18 



THE AMERICAN APICVLTURIST. 



kill the bees drawn forih by the warmth 

 within and sunshine without. If we 

 could by lowering the temperature with- 

 in deceive the bees as to the state of 

 affairs without at such times, it would, I 

 am sure, pay. 1 would not be wooden 

 and confine myself to a steady 70°, no 

 matter what the conditions outside. I 

 shall expect something valuable as the 

 result of the building of your house 

 apiary. 



The story "that might have hap- 

 pened," related on page 175, is entirely 

 within the bounds of pos^^ibility. 'An 

 instance of the sort was related to me 

 recently while on my visit in Illinois, by 

 an aged relative. It must be true, you 

 know, because — well, because it was a 

 relative of mine who told it ! He was 

 engaged in teaming and had to pass a 

 certain tree twice daily. On the down 

 trip he noticed some bees flying around a 

 hole some ten or twelve feet above the 

 ground, and feeling that he had a bee 

 tree immediately cut his initials in it 

 and went on. On the return trip in the 

 afternoon he was surprised to see a 

 neighboring farmer beekeeper gazing 

 intently at that tree, the trunk of which 

 about the hole was covered with bees, 

 and was told by the farmer that he had 

 just followed a swarm from his bees 

 into that tree. Now the question arose 

 who owned the bees, the man who had 

 first marked the bee tree in which there 

 was now a swarm, or the one who had 

 followed them from the parent hive. I 

 think the makers of the laws never con- 

 templated just such a state of affairs. 

 And now in conclusion let me tell you 

 not to forget to tell us all about how the 

 house apiary works, its failures as well 

 successes. 

 Agr. Coll., Mich. J. H. Larrabee. 

 Bro. Larrabee hardly understands our 

 house apiary as described in the l^e- 

 cember Apl So far as the entrance 

 holes are concerned, will say that one- 

 inch opening will do for winter. In the 

 spring if more room is needed, more 

 holes can be made. There are a good 

 many practical suggestions in Bro. L.'s 



article. Some of them will be adopted 

 and applied to our present house api- 

 ary. 



The bees should, in my opinion, prop- 

 erly belong to the man wdio followed 

 and jaw them enter the tree. The bees 

 the '-relative" saw were merely scouts, 

 looking for a home for the swarm to oc- 

 cupy. — Ed ] 



IIOUSE-AITARIES. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF HOUSE-APIARIES — 

 WILL BEEKEEPERS ADOPr 'ITIEM? 



House apiaries, have not had that 

 consideration given them in days past, 

 which they deserve, and for that reason, 

 I am pleased to see that some interest- 

 ing discussion is being carried on in re- 

 gard to the matter. Serious objections 

 have been made to bee houses, in the 

 past, but these objections have in my 

 opinion arisen not because such houses 

 were "no good" in themselves, but that 

 their arrangement and possibilities were 

 not fairly understood. The day has 

 gone by, when it will be strongly urged 

 that bees can be wintered as well and 

 safely without, as with some protection ; 

 and the time has already arrived, when 

 the sure road to success as an apiarist 

 can only be found in paying the closest 

 and strictest attention to economy both 

 in money and time. Bees can be, and 

 are wintered safely on summer stands 

 in single-walled hives," but the expense 

 of so doing, is far greater than in well 

 protected hives. 



Such being the case, the question at 

 once arises, whether the extra expense 

 caused by properly protecting, is great- 

 er or less than the larger amount of 

 honey required to carry an unprotected 

 colony through? This question has 

 been answered so often, in favor of the 

 protected hive, irrespective of the ques- 

 tion of greater or less liability ofloss of 

 bees, that I need devote no time to 

 discussing it. We are now led to dis- 

 cuss the still more important question, 

 of whether the expense of bee houses; 

 or house apiaries, is or is not economy 

 as compared with double- walled, chaff, 



