

39th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL, SEPTEMBER 28. 1899, 



No, 39. 



The Home Bee-Yard— Quadruple Hives. 



BY K. FRANCE. 



THIS picture shows a part of our home yard of Lang- 

 stroth hives, made to hold four colonies each. We work 



them for extracted honey, 8 frames in a set, 3 tiers 

 high, making 24 Langstroth frames to each colony. We 

 could use tliem higher if we wanted to. but we think 3 is 

 about right. 



How do we manage those hives? I will commence in 

 the spring of the year. When fruit-trees and dandelions 

 are in blossom we set our hive-tent over one of the hives, 

 put all the brood into the bottom story, honey into the sec- 

 ond story, empty combs up into the third story, and clip the 

 queen. If there is more brood than enough to fill the bot- 

 tom story, we give it to any colony that lacks enough 

 brood to fill the lower part (8 frames). We aim to have 

 every colony have 8 brood-combs at this time of the year, 

 and we usually find enough brood in the yard to give all 

 eight brood -combs, and have 

 some to make a few new colo- 

 nies, after going over the yard in 

 this way. 



We don't do anything more 

 until we find they are getting 

 more than a living. If there is 

 clover, about June IS we go over 

 the bees again, see that all have 

 8 brood-combs, and make new 

 colonies with the surplus brood- 

 combs. 



Now, if we have a good flow 

 of honey from clover, we will 

 soon commence to extract, keep- 

 ing the brood in the lower story, 

 and extracting from the two up- 

 per ones. We watch the honey- 

 sources closely, and aim to have 

 the upper set of combs full at the 

 close of the basswood honey-flow. 



I used to take oft' the third 

 stories in September or first of 

 October, and see that the second 

 story was full of honey, but the 

 last two j-ears I have left the 

 third stories on full of honey, and 

 find the bees have wintered splen- 

 didly in that way. They came 

 thru the winter strong, and no 

 spring feeding needed to be done. 



If you want to winter bees out-of-doors, give them a 

 large hive, and a good deal too much honey is just enough. 

 If the bees don't use up all the honej' you will get it when 

 you begin to extract. 



We use barrels to store our honey in. They are much 

 the best, easier to handle, and safer. Grant Co., Wis. 



The Honey-Bees Do Not Injure Graoes. 



BY C. P. D.iD.'i.NT. 



ANOTHER heavy grape crop is now on the vines in this 

 vicinity, and yet we do not hear the usual complaint 

 about bees eating grapes. It looks as if the unedu- 

 cated grape-growers had at last come to the conclusion that 

 the bee-keepers are right when they assert that bees can- 

 not puncture sound grapes. But such is surely not the 

 case, and the silence of the grape-growers comes from the 

 fact that no damage is being done this year, for the very 

 simple reason that, in this vicinity at least, the weather has 

 been so dry that the grapes are not bursting, and altho the 

 honey crop is short in the uplands, the bees have no occa- 

 sion to annoy the horticulturist, for there are no damaged 

 grapes for them to work on. Tlie birds themselves, hav- 

 ing a great abundance of wild cherries, of which they are 

 very fond, do not carrj' on their usual depredations in the 

 vineyard. It is only when the grapes are being pickt and 



Quad III pU- Hii'cs in J\fr. Frame's Home Bee-Yard. 



