THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



101 



Cupboards for bee hives are an abomina- 

 tiou, but cupboards for bee implements are 

 a biessii g. Hang a good sized, weather- 

 proof one against the trunk of a tree 

 near the middle of the apiary. In it keep 

 your smoker, all ready loaded, a tin box of 

 matches, a sponge, a box of assorted, wire 

 uails, a liammer, a sharp chisel, a ball of 

 strmg, a few queen cages, an extra bee brush, 

 a set of iron-clad, anti-sting, automatic, 

 self-fastening gloves, i.e., a bottle of alcohol 

 in which is disolved a little propolis. Rub 

 some of this over the hands and wrists, and 

 then you may thrash around as much as you 

 please, with the Grossest colony, and seldom 

 get a sting, unless you pinch a bee. It var- 

 nishes the skin and at the same time scents 

 it with an odor common to all the hives. 

 Soap and water will wash it ofif readily. Bee 

 stings trouble me very little, yet it is solid 

 comfort to work without expecting one. 



A "ditty box" is indispeusible. In sliape 

 it is very much like a blacksmith's tool box. 

 One end contains some smoker fuel, the 

 other, in sockets made for them, a screw 

 driver, a small '"oiler " of kerosene, a small 

 tin box of ma.ches, a bee brush, a piece of 

 old saw blade for scratching cappings over 

 honey for feeding, stimulating, etc., a few 

 pieces of sections lor memoranda, a pencil 

 and a narrow bladed knife. The upright, 

 center piece of the "ditty box" has a wide 

 top to it and it makes a very comfortable 

 seat. 



Have one or two buckets of water standing 

 al)out the apiary : they are handy to cool off 

 a colony when it gets " real riled up." They 

 are handy when you wish to sponge up any 

 honey that may become daubed around the 

 hives. 



A solar wax extractor in a handy spot is 

 equal to a " drop a nickel in the slot " ma- 

 chine for catching pennies in the shape of 

 scraps of wax. If the apiary is large, have 

 two. 



In every hive I keep a good supply of the 

 best sting remedy the world contains. \\'hen 

 stung, drop a little on the spot ; it soothes 

 the pain, lessens or stops the swelling and 

 obliterates the odor. After tryiug every 

 other known and unknown remedy, I acci- 

 dentally discovered this most wonderful 

 panacea. It is honey. 



Many of the toregoing comforts are the 

 inventions of others picked up here and 

 there. All have been triid and found (juod. 



Pkovidknce, R. I. May 20, 1890. 



Extracting During the Honey Flow ; Storify- 

 ing Uncapped Honey is "All Theoi-y ; " 

 Bee Escapes of No Value in the Ex- 

 tracting Season ; The Stanley 

 Extractor a G-od One, but 

 it Turns Hard. 



CWr S the methods employed to olitain 

 " ^) both comb and extracted honey are 

 much the same, up to a certain point, 

 perhaps it woukl In?. unprofital)le to 

 write much upon the preparatory stages. 



From early spring until clover blossom my 

 end and aim is to get. bees ; and my chief 

 plan is to give the queen all needed room 

 to deposit the precious little eggs. Then, at 

 the proper time, surplus combs, of which 

 there should be a large surplus, are adjusted 

 to the hives. 



Thus far I have extracted the honey during 

 the honey How, and shall probably continue 

 to do so until some good reason shall cause 

 me to do otherwise. 



In this locality we have, first, clover, fol- 

 lowed closely by linden, and then buckwheat. 

 To keep the dilferent flavored honeys sepa- 

 rate, 1 am compelled to extract at the close of 

 each How. Then, again, I haven't enough 

 surplus combs for this everlasting tiering up. 

 If foundation is given, the yield is cut short 

 and swarming incited l)y the comb l>uilding. 

 For a Simplicity hive it is well to have two 

 extra sets of combs and extract while the 

 honey is coming in. The experienced " ex- 

 tractist " will know, vihile extracting, if the 

 honey is ripened enough. I usually allow 

 the bees to cap over one-half or two-thirds 

 of the comb before extracting, and I pride 

 myself upon having as fine flavored honey 

 as you will find ordinarily. Nearly all this 

 tine writing on the ripening of honey by 

 allowing it to remain on the hives several 

 weeks is more or less theoretical, and does 

 not hold good in practice. The honey may 

 be good, but no better than when extracted 

 early, if the honey came from any of our 

 best honey plants. Thin, sour honey, either 

 comes in a wet time or from a poor grade of 

 honey secreting llowers. Our only plan of 

 ripening is to extract and put into half bar- 

 rels and leave the cork out. The cork is 

 aliout II4 inch and the barrel stands on its 

 head, so there is considerable surface for 

 evaporation, and I have never had any 

 clover or linden honey repudiated, but it is 

 souglit for, and it has also received premiums 

 and testimonials from high authorities. So 

 you will excuse me for having but little 

 faith in the ripening theories. 



Another thing that smacks strongly of 

 theory, is the storifyiug of cases before they 

 are capped over. I tliink an apiarist having 

 several out-apiaries, and limited for help, 

 would find his hands full in certain seasons, 

 and need an unlimited amount of " shot 

 tower " hives, and after all there would be 

 more or less capping. Gentlemen, please 

 reduce your theories to practice for several 

 years, then give us the results. 



There is also another theory I wish to 

 punch, ( mind, I said the theory and not the 

 man or men that invented it). The cele- 

 brated double and twisted bee escape works 

 splendidly on paper, but will it escape the 

 bees? Let us see. AVhen the Rambleb saw 

 a description of the first bee escape he 

 shouted "Eureka I Blessed be the man that 

 invented it." My great study has been how 

 to get bees from tlie combs while extracting, 

 without exciting their tempers by brushing. 

 I adopted the Heddon cases to attain that 

 end, but the shake out principle will not 

 work with my Itnlians ; and, of course, the 

 escape must be tried. Last season I fitted 

 three hives with tlie Re< se escape — single 

 cones. After twenty-four hours about half 



