30 ' MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 



year. It is a plant which is easily scattered in a new territory and 

 is found growing frequently along railroad tracks where it is 

 brought in. In a few years it takes possession of the roadsides for 

 several miles back from the railroad. 



The lack of an autumn harvest is one of the most noticeable 

 things in the State. There are many varieties of golden rod or 

 solidago which serve to keep the colonies rearing brood but are not 

 sufficient to afford stores for the winter. There are some plants 

 which may be cultivated and incidentally increase the honey produc- 

 tion. Among such plants may be cited Wagner's flat pea, vetches 

 of various kinds and parsnips. In general there are few if any 

 plants that can be cultivated for the honey they may produce unless 

 they have some other value also. 



ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD BEE HIVE 



Nearly everyone is familiar with the pictures of the old conical 

 bee hives of straw. These hives consisted of rings of straw bound 

 togeth' : and shaped up like the crown of a hat, measuring perhaps 

 eighteen to twenty inches in diameter, and a little more in height. 

 At one point on the edge a piece was removed for an entrance, and 

 then the whole inverted on a board. Rowed out in this fashion simi- 

 lar hives can be seen today in some parts of Germany and Austria. 

 When one wished to remove the honey a bit of sulphur paper was 

 burned in the entrance, killing the bees^j then the combs of honey 

 v/ere removed. This method in these days would be exceedingly 

 wasteful and very primitive. With the advance of apiculture, sul- 

 phuring is being relegated to the upper shelf and bees have increased 

 greatly in value. In America the old box hive, on the same princi- 

 pal, was in vogue until the middle of the last century. These pion- 

 eer hives measured about fifteen inches square and usually stood 

 about thirty inches high. As in the old straw hives, the entrance 

 was formed by a notch in the edge of the hive which was then in- 

 verted on a bottom board, the latter projecting and forming the 

 alighting board. To facilitate attachment of combs, a couple of 

 sticks were sometimes crossed in the box near the top, upon which 

 the bees could cluster for comb building. 



The hive now commonly used in Germany, Northern Austria, 



nan Switzerland, Italy and Hungary is the one improved by the 



.baron von Berlepsch and known by his name. This hive is arranged 



