1807 



GLI0ANING8 IN BEE CULTURE. 



495 



Its funds for a purpose for which thoy were not 

 created." It will be seen from the quotations 

 above that Mr. Newman practically recom- 

 mended that the Union continue in its old line 

 of work, and the voters simply followed his 

 recommendation: that, while the thought set 

 forth in the quotations may not be prcci.sely the 

 same as that attributed by Prof. Cook to Mr. 

 Newman, it is so much like it that, to argue the 

 point, would be splitting hairs. 



I am with Mr. Newman and Prof. Cook both 

 in wishing for peace; I am also glad to note 

 that Mr. Newman will be willing to submit the 

 question of amalgamation, providing a union 

 of the two organizations is still sought by both. 

 -Ed. 



A VISIT TO VERNON BURT'S APIARY; HANDLING 



SWARMS AT AN OUT-APIARY RUN FOR 



COMB HONEY. 



On Thursday. June 24. 1 called upon our old 

 friend Vernon Burt (about three miles out), 

 who has the reputation of securing a crop of 

 honey every season, good, bad, and indifferent. 

 I had not seen Mr. Burt this season; and as 

 clover was unusually abundant, I had a curios- 

 ity to know how he was coming on. I strapped 

 the Kodak on my back, mounted the wheel, 

 and in a short time I was at his home yard. 

 He had just returned from his out-apiary, that 

 he is running for comb honey without an at- 

 tendant, and I had caught him nicely at home. 

 The bees were roaring and pouring in at the 

 entrances, not in the pellmell style as they do 

 on basswoods, but in that quiet way they do 

 during clover bloom. Said I: 



"They tell me you have just returned from 

 the out-yard. How do you manage about 

 swarms during your absence without an at- 

 tendant?" 



" All my queens are clipped, and I make sure 

 to see that they have plenty of room." 



"Well, what do you do when swarms come 

 out when you are away ? " 



" I let them come out and go back again. I 

 visit the apiary about every day, and if they 

 come out while I am away, they will also be 

 likely to come out again when I am there, and 

 it is then that I hive them." 



" How do you hive them ? " 



"I move the parent hive to one side, put a 

 hive of empty combs in its place, and on this I 

 put the super that was on the old stand with 

 its sections completed and partly completed. 

 All the flying bees will, of course, go back to 

 the old location." 



" What do you do with the cells in the parent 

 hive?" 



"Let them alone. The colony will be so de- 

 pleted that there will be no after-swarms; and 

 the tirst swarm itself will not swarm again, but 

 go right on storing in the supers." 



"But don't you lose any swarms in that 

 way?" 



" Not that I know of," said he. 



"How do you manage with swarms at 

 home?" 



"In the same way." 



" Who looks after your bees here?" 



" Mother. She lays a stick on top of the hive 

 from which the bees came out, and lets them 

 fly around till they get ready to go back. When 

 I see a stick on the hive, or some unusual mark- 

 ing, on my return, I know what it means, and 

 treat them accordingly." 



" Have you come to any conclusion as to what 

 size of hive for general purposes you prefer?" 



" I did think at one time," said he, "that I 

 preferred the ten-frame. I can get the bees in 

 shape easier in the spring in that size than in 

 the eight; but lately I have found that I can 

 increase the bees up to the proper strength in 

 the small hives, and they are more easily han- 

 dled." 



"Which hive do you use at your out-apia- 

 ries?" 



"The new dovetailed eight- frame. I leave 

 all double-walled and ten-frame hives in this 

 yard." 



"I notice your bees appear to be quite busy. 

 You will probably secure 50 lbs. per colony." 



"Oh, yes! I shall do as well as that, any 

 way." 



Then he opened several hives and showed me 

 how his bees were working in supers. I no- 

 ticed particularly that the bees were doing just 

 as well on the outside rows of sections as on 

 those in the center; and the sections in all 

 partes of the super seemed to be keeping pace 

 with each other. He went over his hives at 

 random, and every one of the supers seemed to 

 show this even building of the combs. 



" How do you account for this?" said I. 



" By the slow even flow from clover and plen- 

 ty of bees." 



I then took several snap shots with a No. 

 5 Kodak, and if all goes well I will show you 

 how nicely Mr. Burt keeps things in and about 

 his apiary. He seems to take things pretty 

 easy, notwithstanding he has 135 rousing col- 

 onies at his home yard, and 100 at the out-yard. 



"You do not seem to be in a great hurry or 

 excitement," I said. 



" No," he replied; " my queens' wings are all 

 clipped; and before the honey-flow sets In I 

 have every thing all in readiness — supers, sec- 

 tions, etc., so that, during the harvest, I do not 

 have to be bothered with startering sections or 

 any thing of the sort. I simply pile on supers, 

 and watch the bees pile In honey; and the 

 swarms, when they come out, weM— I take care 

 of them when I get ready." 



" Do you use bee-escapes ? " 



"Yes, sir. I hardly know how I could get 

 along without them." 



