MAY 15, 1916 



401 



surplus and all in good shape for winter, 

 and all have come thru the winter to date 

 tine, and are starting a little brood-rearing 

 and have heavy stores yet. 



The picture was made Feb. 1, so you will 

 see I am wintering outdoors in single-wall 

 eight-frame hives and haven't lost, I don't 

 believe, a hatful of bees, and the rough 

 weather is over. 



I am fully sure of the fact that I made 

 a mistake in starting with eight-frame hives, 

 as the season is so long and brood starting 

 so early, and it seems this eight-frame prop- 

 osition is upsetting lots of people who have 

 prolific Italians down this way, as it keeps 

 constant work in manipulating. 



Our honey-flow is not steady; and after 

 fruit and locust-bloom in spring there is a 

 lapse of a couple of weeks and then a 

 heavy poplar flow, and then a lapse and our 



best and largest flow, sourwood, yielding 

 Ihe whitest and perhaps best honey made, 

 and the flow is very rapid. 



Sourwood is a tree of the mountains, and 

 my sourwood is gathered from a mountain 

 which, at its nearest place at the foot, is 

 2% to 3 miles, and ranging up to 41/2 to 5 

 miles at the top, and at some places that 

 far to the foot of the mountain, and from 

 this mountain the bees get their sourwood. 

 That differs with the ideas of some in other 

 sections as to distances bees go; but facts 

 can't be altered, and I had several stands 

 which averaged around 40 to 50 sections, or 

 about two supers of pure sourwood, and 

 one filling nearly three supers, and perhaps 

 some would be ready to take issue as to 

 distance; but I decided long ago that local- 

 ity and necessity cause bees to vary largely 

 in their habits. 



Morgantown, N. C, Feb. 2. 



THE LOCATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES 



BY CHARLES E. KINZIE 



To get down to business in running out- 

 apiaries we must figure ahead. I have had 

 the best success by arranging for two su- 

 pers to each hive; and for some, three or 

 four supei-s. I use ten-frame hives only. 



One out-apiary of 130 colonies I have 

 divided into three rows, the rows 16 feet 

 apart, and the hives 8 feet apart in the row. 

 I find that this plan is a success; for when 

 T am extracting and go to a hive tiered up 

 three or four high, and tear it all down, the 

 bees do not go to the next hive. Again, if 

 I am treating the colony for European foul 

 brood, the bees stay at home, and the neigh- 

 boring colony, 8 feet away, is not likely to 

 become affected. This apiary faces the 

 east. 



Another out-apiary has about 140 colo- 

 nies in four rows. The first row faces the 

 west, the second faces the east, so that the 

 backs of the hives are 11 feet apart — just 

 the right distance to run a cart or auto 

 truck between. The third row faces the 

 west, and the fourth the east. That makes 

 two driveways 11 feet apart between the 

 backs of the hives. The space for the bees 

 to fly between rows two and three is 16 feet. 

 By this plan, when going up and down the 

 rows the bees do not get excited half as 

 much. I expect to lay two lines of track in 

 this yard, and have a car to ran the supers 

 of honey right into the honey-house, and 

 then extend this apiary to 225 colonies. 



I am just starting my third out-apiary. 

 This will be the same— that is, I Avill pro- 

 vide it with tracks and a car. 



When I take off my honey, I go to the 

 further end of the yard, remove the cover, 

 puff in a little smoke to drive the bees 

 down, take out all -the honey that is at least 

 three-fourths capped over. I shake all the 

 bees from the frames into the super, not on 

 the ground. All combs of honey not yet 

 capped over I put in the center of the su- 

 per. In this way I have no difficulty in 

 keeping the queen from going up above to 



lay. 



I use only eight combs in each ten-frame 

 super. Of course I have ten in the brood- 

 chamber, all worker combs built fi^om full 

 sheets of foundation. Eight bulged-out 

 combs of honey contain more honey than 

 nine or ten combs could hold in the same 

 super. You see there are eleven bee-spaces 

 with ten combs, and only nine with eight; 

 in other words, there is just that much 

 more room for honey. 



Many a time I have taken off and extract- 

 ed fourteen or fifteen 60-pound cans in sev- 

 en hours, using only a two-frame extractor, 

 I aim to extract every twenty-five days, and 

 I am not bothered by swarming. I do all 

 the extracting at each yard and take the 

 honey home each night, and empty it into 

 large tanks at home. Then when I have 

 time I ease it up. 



I inspect all brood-chambers as soon as 

 the honey starts in the spring, and then do 

 not disturb them again until August, when 

 I give another good inspection. 



My apiaries are eight and nine miles 

 from home. A light auto truck is the thing 



