658 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



details, it may be said that, in substance, 

 the plan is to invite contributions of 

 honey — good, of course — in quantities of 

 five pounds and upward, to be forwarded 

 in bulk or otherwise to a depot at a 

 given center (probably Liverpool, as the 

 port of departure), where it will be re- 

 ceived by representatives of the British 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, for bottling, 

 package, and transhipment to Chicago. 

 An important point to be borne in mind 

 by gentlemen interested in the project 

 is, that the honey sent need not be the 

 product of the exhibitor's own bees; the 

 only proviso being that the locality in 

 which the honey is gathered must be 

 stated, so that many who would have 

 sent their own honey in a good season 

 will, by purchasing from those less able 

 to give away their produce, be enabled 

 to further the scheme at a very small 

 cost. Further, the name of each donor 

 will appear on his portion of the exhibit. 



Seeing that an opportunity of staging 

 British honey alongside that of other 

 countries, in so prominent a manner as 

 the Chicago Exhibition offers.is not likely 

 to occur again in our generation, we 

 hope that our readers — with whom the 

 matter may be said to entirely rest— will 

 rise to the occasion, and lose no time in 

 making known to the Secretary of the 

 British Bee-Keepers' Association, or to 

 ourselves, the extent to which they are 

 willing to assist. The exhibit will, no 

 doubt, be seen by several millions of 

 persons of all nationalities ; it also goes 

 without saying, that American bee- 

 keepers will welcome a good display 

 from the mother country ; and as all 

 cost and trouble connected with it will, 

 as already stated, be borne by the British 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, we trust to 

 hear without delay from intending 

 donors, in order that an approximate 

 idea may be arrived at with regard to 

 the amount of space to be applied for. 

 Preliminary inquiries may be addressed 

 to this office, or to the Secretary of the 

 British Bee-Keepers' Association, at 

 Kings Langley. 



Mrs. Atcliley is a worker, as well 

 as a great writer on apiarian subjects. 

 She has just bought a typewriter, and 

 you ought to see how well she can 

 " write " with it. It is a pleasure to re- 

 ceive her typewritten letters. Dr. Miller 

 is pretty good at it, but just wait until 

 Mrs. Atchley has had a fair chance to 

 show what a woman ean do. 



Convenient Height for Hives. 



In many apiaries the hives stand near 

 the ground upon a piece of joist 3 or 4 

 inches wide, or upon bricks, one under 

 each corner ; in others, the hives stand 

 a foot high, and, again, hives may be 

 seen 2 or 3 feet high, perched on posts. 

 As far as the bees are concerned, it does 

 not matter whether hives be high or low, 

 although, judging by the habits of the 

 bees, the higher the hive is, the better 

 they would like it. But the bee-keeper 

 is the one to be accommodated by the 

 position of the hive ; he will place it at 

 the height where it will be most conven- 

 ient for him. 



It is extraordinary that the hives in 

 the majority of apiaries are not placed 

 to give the bee-keeper the best advan- 

 tage, owing, perhaps, to the idea held 

 by some bee-keepers, that it is good — 

 essential — to have the bees near the 

 ground. It is laborious enough to work 

 over a hive, often in the sun, often with 

 an ugly colony, even if there be no oc- 

 casion to stoop ; but to go from hive to 

 hive in an apiary, say of 50 colonies, 

 and be obliged to stoop at a right angle, 

 almost over every one, is the most 

 " backaching " work any one ever un- 

 dertook ; indeed, the stooping, the con- 

 tinual strain, is not only wearisome, ter- 

 ribly wearing, but possibly dangerous in 

 its results. 



If a hive be placed in a chair, it will 

 be found that work over and in it is 

 easy, that there is little need of stooping. 

 There is no reason why every hive 

 should not be placed so that the bee- 

 keeper may work over it without stoop- 

 ing. Every hive should have an inde- 

 pendent support or standard unless it is 

 absolutely firm. A bee-keeper placed 10 

 colonies of bees on two long pieces of 

 timber set on their edges. He was 

 obliged to change them, because if in 

 working over colonies he let anything 

 fall upon the pieces of timber, the jar 

 was communicated to every hive and 

 colony standing on them. 



