tilt' liurvfsi. ;ni(l il tiiUi's l(H> of il at lliis linn' 

 of the yrar. I )j>> owr ilic apiary in liiisway 

 in a (lay. Tin- next cxaniinalion is niadc lo- 

 waid I In- lirst tif May. when tlic I ray of vluitT l^ 

 it'iiiDVcd from tlu> tt>|i of the frames and slurcd 

 in a dry place, and tlie l)()ard cover placed on 

 the hrood-clianitiiT. 1 keep an eye npon tlie 

 condition nf the liees ai this time, to maUe sure 

 tiiat all have sntlicient honey to last till ilie 

 lirst of .lune. 1 also note any weak colonies for 

 a little special care. At tliis time I slick np the 

 a!)iary. ri'iiiove and clean out combs and hives 

 of colonies that may hav(> died duriiiij winter, 

 etc. This lakes a couple of days more. About 

 the middle of .May I bcyin the tiusiuess of pre- 

 paring for the lioney-liarv<'st. In I hree weiMvS 

 I have the foundation in sections, and in crates 

 and frami's in hives ready for swarms, thonsh 

 the woik of preparing extra hiv(>s mij^ht be left 

 out of the :\ccount, as no credit is {jiven for 

 value of increase, j-'rom the tiftcenth of .lune 

 to the twenty-lifth of .luly. my time is filled in 

 with the work of tlie honey -harvest, putting on 

 and removing sections, rearing queens, hiving 

 swarms, and at morning and e\eiiing I lind 

 timi' to nail, paint, and repair, and biiiig up llie 

 odds and ends of work. 



The most of my time after the lifteenth of 

 •Inly is d(>voted to i)reparing the honey for mar- 

 ket: and along about the first of September an- 

 other two weeks" work g(>ts the average crop 

 graded and into the shipiiing-cratcs. This 

 gives me plenty of time remaining of the T.") 

 days in which to prepare the bees for winter: 

 anci as they are in ten-frame hives, and have an 

 abundaiKM' of good honey, tliis is not much of a 

 job. The burlap covers and chaff crates I can 

 put on in a day. and all is snug until next year. 



It is by having a good coiivi-niiMit honi'y- 

 house. an apiary of chaff hives, allowing 

 plenty of room for good honey stores, and the 

 practice of a definite system or plan of work, 

 that I have done this. I am familiar with my 

 hive, apparatus, and system, and thi're is some- 

 tliing in this. We neve! have a fall honey-flow 

 to a degiT-e to make supers desirable. 



In Pres. Taylor's estimate of cost of produc- 

 tion, he allows only fourdoUars for the handling, 

 from the hi\(' to the honey-marki't. of each l.'iOO 

 lbs. of honey. This seems io mtUoo low. I should 

 atleastdouhle it. For the New p]ngland markets. 

 the sections must all be scraped, aufl the honey 

 carefully graded and packed in crates witii 

 glass or in cartons, and neatly stenciled and 

 marked, ami this is necessary in oi'der to get the 

 l."> i-ents i)er poumi of Mr. Taylor's estimate. 



1 believe that the most (economical method of 

 running an out-apiary is to cage the qui-en to 

 prevent swarming. This seems as yet to be 

 the only practical method nnle.ss some one 

 watches for swarms. It is nice to run the out- 

 apiary for extraoted honey, and discouraging 

 swarming by plenty of room. I understand 

 that our friend Manum has secured the past 

 season a good crop of comb honey from several 

 apiaries, almost alone, on the caging plan. I 

 am also looking with much interest for the ar- 

 ticle from fi'iend Hilton upon thissubjectof cost 

 of production. As I sin'iit several days with Mr. 

 M. after the State convention I had the oppor- 

 tunity of observing that he was careful and 

 systematic, and tliat his methods were very 

 similar to mine — so mucli so that he remarked 

 we could not get into an argument. 



.1. II. I,Ai;i;Aiii:i<:. 



Ag'I College. Mich.. .Ian. :.'0. 



