772 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1922 



'^^m^ndmmm 



SHADE FOR THE BEEHIVES 



A. I. Root Tells More About the Grapevine Apiary 

 of Olden Times 



Over 50 years ago, in studying up differ- 

 ent methods of shading the hives during 

 the hottest summer months, I devised what 

 I called my "grapevine apiary." In the 

 spring and fall we want all the sunshine to 

 strike the hives just as much as possil)le; 

 and during a great part of the year sun- 

 shine is a big help; but when we have our 

 very hottest weather, say in July and Aug- 

 ust, there are times when shade is very 

 important. The shade of trees has been 

 used, especially that of fruit trees; and if 

 we could have a tree just big enough, and 

 not too big, it might be a good thing. But 

 most trees get to be big trees in spite of 

 us, and therefore I settled down on a Con- 

 cord grapevine. I decided that the hives 



Part of the original "grapevine apiary" at the 

 Home of the Honeybees. 



should be somewhere from six to ten feet 

 apart. Then about a foot away from the 

 hives, on the south side, I put down a stout 

 oak stake. These stakes were about as high 

 as one's head and horizontally across the 

 stake, about half way up, was a wooden 

 strip about a yard long and three or four 

 inches wide. Near the top of the stake a 

 similar slat was fastened, and the Concord 

 vines were tied to this post with the 

 branches distributed along the slats. In the 

 early volumes of our ABC book we had 

 pictures of the hexagonal apiary; and right 

 close to our factory was seen our grapevine 

 apiary with four or five hundred hives. 



What brings the matter up just now is the 

 big crop of Concord grapes we have just 

 harvested. Our different buildings have en- 

 croached on the hexagonal apiary that had 

 the original number of 427 hives, so that 

 now there are only about 300, and as many 

 vines trained on the trellis as described 

 above. For 50 years we have had a crop of 



Concord grapes from these vines, more or 

 less; but this present year, 1922, I think we 

 have had the biggest crop of any. At 4 

 cents a pound the grapes brought something 

 over one hundred and fifty dollars. From 

 300 vines this would make 50 cents per 

 vine, or 12 to 13 pounds from each vine. 

 Of course some of them gave twice that 

 amount or more. Please consider that lur- 

 ing all of these 50 years the vines have 

 been clipped back to prevent interference 

 with the apiarist when moving around. 



By the way, I decided years ago that every 

 hive should be so situated that the operator 

 could walk all around it; and I think that 

 most beekeepers nowadays have come to 

 about the same conclusion. After experi- 

 menting with "house-apiaries," I said that 

 I wanted each and every hive to stand out 

 on the ground where it could get the sun- 

 shine, and where the apiarist could walk 

 all around it. You will notice that the 

 vine does not cut off the rays of the sun 

 at all until the weather begins to be pretty 

 hot; and on the approach of the first frosty 

 weather the leaves drop off so the needed 

 sunshine gets through once more. My orig- 

 inal plan of years ago was to have the vines 

 "kill two birds with one stone" — that is, 

 furnish the needed shade and also bear a 

 crop of fruit. 



By the way, it is some trouble to replace 

 the wooden stakes when they rot off — say 

 once in five or ten years. I have been think- 

 ing of a very light stake made of reinforced 

 concrete. But then would come the problem 

 of fastening the cross-pieces securely. 

 Stakes of locust or cypress might be better 

 and cheaper. A. I, Eoot. 



DIGGING BEESWAX FROM A MINE 



A Man Who Struck It Rich on the Pacific Coast 



Eecently while making an exhibit of hon- 

 ey and beekeeping equipment at the North 

 Ashland County Fair, Nova, Ohio, Alvin 

 Crittenden of that place showed me a piece 

 of beeswax, concerning which he gave this 

 interesting history. The wax was furnished 

 him by a close friend, W. H. Calwell, Port- 

 land, Ore. The latter cut it from an orig- 

 inal chunk in 1892. 



The following story is vouched for by the 

 above responsible persons: 



In 1890-92 a man in the vicinity of Ne- 

 halem kept coming to town regularly with 

 all the beeswax he could haul on a burro. 

 When questioned as to his source of supply, 

 lie explained ho Avas a wild bee hunter. The 

 amount he brought was so immense that sus- 

 picion was aroused sufficient to instigate a 

 search. As a result a deposit of many tona 



