106 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



as sides to the hive, and hold the 

 frames in place, and the entire brood- 

 chamber is made solid by two bolts, 

 which pass through the ends of the 

 side-boards and by the ends of the 

 frames both front and rear, and by a 

 few turns of the thumb-nut the 

 brood-nest is made solid as a block, 

 so that it can be easily and quickly 

 reversed at one motion, and in less 

 than ten seconds. A slatted honey- 

 board, such as I have used the past 

 eight years is placed over the frames 

 for the sections to rest on, and to 

 keep the bees from fastening the top 

 of the frames and sections together. 



The section-case is a new device 

 and unlike any other in use so far as 

 we know. There is no bottom or 

 top to it. It is similar in principle 

 and construction to the brood-cham- 

 ber, as it has sides through which a 

 bolt passes and which holds the sec- 

 tions firmly in place, and they are as 

 easily and quickly reversed as the 

 brood-chamber. The whole arrange- 

 ment is exceedingly simple, and all 

 hard or difficult work to remove sec- 

 tions from the case is done away with. 



By using this section-case "tiering 

 up" may be practised to an unlimited 

 extent. The sections are protected 

 from the weather by a topboard. 

 The above is merely a description of 

 the inside of the hive. If a colony 

 is to be wintered on the summer 

 stand in one of these hives, an outer 

 case must be made two inches 

 larger all around than the brood- 

 chamber, so that chaff may be used. 



I will give some of the advantages 

 this hive has over those in use. 



1. It has closed end frames, which 

 some of our prominent apiarists claim 

 as one of the best features in any 

 hive. Any particular frame can be 

 removed from the brood-chamber 

 without disturbing those adjoining. 



2. Its whole weight complete, sec- 

 tion case and brood-chamber, is less 

 than 15 lbs. 



3. It requires less lumber and la- 

 bor to construct one than it does for 



any hive in use, and consequently 

 costs less than any hive extant. 



4. There is none in use so well 

 adapted for a two-story hive as this 

 one, as two sets of brood frames 

 could be used on one bottom-board 

 or the frames may be "tiered up" 

 several stories. 



5. Anywhere from four to an un- 

 limited number of sections can be 

 placed on the hive at one time. 



This hive and no other will revo- 

 lutionize beekeeping, and we only 

 claim that it is better than the stand- 

 ard Langstroth in that it costs less, 

 and the brood-chamber and combs 

 are easily and quickly reversed. 



The Bay State hive is in all re- 

 spects strictly a simplicity hive, as 

 there are no clap-trap arrangements 

 about it, and it is not possible to 

 construct one more simple and cheap- 

 ly, and still retain so many essential 

 features. 



PVen/iam, Afass. 



For the American Apiculturist . 



SIX YEARS OF BEEKEEP- 

 ING IN SOUTHERN CAL- 

 IFORNIA. 



By T. F. Arundell. 



The past diastrpus season in south- 

 ern California leads one to doubt 

 the correctness of the prevailing im- 

 pression that it is the " Eldorado" 

 of American beekeepers ; and it is 

 undoubtedly true that a larger pro- 

 portion of our population have tried 

 and abandoned beekeeping than 

 in any other country on the globe. 



The results of a honey season de- 

 pend ahnost solely upon the amount 

 of rainfall during the previous win- 

 ter and spring, the quantity varying 

 from two to fifty inches annually. 



The average rainfall each winter is 

 about ten inches (usually no rain 

 falls between April and November), 

 and as it takes at least over fourteen 



