THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



175 



neath the grass in the valleys, fur- 

 nish rich food for the bees. The 

 Swiss, therefore, use large bee bas- 

 kets made of straw. These straw 

 baskets measure, on an average, 

 about three feet in height, and are 

 two and a half feet wide. There is 

 no cover on the top, only a large 

 stopple. They have no bottom- 

 board, the lower edge ending with 

 a straw ring, the entrance being 

 large enough to admit three fingers 

 comfortably. These straw baskets 

 must be made well and with care 

 that they do not give way to the 

 weight of the honey, and retain 

 their form. They have no cross- 

 bars inside, on which the combs 

 may hang, so that the operator may 

 cut them easily and to the top.^ In 

 removing the honey, which does 

 not take place before Michaelmas 

 (Sept. 29) the operation is as fol- 

 lows : — they turn the hives bottom 

 up, drive the bees to one side with 

 tobacco-smoke blown from a short 

 pipe, and remove one-half the 

 combs, if the store of honey will ad- 

 mit, which may be determined by 

 the weight of the stock. One-half 

 the combs from such a hive, when 

 well filled with honey, weighs about 

 forty pounds. The space thus left 

 vacant should now be filled again 

 for the winter, although it will do 

 no harm if the bees do not entire- 

 ly rebuild it, as there is generally 

 a large quantity of bees, and the 



1 That the heavy houey combs do not break 

 oftener must be that the bees fasten them very 

 strongly with cement and bee-glue, which they 

 frequently lind tliere. In our country, we 

 should be obliged to provide such large straw 

 hives with bars. Our wax must be much 

 cleaner than theirs, as the beeswax produced 

 in Switzerland contains more rosin. 



store of honey will be sufficient for 

 them to winter on. 



The following season the honey 

 is taken from the other half of the 

 basket in the same way ; by this 

 method the comb in the hive is 

 nearly all renewed every two years, 

 and this without resorting to the 

 cruel and unnecessary slaughter of 

 the poor and innocent bees, a prac- 

 tice too often adopted in many 

 countries where bees are kept. 



A well-known practical beemas- 

 ter from Switzerland, generally 

 known there as the bee-king, an 

 old, honest Switzer, who came to 

 Hamburg this spring, and there 

 very skilfully exhibited his method 

 of handling the bees, assured us, 

 that he had just such straw baskets 

 containing colonies which had occu- 

 pied them uninteiTupted for forty 

 years since hiving the first swarm. 

 I was very glad to learn that this 

 well-known bee father, who has sev- 

 eral thousand colonies under his 

 care in Switzerland, practises the 

 same methods as I do, which render 

 my hives so convenient that I 

 hardly think they could be im- 

 proved upon. These principles are 

 as follows : 



1. Keep large and populous 

 stocks. 



Only with such can j'ou gain an 

 actual profit, as will presently be 

 shown. Only such give the queen 

 the necessary amount of brood room 

 and decrease the liability of the 

 swarming fever, and such are proof 

 against the evils which result from 

 keeping weak stocks. My hives 

 are well adapted to the purpose as 

 every reader will understand, and 



