THE APIARY. 23^1 



%i the rate of 2,000 daily when the season is good and stores abundant. The 

 centrifugal machine is used for extracting honey without destroying the 

 comb. The caps with which the bees seal up each cell of honey are shccd 

 off with a very thin-bladed knife of simple form, and the frames are set in 

 the metal basket of the inside of the machine. Then, by turning the handle, 

 the honey is thrown out and runs down the sides of the machine, from which 

 it is drawn by a tap, leaving the comb rmdamaged and ready to be returned 

 to the hives for the bees to tUl over and over again with nectar. In this way 

 al>8olutely pure honey is got without any other substance whatever, and 

 without injuring the bees or annoying them. The queen cage, as shown in 

 ill'Astration, is drawn to scale, as is the queen or mother bee seen inside. 



Tlie Culture of BucU-wIieat for Bees. — Prof. Cook gives the following 

 on this subject: 



Buckwheat is valuable as a honey plant, as it can be made to bloom when 

 there would otherwise be a dearth of flowers. We have found in our exj^ri- 

 mental beds that the Silver Hull variety has more flowers in the panicles, 

 and yields more to the acre. The honey is dark, but is preferred to all other 

 kinds by some people. It blooms from four to six weeks after sowing. 



It will do fairly well on any soil, but thrives best on a rich soil. It should 

 be sown broadcast, three pecks to the acre. It is usually sown here late in 

 July, but for bees it had better be sown early in June. Then it will bloom 

 about the middle of July, when bloom is usually absent, and will, I think, 

 j-ield just as well; though I judge simply from observing small plots. The 

 cultivation before sowing should be deep and thorough. 



\Mien ripe it is cut and allowed to he on the ground to dry. When dry it 

 is bound and drawn to the barn, where it may be threshed at once, if it is 

 desirable to do so. In fact, the cultivation, scil and harvesting of buckwheat 

 are much the same as that given to oats. 



It is safe in estimating that each acre of buckwheat sown within one and 

 one-half miles of an apiary is worth $100. 



Buckwheat, like other plants, is capricious. Some seasons it j-ields bat 

 httle honey. It is not a favorite of bees; at least I have known bees to leave 

 it for other plants. Perhaps it contained no nectar at the time. 



"Will Bee Keeping Pay I — Of course it will. There is nothing that 

 either men or women can engage in that wiU pay anywhere as well as bee 

 culture; and there is nothing so well adapted for the farmers' sons and 

 daughters as bee keeping, and if they would take hold of four or five 

 colonies of Italian bees they never would want for a few dimes to go to a 

 strawberry festival, or perhaps they might want to go to that world-renowned 

 exposition that alwaj^s visits every village about the July days, and if they 

 have been good, industrious boys and girls, and will have looked after bees, 

 they \>-ill have the satisfaction of having their own money, and will not liave 

 to ask father for the money when he is so pushed with his crops and so short 

 of money to pay his hands. But to make the keeping of bees a success, you 

 must go into it understandingly, and if you have not already the bees on 

 hand, you will have to purchase a few colonies, and be sure to get Itahaus. 

 If they are not in a movable comb they will have to be transferred. You 

 will then have them in a hive that you have complete control over, even to 

 examine every comb and seeing every bee or queen in the hive. 



Clipping the Queen's AVing. — The clipping of the queen's wing hav- 

 ing become a matter of acknowledged ^ooJ policy, as we knew it would, th^ 



