1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1367 



Haviug a ventilated air-chamber under 

 each hive we will next proceed to carry them 

 into the cellar and tier them up one above 

 the other as high as we can reach comfort- 

 ably. This job is quickly done, and, with a 

 perfectly dry cellar, with a temperature rang- 

 ing between 40 and 45°, with plenty of ven- 

 tilation, we have every reason to expect eve- 

 ry colony to come out in the spring in a per- 

 fectly healthy condi- 

 tion, especially since 

 their winter stores 

 are composed largely 

 of sugar syrup, as 

 bees endure long con- 

 finement much better 

 when wintei'ed on 

 stores of sugar syrup 

 than with stores of 

 honey. However, 

 bees that are winter- 

 ed in the cellar 

 should have at least 

 one Hight during Feb- 

 ruary if the weather 

 is suitable. With our 

 bees all in their win- 

 ter quarters our sea- 

 son's work with them 

 is ended, and it is 

 with a certain de- 

 gree of satisfaction 

 that we look back- 

 ward over the past 

 season's wox'k in the 

 apiai'y, knowing that 

 we have done the 

 very best we could; 

 and in closing our 

 series of articles on 

 the subject of comb- 

 honey production 

 and swarm control 

 we will say that, 

 while we perhaps de- 

 rive moi'e real plea- 

 sure from the pursuit 

 of bee-keeping than 

 from any other 

 branch of rural in- 

 dustry, yet we have 

 to confess that profit 

 has been the actuat- 

 ing principle with us; 

 and how to obtain 

 the greatest possible 

 amount of profit with 

 the least possible ex- 

 pense has been our 

 study for years. Our 

 motto has been, not 

 how can we get the 

 largest individual 

 yield per colony fx'om 



a few colonies of bees by expending a great 

 amount of labor, but at how little expense 

 for labor and capital can we exhaust the hon- 

 ey resources of our location? This is the 

 paramount issue that should appeal to the 

 judgment of every honey-producer of to-day. 

 At the present time labor cuts a greater fig- 



ure in the cost of honey-production than cap- 

 ital, therefore every labor-saving method re- 

 duces the cost of honey- production and mer- 

 its the careful consideration of every produc- 

 er of honey. 



Our improved methods of hive manipula- 

 tion not only redui'e the cost of honey-pro- 

 duction fully a half, but they enable the api- 

 arist to keep twice as many bees with the 





ALFILARELA IN ARIZONA. 



same amount of labor expended, thus dou- 

 bling his income from his bees. 



Regarding the hive-lifting device, too much 

 can not be said in favor of this labor-saving 

 invention, as it does away with the disagree- 

 able backaching work of lifting hives, and 

 hives can be handled more rapidly than by 



