i'HE AMERICAJSf BEE JOURNAL. 



245 



It would depend upon your man- 

 agement, as to whether you will get 

 any more honey. With a good colony 

 I have found that a section-case the 

 right size for a lO-frame Langstroth 

 hive will be filled as quick as a smaller 

 one the proper size for an S frame 

 hive, and the tiering-up will go on all 

 the same. Of course the wider cases 

 give a larger yield, because they hold 

 more sections than do the narrow 

 ones. The swarms are not always 

 larger because they come from a 

 larger hive. It is a well known fact 

 that small hives encourage swarm- 

 ing. The 10-frame hive is best for 

 this climate, as bees suffer less in the 

 heated season, and we can contract 

 them to suit the size of the colony at 

 other times.— G. VV. Demaree. 



You will probably get larger swarms 

 in many instances ; in others not. 

 You will also get more honey per 

 colony in many instances ; in others 

 not. With a large brood-nest there is 

 a liability of having considerable 

 honey stored in the brood-nest, that 

 might more profitably have been 

 stored in the supers. Successful bee- 

 keeping does not necessarily depend 

 upon large i/ieids.— W.Z.Hutchinson. 



The difference is so slight that it 

 would not pay to change. You might 

 bave the new hives to hold 10 frames, 

 if so desired.— The Editor. 



For tue Ajnencaa Bee JoumaL 



A Poetical Critipe, 



WM. P. CLARKE. 



Dear slater Loo, that poetry [page 197] 



Which tells your tale of woe, 

 CoDtaiDs some words that eeem to me 



To reud malapropos. 



You want a better rhyme for "* hum "— 



'■ Sun " is not just the thlnu ; 

 A word like " plum." or " drum." or " mum." 



The proper sound would brin^. 



*' Mum " is the word, so please to write : 



"The bees' melodious hum, 

 Was hushed, 'till near the noon-tide's height. 



They kept no lunger mum." 



•' Sublime" is not well matched by "' shrine." 



"Time " i« a better rhyme. 

 Thpy must barrnunious notes combine 



Who would PuFDHBSus cUmb. 



*' Arcadian haunts that poets love. 



Their mystic charms combine. 

 To form a beautlous arch above 



An apiarian shrine." 



As " sell " and " veil " don't harmonize. 



You want s mat© for veil. 

 Therefore, suppose the rhymester tries 



•* Rail." '• pail." " fail." " tale." or " sale." 



Then read, " oh ! oh I her comrade said. 



My honey should bring sale 

 Four times ac high— then sudden fled. 



• A bee's got in my veil !* " 



If you your poetry would "sell." 



Like honpy. it must be 

 Neatly scaled over, finished we! I. 



And "fixed up to aT." 

 <;uelph, Ont. 



(^oxictspouAtnct. 



Leaflet No. 2, eotitled " Alslke Clover 

 for Pasturajre and Hay,'* is now ready for 

 delivery. This should be scattered into 

 every neighborhood. In order to induce 

 farmers to plant Alsike, that the bees may 

 have the advantage of it for pasturage. We 

 send theiu by mall 50 copies for .30 cents ; 

 100 for 50 cents ; 500 for $2.25— all post- 

 paid. It will pay bee-keepers to scatter 

 these Leaflets, even if 9 out of 10 avail 

 nothing. If ten farmers out of a hundred 

 plant Alsike in any neighborhood, the bees 

 will reap a very substantial reward. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center of the State named ; 

 6 north of the center; 9 south; O east; 

 K3 west; and thisc5 northeast; "o northwest: 

 t>» southeast; and P southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For tbe American Bee Jonmal. 



Hoflse for Keepini Comli Honey. 



G. M. DOOLITTLB. 



I have been requested to give the 

 readers of the Abierican Bee Jour- 

 nal an article on " how to build, and 

 the management of, a honey-house ; 

 i. e., a building in which to store sur- 

 plus comb honey as fast as taken 

 from the hives, in order to keep it in 

 good condition, etc." This is a ques- 

 tion of great importance to every 

 producer of comb honey, and one that 

 I feel incompetent to answer ; but 

 having had a little experience along 

 that line, I will touch on that experi- 

 ence, and with it tell how I should 

 build such a house for myself. 



