1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



219 



My hives stand on the same spot year 

 after year, exposed to all weathers. I sel- 

 dom interfere with them except to take their 

 combs of honey to extract and put back 

 again. My hives are of ordinary size, and 

 have on them one or two honey-chambers 

 or supers, full depth. From the 10th of No- 

 vember to December 20 I extracted 89 60-lb. 

 tins of honey from 75 hives, this honey be- 

 ing produced within those dates. I tell you 

 this to let you know that my bees are good. 

 I think I can reasonably consider them non- 

 swarmers. 



Woodville, N. S. Wales, Aus. 



OUTDOOR SLEEPING PORCHES. 



BY WESLEY FOSTER. 



Colorado's climate is mild enough so that 

 sleeping out of doors is pleasant nearly the 

 whole year. The writer has used the out- 

 door sleeping-room shown in Pig. 1 (p. 214) , 

 every night except two up to this date, Jan. 

 5. This sleeping-porch, which is 8 feet by 

 14, is built over the kitchen at the rear of 

 the house. The sides are sealed up about 

 3X feet, and wire cloth encloses the space 

 between this and the eaves of the roof. On 

 the west there are two window-sashes fitted 

 in to shut out the west wind; but the north 

 and east sides are open except for the screen. 

 On the east side, too, a screen door opens 

 out upon the roof. 



We have a very large porch running 

 around three sides of the house. On the 

 east side, it is made into another outdoor 

 sleeping-apartment which opens into the 

 downstairs bedroom. This porch has can- 

 vas curtains hung by means of rings sliding 

 on ordinary gas-pipe — an arrangement fix- 

 ed with material we had on hand, as the 

 curtains were made from an old tent that 

 the wind had torn badly. This downstairs 

 sleeping-apartment is shown in Fig. 2. The 

 east side of the house is hidden from the 

 street by several pine and apple trees. 



Outdoor sleeping-rooms are becoming so 

 popular that houses sell much more readily 

 if there is one or more of them, and it is 

 common to see "want ads" in the dailies 

 asking for accommodations with outdoor- 

 sleeping facilities. It is a move toward 

 saner and healthier living. 



Boulder, Col. 



[Occasionally some one objects because 

 we give space once in a while to matters 

 that do not pertain to bee culture; but we 

 have always replied that Gleanings was 

 devoted not only to the interests of bee cul- 

 ture but to the interests of the home as well. 

 We feel that this question of sleeping out- 

 doors is certainly a matter that should be of 

 interest, not only to bee-keepers, but to all 

 who value good health. 



At our house we have been sleeping out 

 of doors for about three years, winter and 

 summer, and there are very few nights in 

 the year when we do not enjoy the pure out- 

 door air. We began, first, on account of 



my tendency to have catarrh and hay fever; 

 but the results have been so highly satis- 

 factory that we shall probably never sleep 

 inside again, for any length of time at least. 

 Colds are almost unknown; and when they 

 are contracted they usually last not over 

 twenty-four hours. 



There is no object in sleeping out of doors 

 if an ordinary room has one or more win- 

 dows wide open, for the air is just as good. 

 Oh! is it? Let me tell you this, and, if you 

 do not believe it, ask some one who has 

 tried it. There is no comparison at all be- 

 tween the air in an ordinary bedroom with 

 three windows wide open and the air out of 

 doors. There are very few rooms that have 

 windows on opposite sides, and that is why 

 the air is entirely different. No one who 

 has ever slept out of doors ever says after- 

 ward that an inside room with windows 

 open is just the same. 



When it costs so little to try the plan, why 

 will so many spend their money for patent 

 medicines and cure-alls that are worse than 

 useless? Our correspondent is right when 

 he says that houses that are being built oft- 

 en have accommodations for outdoor sleep- 

 ing-rooms; and \\e firmly believe that the 

 time is soon coming when almost every 

 new home will have at least one (and more 

 often two or three) outdoor sleeping-apart- 

 ments which will not be cumbered with 

 dust-laden carpets, rugs, nor curtains. — 

 H. H. R] 



♦ ■ ^ ■ ♦ 



KEEPING DOWN INCREASE. 



Should this be Done by Hiving the Swarm 



Back on the Old Stand after Destroying all 



the Cells? 



BY W. S. DAVIS. 



I have 61 colonies, and have not had a 

 swarm this season. I use eight-frame 

 hives with Hoffman frames, and have them 

 built up 2 and 2% stories. The best hives are 

 full, and hang out quite heavy. The hon- 

 ey-flow has been light, but some of them 

 had a full-sized hive-body above the brood- 

 chamber, nicely sealed up, so it would hard- 

 ly seem to be altogether a shortage of food. 

 The bees are in a yard among shrubbery, 

 and some are in shade and some not. I 

 have noticed little if any difference in this 

 respect. 



In 1908 this yard cast 70 swarms, or more 

 than one for each hive. This was a fine 

 honey year with me, and I made little or 

 no effort to prevent swarming. Instead, as 

 soon as a swarm issued and I had it safe I 

 went through the parent hive, cut out all 

 the queen-cells, and saw that no young 

 queens were out. 



It is surprising how soon they will hatch. 

 Inside of an hour after the swarm had left, 

 and while I was working with them, I have 

 had as many as five in one hive. 



After giving the parent colony an hour or 

 two to find out their condition I put the 

 swarm back. Where a man can be with 



