lays. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



565 



quired for the two, this must be economized as much as possi- 

 ble in order to get the most out of poor pasturage. 



It Is, however, somewhat difficult to manage to get the 

 bees to swarm at the proper time, which is right in the begin- 

 ning or during a honey-flow. If no honey is coming in it will 

 prove a failure ; and I came very near abandoning the method 

 last season before giving it a second trial, as the few I tried 

 swarmed two weeks before the main flow, during which time 

 they gathered no honey. Besides I was not prepared for the 

 trial — did not have a decent hive, nor a single queen's wing 

 dipt. 



This season I was better prepared, and as a comment on 

 Golden's method I will say that hereafter I expect to follow it 

 altogether, when possible, as this season I gave it a second 

 trial and found it entirely satisfactory. 



I cannot give the number of pounds obtained by the above 

 method over those hived in brood-chambers (as I kept no rec- 

 ord), but I am satisfied they gave me one-half greater yield 

 than the others. 



Mr. Deacon says he expects as much pollen in the sections 

 as honey. I wish to say that in not a single section could I 

 detect the least speck of pollen, and the comb and honey was 

 as nice as you could wish for. Mr. D. should try a couple or 

 half dozen colonies next season ; I am sure he will be pleased 

 with the results. 



Mr. Golden says he never saw an egg in a section cage 

 after her five days' confinement. In two cases out of three I 

 */ound them literally filled with eggs — two to four in a cell. 



I do not like the double super. I use two supers of the 

 ordinary size, and next to the cage I remove the one separator 

 on each side of the cage, and replace them the fifth day. If a 

 super holding 35 tall sections is used on a medium swarm, I 

 think one super is sufficient, especially if honey is not coming 

 In very fast. 



A HOME-MADE .SWABM HIVKR. 



As I live in the timber I had to devise something to get 

 down the swarms which clustered high in the trees. For this 

 purpose I found a crotch of wood large enough to spread wide 

 open a large bran sack, which I secured to the outer ends of 

 the crotch, with rings for the other side of the sack to slide 

 up and down the arms of the crotch. When I wanted to catch 

 a swarm I pulled the sack wide open with a string, held it un- 

 der the cluster and shook the bees into it. I then let go of the 

 string and the sack closed on them, when I let them down to 

 the ground by the aid of a heavy twine. 



If this should be of service to any one I shall feel repaid 

 for writing these lines. Lincoln Co., S. Dak. 



Out-Apiaries— How a New Yorker Manages. 



BY W. L. COGGSHALL. 



My first out-yard was establisht In 1878. I have now 

 three, ranging from three to 26 miles from home. I take en- 

 tire charge of them myself from home, with the help of a 

 man and my 13-year-old boy, except during the extracting 

 season when I have more. 



To accomplish this I get everything ready at home when 

 there is no work to be done at the out-yards, then the first 

 trip In the spring sees every yard supplied with their supplies 

 for the season. These include fuel for smokers, and even the 

 matches to light them with. The kegs for the honey are 

 taken direct from the factory to each of the yards just before 

 the season opens. Of course I sometimes make a mistake in 

 estimating the amount of store-room required, but it is an 

 easy matter to equalize them when occasion requires. 



Each yard also has its regular lot of tools and furniture 

 which stays there the year through. This includes the ex- 

 tractor, store-can, uncapping-dish and knife, strainer, and 

 plenty of tin pails for water, etc. There is a supply of nails, 

 screws, racks, wire-cloth, and of course the hammer and 

 screw-driver, two bellows, one automatic smoker, long wisp 

 brooms and a wheelbarrow make up partof the outdoor equip- 

 ment. In fact, each yard has about everything that is likely 

 to be needed there except the bee-veils, which always go with 

 the man who does the work. The spring locks which are on 

 the houses are all alike, so that one key fits them all. 



I always try to get as protected a location as possible 

 when locating a new yard. This is usually In the edge of a 

 piece of woods where a space can be cleared ofl and leveled 

 down sufficiently for the purpose. I always try to get them 

 at least 20 rods from the road, so as to have no trouble with 

 passing teams. 



