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THF BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



experience in out-apiaries than has Mr. E. 

 France, of Platteville, Wis., and, as he has 

 written a long article for Gleanings, giving 

 his experience in establishing and manag- 

 ing out-apiaries, I take great pleasure in 

 copying the most of it into the Review. 



" First, let us locate the apiary. Now look 

 sharp, for very much depends on the location ; 

 in fact, more than half of the success of the 

 apiary rests on this one point. See that the 

 place has good pasture for the bees. We in 

 this north country would want plenty of 

 white clover and basswood timber, and river 

 bottom land with fall flowers. Any way, be 

 sure of good bee pasturage. Then I want a 

 good natural windbreak — hills or timber, 

 or something to break the north and west 

 winds. 



Now, if we have found all this, is the right 

 kind of man or family living on it ? If the 

 family are all right, what are the neighbors ? 

 Are they of a class that will steal, or make 

 you trouble ? 



If the people are all right we will look the 

 place over. Is the place where we want to 

 put the bees too near the house or barn or 

 stack-yards, where they have to come with 

 teams to stack and thrash the grain ? It 

 won't do at all to have horses very near the api- 

 ary when unloading grain or hay, or thrash- 

 ing, or any thing of that kind. A bee in the 

 ear of a horse makes it wild. Most horses 

 are afraid of bees. Our apiaries are from 15 

 to 30 rods away from house or barn or stack- 

 yards, and all the out-yards are from 3C to 

 100 rods from a public road. Most of them 

 are in pasture land, free to all kinds of stock. 

 Stock don't do any damage to our large 

 quadruple hives, but keep down the grass. 

 It saves us the trouble of mowing. Locate 

 your apiaries three or four miles apart ; far- 

 ther would be better. Of course, other folks' 

 bees must be taken into consideration. 

 Don't overstock the pasture. Better go two 

 or three miles further than accept a poor 

 location, for we have to go with a team; and 

 when on the road, two or three miles further 

 is soon traveled. We go eight miles to some 

 of ours. 



One more thing : If you are likely to get 

 a load of bees or honey, it is handy to load 

 up right in the apiary. After we have work- 

 ed the apiary all over, the bees will be cross. 

 We can not take the team to the wagon 

 where it is in the apiary, to hitch on. We 

 must have a down grade, away from the 

 apiary. It should be 15 to 20 rods or more, 

 then the wagon can be moved by hand to a 

 place where it will be safe to come with a 

 team. 



Now, if we have found the location that 

 will answer our purpose, we shall see what 

 terms we can make with the owner. All our 

 out-apiaries are planted on the same condi- 

 tions. We give 2r> cents a year for each col- 

 ony we have on the ground, spring count, 

 counting them about the last of May, or at a 

 time when we are sure there won't be a less 

 number. The land-owner has nothing to do 

 with the bees, except, if any thing happens 

 that requires our attention, he is to let us 

 know, and we look after them. There is no 



watching for swarms, and no swarms to 

 hive. 



We work all our out-yards for extracted 

 honey. We think it is less work for the mon- 

 ey we get out of the business. 



If I were starting new in the bee business 

 I would use the L. frame, standard size. I 

 would use a quadruple hive, chaff-lined, 

 three stories in summer and two in winter, 

 and winter on the summer stands. 



What kind or race of bees ? My candid 

 opinion is, there is not much difference. 

 With good location and good management, 

 any of them will eive lots of honey. But my 

 choice is the gray Carniolans. They will 

 eather as much honey as any ; are very pro- 

 lific, and do less stinging. 



Now, having located the apiary, made 

 terms with the land-owner, and having bees 

 on the ground, we will proceed to run the 

 apiary for extracted honey. We will begin 

 with the fruit-blossoms. If there is any con- 

 siderable amount of bloum we can open hives 

 without danger of robbers. We will sup- 

 pose the bees are in L. hives, two stories 

 high. Take out all the combs and clean out 

 the hive ; clip the queen's wing one side. 

 Yon will find that all or nearly all the brood 

 is now in the second story. Put all the brood 

 down in the lower story. If there is not 

 enough combs with brood in them to fill the 

 lower story, perhaps some other colony may 

 have more than enough to fill the lower 

 story. In that case, give the surplus to the 

 weaker ones. Put the honey combs in the 

 second story. If there are empty combs, 

 and the lower stories are full of brood, put 

 the empty combs above. Caxition. — If the 

 bees average weak, and there are not combs 

 with brood in them enough to fill the lower 

 story, then I would wait until they have 

 enough, as the upper story is warmer, and a 

 weak colony will build up faster with the 

 brood above. But, clip your queen at this 

 time. We can now leave the yard for ten 

 days ; then, if there were no queen cells left 

 when here before, it is not possible for a 

 swarm to have gone off ; and here in this 

 country it is not likely that a swarm has 

 been out. Dandelions will be in bloom here 

 then. 



We will now look the yard over again. If 

 there are any weak colonies, they should be 

 strengthened by giving them brood from the 

 strong. If there is more brood in the yard 

 than to fill all the lower stories, then the sur- 

 plus can be used to make new colonies. In 

 making new colonies, be sure to leave the 

 old queen in the old hive. Fill up a lower 

 story with combs of brood, with some honey. 

 Put the honey at the back of the hive ; take 

 some bees with the combs — enough to make 

 a good strong colony. In fact, give them 

 more live bees than you want to stay there, 

 because the old bees will go back to the old 

 hive. We can take these combs and bees 

 from several colonies. They won't quarrel 

 or fight at all. We make one, two, or sever- 

 al new colonies at this time — it depends on 

 the strength of the apiary. Those new col- 

 onies have no queen ; they won't swarm un- 

 der 12 days. The old ones won't swarm, be- 

 cause we have taken away their surplus 

 strength. We will now leave them ten days; 