That honey often so deteriorates 

 after being taken from the hive, that 

 it is almost worthless, no matter how 

 nice it is when harvested, shows the 

 importance of this question, and if 

 we can by any means provide a sure 

 way, which is simple enough to be 

 successful in the hands of the average 

 bee-keeper, so as to keep our honey 

 gaining in richness of flavor and 

 greater density of body, as it does 

 when left on the hive, less the travel 

 stain of the bees, we shall have taken 

 long strides toward the solving of how 

 to create a demand forour production. 



Still further, if we could simplify 

 and reduce the plan so as to meet the 

 wants of every consumer of honey, 

 that they, too, could have every ounce 

 of honey in their possession growing 

 better with each week and month 

 which passed away, instead of retro- 

 grading, we would hear less of low 

 prices and over-production. 



Put the question to the consumer of 

 honey : What shall we do with honey 

 to preserve its present condition, or 

 make it a little better if possible V 

 Nine out of ten will tell you that they 

 keep it in the cellar, a greater mistake 

 than which could not well be made. 

 If Mr. Newman would get up a little 

 pamphlet on •' Where to keep honey," 

 to go with his other excellent and in- 

 structive little books, to be distributed 

 among the public, and for bee-keepers 

 to hand to every one to whom they 

 sold a pound of honey, I have no 

 doubt but that it would increase the 

 consumption of honey one-fourth at 

 least, providing they (the consumers) 

 will believinglti read it. It matters 

 not how much pains the apiarist may 

 take to get his honey in nice shape 

 for the consumer, if the consumer 

 places it in a damp, cool cellar for two 

 weeks before it is eaten. During that 

 time the nice, good-flavored, well- 

 ripened honey has changed to thin. 



unripe honey, taking the flavor of the 

 cellar or damp room, so as to be un- 

 satisfactory to the taste, and by the 

 end of a month it has so deteriorated 

 as to be nearly unpalatable. All 

 should know, whether apiarist or 

 consumer, that a dry, airy, warm 

 room is the only proper place to keep 

 honey. But I have digressed. 



When I first began to have honey I 

 kept it in a pantry on shelves, the 



gantry being near the kitchen stove, 

 [ere it always kept well, for the piles 

 were not dense enough to exclude the 

 warm, dry air from permeating the 

 whole. Later, as larger crops were 

 obtained, I kept it in a room on the 

 north side of the house. Here the 

 centre and back part of the pile 

 " sweat" or deteriorated badly, and I 

 began looking about for the cause. 

 I soon found it in looking back over 

 the old pantry, and visitmg Mr. Bet- 

 singer, who at that time kept his 

 honey in a little outside house about 

 6 feet square, which was painted dark, 

 and had on it a rusty tin roof, so as to 

 " draw the heat," as it is termed. In 

 putting the two together I built my 

 present honey- room in my shop which 

 I have often described in the bee- 

 papers. 



I had thought myself perfectly 

 suited with this, until the past fall 

 when we had many damp, foggy, 

 rainy days in succession, during 

 which the sun did not shine to warm 

 up the room in the least, nor could 

 the windows be raised to allow a cir- 

 culation of air, only to make matters 

 worse. Seeing that something must 

 be done, as the honey was beginning 

 to show signs of " sweating," I 

 brought into use an oil-stove, and 

 with it I soon had the room warmed 

 to 9{P, which made it all right again, 

 except a few sections of honey near 

 the bottom and sides of the room 

 where there was a poor circulation of 

 air. 



There are some points greatly in 

 favor of a honey room in a shop like 

 mine, such as having all under the 

 same roof, so that the work of storing, 

 crating and preparing for market can 

 all be conducted with little labor ; 

 but, on the whole, I think there are 

 more points, considering the ques- 

 tion in its fullest extent, in favor of 

 the honey -house being a separate 

 building, but only a few feet away 

 from the shop or general work room ; 

 so that were I to build again, I would 

 not have the honey-house connected 

 with the shop on account of its lack 

 of exposure to the rays of the sun, im- 

 perfect ventilation, etc. My ideas 

 now of such a house for 100 colonies 

 of bees, are as follows : 



Within 4 feet of the shop or work- 

 room, at the south side, and even 

 with the west end, I would build a 

 house SxlO feet square, and 8 feet 

 high. This I would cover with cove 

 ceiling to be painted black or dark 

 red. For a roof I would use J:|^-inch 

 lumber covered with sheet-iron, and 

 painted at the joints to prevent leak- 

 ing, but not painted elsewhere, for 

 sheet-iron will get hot in the rays of 

 the sun beyond paint of any color. 

 Near the bottom and on the east, 

 south and west sides I would have 