When I make the lease for the location I include the right 

 of way to and from It, and the right to move off the building, 

 which I put up, when I go away. This building is usually 



12x16 feet, and 8 feet high at the eaves. This will accom- 

 modate from 80 to 100 colonies, which is as many as the loca- 

 tion will support in this section of New York. The bees are 

 all wintered out-of-doors, either in chaff-packt hives or In 

 large packing-boxes holding eight colonies. Those in the 

 chaiJ hives remain packt the year round, but those In the 

 boxes are unpackt at the time of apple-bloom, and are used as 

 single-walled hives during the summer, being packt again in 

 October for the winter. — Canadian Bee Journal. 



Tompkins Co., N. Y. 



Report of the Northern Illinois Convention. 



The annual meeting of the Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' 

 Association was held at Freeport Aug. 16 and 17. The local 

 papers, by mistake, advertised the meeting for Wednesday 

 and Thursday instead of Tuesday and Wednesday, as it should 

 have been, consequently only those who take the American 

 Bee Journal were in attendance. 



In the absence of the President, the convention was called 

 to order by Vice-President Herrick, at 1:30 p.m., Aug. 16. 

 The attendance was rather light, but the time was fully oc- 

 cupied in the discussion of questions, among which were the 

 following : 



QUEEN- BEARING — WINTERING — WAX-RENDERING. 



"Shall we rear our own queens, or shall we buy them of 

 the breeders ?" The general opinion was that the best way 

 was to select the best colony in the yard and rear our own 

 queens. 



" How do you winter your bees?" Mr. France, of Wis- 

 consin, winters his in chaff hives on the summer stands. 

 Nearly all in the vicinity, however, winter them in the cellars, 

 some giving top ventilation and others only bottom ventila- 

 tion. All agreed that the cellar must be well ventilated. 



"What shall we render our wax in? and how?" The 

 larger bee-keepers should render by steam or hot water. The 

 smaller by the use of a sun extractor. Old combs, however, 

 will yield a much larger amount of wax if rendered in water. 



As nearly all present came from other points, and would 

 stop over to the next day's session, it was voted to have an 

 evening session. 



Nearly all present at the afternoon session put in an early 

 appearance, and an animated session was held, and the hour 

 for closing came all too soon. Very much of the Interest was 

 occasioned by the presence of one of Wisconsin's most noted 

 apiarists, Mr. N. E. France, who is State inspector of apiaries 

 for his State, where they have a most excellent law in regard 

 to foul brood among bees, and appropriate an abundance of 

 money for putting the law into effect, inconsequence of which 

 the dread disease will soon be stampt out in that State. This 

 question was discust to quite an extent in both afternoon and 

 evening sessions, and consumed considerable time the second 

 day. 



No ladles graced the sessions on the first day, but Mrs. 

 Stewart — the aged wife of one of Freeport's pioneer bee-keep- 

 ers—sent in a beautiful boquet of gladiolas, which graced the 

 President's desk, and was highly appreciated by all. 



The second day's session began promptly at 9:30 a.m., 

 with Vice-President Herrick in the chair. A large number of 

 questions were in the box, and kept the meeting going at a 

 lively pace, a few of which were as follows : 



FOUL BROOD — JOINING THE UNION. 



" Are the bee-keepers of Northern Illinois interested in 

 the subject of foul brood ? Do they want any laws on this 

 subject, as a protection to their business?" This brought out 

 a lively discussion, but was finally deferred till the afternooD 

 session. 



" What good can we expect by Joining the Bee-Keepers' 

 Union ?" The objects of the United States Bee-Keepers' 

 Union were ably set forth by Mr. France. Among others, the 

 suppression of dishonest honey commission men, and the sup- 

 pression of the sale and manufacture of adulterated honey. 

 All agreed that It was a good thlnir, and all it needed was a 

 large membership and a full treasury with which to prosecute 



