1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1131 



I also have an 18-ft. pole with a hook on 

 the end: and if Ijees persist in going back 

 to the limb of the tree. I hook the pole over 

 the limb and keep shaking until all come 

 down and go into the hive with the swarm. 

 I like this arrangement better than any oth- 

 er I have ever seen. S. G. Kilgc^ke. 



London, Ohio. 



THE ALEXANDER PLAN OF BUILDING UP 

 WEAK COLONIES. 



I wish to ask a question concerning the 

 Alexander plan of setting weak colonies of 

 bees over strong ones with a zinc excluder 

 l)etween. as spoken of l)y Q. A. Pearce. page 

 .581. Does it require a "zinc queen-excluder 

 the full size of the hive, or will, say, a one- 

 third size of hive do with a wood frame 

 around it? Ira Shockey. 



Long, W. Va. 



[[The smaller pieces of zinc will pro))al3ly 

 do just as well. — Ed.] 



JTTS^. 



AYEARSWORK 



IN AN 



OUT APIARY 



G.M.DOOLITTLE 



CHAPTER XII. 



It is now the 17th day of Novemlier: and 

 as there has been no storm for the past five 

 days the bee-hives are dry and nice for cel- 

 laring. Then the mercury stands at 40, 

 which allows of taking the hives from the 

 stands without any prying up, and thus dis- 

 turbing the bees, as always is the case when 

 the hives are frozen down, which will gene- 

 rally be the case if they are left out very late 

 in the season. So I again call my partner of 

 the home yard and in the queen-rearing bus- 

 iness (he has no interest in the out-apiary) 

 into service, as I did in setting out, as two 

 can do the work of carrying the bees to and 

 from the cellar much more easily than one, 

 especially where there ai'e cellar stairs to 

 climb and go down, as is the case at this out- 

 apiary. After seeing that the platforms in 

 the cellar, on which the hives are to be piled, 

 are all safe and in readiness, we go to No. 

 10 on row 3 to commence. And why do we 

 commence there? Because we set the hives 

 in the cellar in rotation, so that they may be 

 set out in the same way. In this way hive 

 No. 1, on row 1, is the last one to go in, and 

 consequently the first one to l)e set out in the 

 spring. If the reader will turn back to visit 

 four he will see why it is always best to com- 

 mence all work with the bees (but this set- 

 ting in the cellar) at No. 1. row 1. And in 

 no part of our work is this more true than 

 in setting out in the .spring, and the conse- 

 quent first flight of the bees, as it puts each 

 hive on the stand it occupied the year be- 

 fore, in such a wav that there is little or no 



mixing of bees, anil the cari'iers do not come 

 in range of the flight of the bees from any 

 hive, when they are going out in a rush for 

 their first spring flight: nor are any of the 

 later-carried-out colonies set down in front 

 of another which is now in full flight. 



If there is any thing which causes bees 

 great annoyance, outside of careless manip- 

 ulation, it is the putting of something right 

 in line of their flight as they go to and from 

 the entrances of their hives. It is well to be 

 always on the alert in avoiding this, as miK^h 

 as possible, so we begin at hive No. 10 on 

 row 3. 



While Mr. Clark adjusts the carrying-rope 

 under the cleats to the hive I carefully re- 

 move the galvanized entrance-protector from 

 the front, thus exposing the whole mouse- 

 guard, and then take hold of "my side"' of 

 the rope. We now start for the cellar, the 

 hive swinging by the rope Ijetween us. and 

 in this way the Ijees scarcely know that they 

 are lieing moved. Arriving in the cellar, 

 the hive is put on the flrst platform in the 

 corner of the same, with the entrance toward 

 the wall, and as close up to it as the three- 

 inch projection of the bottom-lx)ard will al- 

 low, this being done to exclude the light 

 from the entrance of the hive, as much as 

 possible, as the farmer opens the doors and 

 windows, and uses his cellar just the same 

 in every way as he did before I had an ovit- 

 apiary on his premises, no restrictions being 

 placed upon him other than his vegetables 

 and cellar require. 



No. 9, on row 3, is next brought in and set 

 on No. 10, when the same is done with No. 

 8, thus making each pile of hives three hives 

 high, which is as high as heavy hives can be 

 piled with any comfort. No. 7 is set on the 

 njext platform, immediately beside No. 10, 

 but not so as to touch it: for did the piles 

 touch, or were they all on one platf(jrm. then 

 any jar on one hive would arouse all the vxA- 

 onies in the cellar, which is to Ije avoided if 

 we would meet with the best success. By 

 piling them as here given the most that can 

 be aroused by the hitting, or any thing fall- 

 ing on one hive, will be three colonies. No. 

 6 is set on No. 7. and so on till all are in, 

 when the work for the twelfth visit, and the 

 last one for the year, is ilone. after picking 

 up and storing away the galvanized en- 

 trances and giving a general glance over 

 things to see that all is left in good shape for 

 winter. 



One or two of these visits might possibly 

 be combined so as to make the whole num- 

 l)er for the year only ten: but I dou lit wheth- 

 er this would be good economy in the end. 

 Just at present there seems to be a great de- 

 sire on the part of some to make the visits 

 to the out-apiary just as few as possible; 

 which, undoubtedly, is the thing to do where 

 a large numlier of colonies are to be worked 

 in each out-apiary: but I would not consider 

 it a wise thing to carry this to such an ex- 

 tent that a consequent decrease in the pros- 

 pects of our success would be the result. 

 There is such a thing as teiug penny wise 

 and pound foolish. 