[We may explain, for the benefit (d' oui- n-ad- 

 4irs. that our first knowledge of the Larrabee 

 bee-escape came while we were in attendaiice 

 at the convention of tlie Mich. State K. K. .\. at 

 <lrand Rapids. When Mr. Larrabee explained 



the principle of it \\c were intei'ested; and 

 when he told us that lii> brother took oil' :!(KK» 

 lbs. of extractcil honey withoiil so much as 

 brushing a liei' off the combs, we were elated. 

 As you will remember. w<' asked one of the 

 Lafral)ee boys to s»Mid us one of their escape- 

 boards. They did so. and the engraving above 

 illustrates somewhat I lie principle. We might 

 add. that it is simply two boards cleated around 



on the sides, leaving a I -space on one side. 



The boards are left about two inches apart, and 

 on two sides are nailed strips of wire cloth, 

 covering the opening as shown, the strips being 

 of une(|ual length. lietween the strips are two 

 sets of three tiori/.ontal cones of wii'e cloth 

 pointing in opposite din'ctions asshown. The 

 fact that bees have got to go through thrive 

 cones is pretty good evidence that it would be 

 quite unlikidy for them to get back into the 

 super: and then, the ventilation is perfect. As 

 to whetlu'r the Larrabi'e escape will woi'k as 

 well as or better than the I'orier remains to be 

 proven. As Mr. I^. says, it combines the old 

 principles of the Reese and Dibbern escapes; 

 but it s(>ems to us in a very inii(|ue and practi- 

 cal manner. 



In i-egard to the cost of. honey, we icgarded 

 Mr. Larrab(U!'s statement as being very con- 

 servative and fair. He uses in Vermont tln^ 

 large chaff' hive, and these stand out both win- 

 ter and sumtnei'. and they rcMiuire but very lit- 

 tle labor. That is one beauty in having chaff 

 hives. They cost a litth; more, but they savi' a 

 great deal of labor in springing and wintering 

 in the way of moving in and out of the cel- 

 lar and in hauling. There are some localities 

 that are too cold for outdoor wintering of any 

 kind, at least we are so informed: and for mi- 

 gratory be<>-keeping or for any reason that the 

 hives must be moved often, the chaff' hive is un- 

 desirable. Oui' small Dovetailed chaff' hive is an 

 e.\cei)tiou. It is but a trifle heavier ttuui the 

 single-walled hiv<'s. and is equally portable.] 



PREVENTING PROPOLIS AND BURR-COMBS. 



r.\t-T,0\V .\XI> V.\SEI.IXK FOi; THE I'Cin'OSK. 



I want some advice and help. We have been 

 U}\(\ for many years, that, if we ruobed tallow 

 on the joints of our hives and other places 

 wher(e we did not want pro|)olis to accumulate, 

 the l)ees would not |)ut it there. Now. I want 

 to know whether there is anvone who has tried 

 it on a scale large enough to know wh(U,her it 

 is practical or not. Some lOnglishman. I be- 

 lieve, has lately been recommending vaseline 

 for the same purpose. Who has tried this? 

 Does either of them, or any thing else, prevent 

 proi)olis enough to inaki' it jii-oli table to use? 

 It would be woi-th something to gel rid of pro- 

 polis where it is not wanted. It is for another 

 purposes though, that I think it might prove 

 profitable to use the plan: that is. in the pre- 

 vention of burr-combs. 



Several years ago I made some fraiiK^s to hold 

 cages in which to [)ut (lueen-cells for hatching 

 in the hive. Wishing to have them as perfectiv 

 movable as possibh;. I rubbed them well witli 

 tallow. They have always been used in hiv<!s 

 where all the other frames were covered with 

 burr-combs: but on these no burr-combs have 

 ever been built. I am certain from this that 

 burr-combs might he prevented, at least to a 

 very great extent, by rubbing the top-bais with 

 tallow. It is possible that the bees might ob- 

 ject to its use on a large scale, or it might lose 

 "its efficacy in time. I should be glad to have 

 testimony on these points from any who have 

 tried iteiiough to know. Vaseline, it seems to 

 me. would be more apt to be ol)jectionable to 



