PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK 



AT $1.00 PER ANNUM. 



35th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., NOV. 21, 1895. 



No. 4 



CoTfirihuicd firiiclcs^ 



On Important A.i>iariaii Subjects, 



The "North Star" House- Apiary. 



BY "MORTON'S BROTHER-IN-LAW." 



It was a warm, lazy day in September that we got the honey 

 all packed for market, and Mr. Morton was taking a rest and 

 what comfort he could out of Prohibition politics from The 

 Voice, while I was going through the "Old Reliable" for bee- 

 knowledge, when I ran up against this from Editor York's 

 quill : " What new kinks have you learned during the past 

 year '? Suppose you tell all about them." 



" See here, Morton," says I; "what's the matter with 

 sending a photograph and description of the 'North Star'?' 

 There are two kinks in that, anyway — one on each side. Even 

 {/OH are getting to admit that you rather like it, and hint at 

 throwing out your chaff hives in the south yard and building 

 one there." 



" Well," said he, " why don't you write it up and send it 

 yourself?" And he dived into that old paper again. 



Now, Morton is as conservative as E. T. Abbott — and 

 married to his supplies and system of management; will an- 

 swer " I don't know " as often as Dr. Miller, but when I get 

 all mixed up over the contrary statements in the bee-papers, I 

 always ask him, and )ie k7iows. 



The "North Star" is the name of our new house-apiary, 

 built as an experiment last spring; size, 12x16 feet over all. 



The "North Star" House-Apiary — Outside. 



containing 32 colonies, and costing $2 per running foot, or 

 $1 per colony. The floors, siding and roof are of matched 

 pine, fastened together at the corners with bolts — to " knock 

 down " and move if desired — 10 pieces in all. 



For the first 30 inches the building is 9 feet wide; at 

 that height is a shelf for the second row of hives, which ex- 



tnnds outward, making the building lb inches wider from 

 there up to the nof. This arrangenu'ni makes it an easy mat- 

 ter to stand on the floor and work tin' uiiper tier of hives. 



The alighting-boards are 12 inrhcs wide. The windows 

 are covered with wire-cloth, doubled on ilie upper half for a 



Tlte " NorUi Star'' House-Apiaiij — Inside. 



bee-escape. The hives are two inches from the wall, to allow 

 for packing. Morton makes the following points in its favor: 



Speed and ease in working. Everything is right within 

 reach, and you are in the shade. When you open a hive, the 

 few bees that fly, go to the window-escapes, and that ends the 

 song about your ears. Out-of-doors in the yard are several 

 colonies, and with hat and veil on you goat them ; every cross 

 bee in the whole yard is investigating ; and the sun burns the 

 back of you neck, and the sweat runs into your eyes. All bee- 

 keepers know how it is. But go into the house-apiary ; pull 

 off veil and hat — no bees to bother, and in a few minutes you 

 think that working with bees isn't very bad after all. 



In the fall, when an open hive is a direct bid for robbers — 

 there is only one hive open at a time inside the house. I was 

 afraid smoke would be disagreeable in the house-apiary, but 

 you don't notice it, as it goes out of the windows and ventila- 



tOTS. 



In looking to see if a queen is laying, you have to take a 

 comb out into the sunshine to find eggs, which is objection- 

 able, as far as it goes. If the bees winter there as well as in 

 a chaff hive, you can put me down as a house-apiary man 

 after this. 



I started last spring with 25 colonies, increased to 47, 

 and have 1,500 sections of mostly buckwheat honey, and 150 

 pounds of extracted. Dr. Miller, Dr. Brown, and some others, 

 say that one or two colonies are plenty for a beginner. My 

 25 colonies acted in nearly 2.5 different ways, and I know 25 

 times as much as I would with one — and I have a heap more 

 honey for my time. Grotou, N. Y. 



Every Present Subscritier of the Bee Journal 

 should be an agent for it, and get all others possible to sub- 

 scribe for it. See offers on page 754. 



