THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



333 



but before we leave, be sure that there are no 

 queen cells coming on in any colony. I 

 would leave those new colonies one story 

 high. We use a solid honey board. Lay 

 that on top of the one story, and cover over 

 that. 



In ten days we are back again. Now, if 

 there is more honey coming in than enough 

 to keep the bees, we will extract all we can 

 get. This extracting will be dark, and the 

 bees will soon be gathering white honey. 

 For that reason we want to clear the combs 

 of dark honey ; and while doing it we will do 

 as we did before — keep the lower story full 

 of brood ; and if there is more brood, we will 

 make new colonies as we did when here be- 

 fore. Now we will put on the third stories, 

 tilled with empty combs, if we have them. 

 If we have no combs, put in frames tilled 

 with foundation ; leave no queen cells in the 

 old colonies : the new colonies made ten 

 days before will now want the second set of 

 combs, or foundation, and their queen cells 

 removed, except one, that we will leave to 

 hatch ; also, give these colonies one egg- 

 comb from the old stocks, and what new col- 

 onies are made this time can be supplied 

 with a queen cell from those new ones made 

 ten days before. After i^his, if honey pastur- 

 age is good, extract once a week while the 

 season lasts, working all up to three stories 

 high. Keep the brood in the lower stories, 

 and extract from the two apper ones. Watch 

 the harvest, and give the bees time to fill the 

 upper story solid full of honey to winter on. 

 All they get more than that you can take in 

 September. 



We don't get any honey here after the 

 basswood, about the middle of July. We let 

 them fill up well on basswood, and then let 

 them alone until the middle af September; 

 then I take off the third stories and pack 

 them away in the storeroom. At this time I 

 see that the second story is full of honey ; 

 take out of the second stories all combs not 

 full of honey, and fill it out from the third ; 

 see that all have that much, and pack away 

 in the house the surplus ; fill the top cham- 

 ber with straw, and you are ready for winter. 

 The next spring, when there are warm days 

 in March or April, look into each colony and 

 see if they have plenty of honey. If they are 

 short, take out empty combs and put in full 

 combs of honey from those stored away in 

 the fall. Be sure they have plenty ; they will 

 use up honey pretty fast now, as they should 

 be raising brood fast. 



I omitted to build an extracting-house. 

 You want one in every yard. We use a tent, 

 just 10 feet square, outside measure. Put ap 

 a frame in each yard : get four posts, 10 feet 

 long ; set them three feet in the ground, 10 

 feet square, outside measure. Now nail on 

 at the bottom a ten -foot board on each side, 

 a foot wide, then nail around the top four 

 more boards a foot wide, 10 feet long ; that 

 will leave a space of five feet between the 

 upper and lower boards. Get 80 feet of thin 

 cotton cloth, a yard wide ; sew two breadths 

 together, 40 feet long ; that will just go 

 around your house for siding, between the 

 upper and lower boards. Sew on both up- 

 per and lower edge some strips three or four 

 inches apart — leather — to tack through in 



putting on the siding. For top cover we use 

 eight-ounce duck that will shed rain if we 

 have a shower while we are there. Put up a 

 gable-end roof, raised three feet in the mid- 

 dle. To do that you want two boards a foot 

 wide, 10 feet long ; set one up at each end, 

 and nail to top and bottom board, and slant 

 off the low corner to fit the pitch of the 

 roof ; then nail in at the top a 2x4 scantling, 

 10 feet long ; chamfer off the upper edges to 

 fit the pitch. Nail on to the end boards 

 some strips of boards to make a ladder to 

 climb up when you put on the top cover. 

 Make the cover to fit your frame, and sew on 

 to the bottom edge some strips of leather to 

 tack through when you put it up. You want 

 a frame in every yard ; but the cloth part 

 you can take down every night and put it in 

 a sack and take it home. One cover and 

 siding is enough for all the yards. Each 

 yard must have a frame. With us it takes 

 just five minutes to put on the cloth. For a 

 door, we can leave one end of siding loose at 

 the bottom, or can put in a screen-door. 

 Platteville, Wis. 



[There are no bee-keepers in the whole 

 United States who have their work better 

 systematized than E. France & Son ; and 

 this applies not only to their bees but to 

 their fruit growing. W^hen I visited them 

 this past summer I could readily see one 

 secret of their success — the evidence of a lib- 

 eral use of good brains to lessen the labor of 

 the hands. I am sure no bee-keeper can af- 

 ford to fail to read carefully what Mr. 

 France has to say, even though he may not 

 now or ever expect to have out apiaries. I 

 can not refrain from saying that the senior 

 France not only recommends, after having 

 tried other frames, the Langstroth, but the 

 eight- frame size of the hive. No deep frame 

 is adapted for tiering up, and hence the 

 Langstroth, if for no other reason, should 

 have the preference. — Ed.] " 



The Philosophy of Percolation. 



This IS not the time of the year when we 

 are making syrup or feeding bees, but, if we 

 wait until the time does come there is but 

 little chance for discussion, hence, we may 

 improve the winter in discussing methods 

 that are to be used in the working season. 

 The making of syrup by percolation is a new 

 idea to bee-keepers, and may prove valua- 

 ble, and should be examined in all its bear- 

 ings, for th's reason I copy the following, 

 which is written by Dr. Miller and published 

 in Gleanings. 



" Sitting on a load of bees, on the way 

 home from the Hastings apiary. I said to my 

 assistant, ' Suppose a vessel filled with sugar 

 and water, with a hole in the bottom so small 

 that a grain of sugar could not get through, 

 would that act the same as one of our perco- 

 lating feeders ? ' 



She answered, ' If there were a sufficient 

 number of small holes it might ; but with a 



