1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1107 



A HOUSE APIARY 56 YEARS OLD 



In 



Good State of Preservation ; a Pecan-tree 

 88 Years Old ; a Grove of Catalpas ; 

 an Interesting Article. 



BY FRANK M'GLADE. 



The farm on which these pictures were 

 made is in Warren Co., three miles east of 

 Lebanon, O., and is owned by Edmond Wood. 

 It was entered by his grandfather, who came 

 from New Jersey in 1804, and has been in 

 the family 100 years. Jerry Wood, son of 

 the elder Mr. Wood, and father of the present 

 owner, owned the farm after his father's 

 death, and died there a few years ago. He 

 was the bee-keeper, and built the house in 

 1848—56 years ago. It was built of the fin- 

 est quality of oak timber, and cost .$700, with- 

 out any furniture. It is 70 feet long, 9 feet 

 wide, and 10 feet high. A hall 2J feet wide 

 runs the length of the building, in the center; 

 the posts are 3 inches square, and carefully 

 mortised. There are 4 rows of these posts, 

 just far enough apart to receive and allow 



front. You can see a cleat on the side. The 

 bottom is loose, and held by 4 wire hooks. 

 The present owner, who kindly showed us the 

 "fixin's" and gave us the information, is 

 standing behind the hive. This picture was 

 made to show that tree, a southern pecan, 

 planted there in 1816, and which is 88 years 

 old. It is 7 feet in diameter, over 75 feet 

 high, and not a sign of a dead branch on it. 

 It bears fruit every year. The 4 stakes you 

 see leaning against it are the posts of a New 

 Jersey bedstead. On the right you see a 

 few of the Langstroth hives, most of them 

 empty, as Mr. Wood takes more to farming 

 than he does to bees. 



Fig. 3 is a sectional view at close range. 



Fig. 4 is a view of an orchard of catalpa- 

 trees on the place. There are 5 acres. The 

 trees are set exactly in straight rows, about 

 12 feet apart each way. There are about 

 700 of them set out 15 years ago; are over 

 30 feet high, and 9 inches in diameter. 

 About half of them are Japan catalpas; the 

 rest are American. Those in the foreground 

 are the Japan. If you look closely toward 

 the north side you can see the difference, the 



^ r 



FIG. 1. — WEST SIDE OF THE BEE-HOUSE. 



the hives to hang freely between them. 

 Strips were fastened on the posts, and strips 

 on the sides of the hives; then the hive was 

 slipped in from the hall inside, and swung or 

 hung on the cleats. 



The house holds about 150 hives, and was 

 built for the Wick patent hive. Mr. Wood 

 bought the right in 1840, and had over 300 of 

 them made and in use at one time. There 

 were no frames about it. The honey was 

 stored above the brood-chamber, in boxes. 

 Two doors in the rear of each hive opened 

 into the hall, and allowed of handling. Some 

 years they got 4000 lbs. of surplus honey. 

 The whole thing, however, proved unsatis- 

 factory, and the bees were all changed to 

 the Langstroth hive, and the hives are 

 hanging there to-day just as they were left 

 by the owner, not more than a dozen having 

 bees in them. 



Fig. 1 shows the west side of the bee- 

 house, with the only door in the north end. 



Fig. 2 shows the east side, with a hive in 



common kind being smaller, crookeder, and 

 more sprawly. Mr. Wood said the flowers 

 furnished much pasture for bees; and after 

 the bloom had fallen they continued to work 

 in the trees a long time. 



It would be well worth any man's time to 

 go and see these things, and many more of 

 which I will not write. The farm is an up- 

 to-date one, and shows that its former own- 

 ers were men of extraordinary mental ability 

 as well as executive. 



That large tree stands there as a guard to 

 watch over the things until they return; but 

 they are gone, to return no more. Silence 

 reigns. 



This bee-house has a wonderful fascination 

 for me that words fail to describe and only 

 a bee-keeper can know. As I gaze upon it 

 my mind goes back through the fleeting years, 

 and I see Mr. Wood, in the strong vigor of 

 manhood, fashioning it with his own hands 

 to suit his own fancies. What joy and plea- 

 sure he had in anticipation of what was to 



