520 



THE JCMBRICMTf MMW JOUmmMS^. 



the btisiness I at OBce secured the 

 American Bee Journal, and some of 

 the most reliable literature on the bee, 

 and carefully read them. At the same 

 time 1 addeti an Italian colony, making 

 the three in number. After I had a few 

 swarms of this stock. I employed a bee- 

 expert to transfer all my bees into the 

 " Simplicity hive," and to watch him to 

 do other wonderful manipulation of the 

 art. In another year I had Italian 

 queens introduced in the most of hives. 



Carlug for the Bees. 



I soon found out that knowledge with 

 attention worked well in this enterprise 

 and in a few years I had more bees, and 

 at times more honey, than I knew what 

 to do with. Every year I bought comb 

 foundation without stint. In 1885 I had 

 incurred extra heavy expenses in laying 

 in supplies, and in return realized little 

 or nothing. This rather took the fun 

 out of the business. I then resolved 

 that my three millions of subjects must 

 work and board themselves. I stopped 

 feeding them, but consolidated the weak, 

 and gave them comb from the strong. 

 I ceased supplying them with founda- 

 tion, but had them to make their comb 

 without foundation. All the assistance 

 I gave them in this was to pencil with 

 nice, hot wax, the inside upper piece of 

 each frame as starters. Much time and 

 labor I saved by discarding the use of 

 the wire in frames. In short, I promis- 

 ed my bees to give them a favorable and 

 comfortable habitation— guard them 

 from harm individually, as much as pos- 

 sible, keen them strong and powerful to 

 proteet themseh-e», but otiierwise the 

 apiary must be self sustaining. Not 

 only have I curtailed my expenses to the 

 lowest notch ; but what was of greater 

 importance in my case, was to bring the 

 force of my labor to the same mark. 

 Such a thing as hired bee help is, per- 

 haps, not known in this country. To 

 carry out my plans, I enforced a rigid 

 system. 



KeepiDg a Record of each Colony. 



In the first place I discarded all slates, 

 and have each hive (painted white) num- 

 bered in bold, neat black figures. In a 

 large blank book, the number of pages, 

 corresponded with those of the hives 

 giving the age, condition and running 

 history of each colony. Any time a 

 hive was examined, or any thing done 

 to it. an entry of the transaction was 

 made. The numbers on the hives were 

 80 arranged that they could nearly all 

 be easily read from the honey-house. 

 As this record was kept from the begin- 

 ning, it is already a work of interest. 



A Bee-Veil for Perfect Protection. 



Of implements, I made a veil that 

 would not impair vision by any net- 

 work. I constructed one with a piece 

 of mosquito-netting with a small, clear 

 glass window 3x6 inches in front, to look 

 through. The glass was set in a tin 

 frame, with holes around the outer mar- 

 gin, to which the netting is sewed. The 

 veil is placed over a straw hat with a 

 narrow brim, and fastened to it to keep 

 it in place. In stooping, to keep the 

 glass from dropping forward, it is se- 

 cured to the neck by two pieces of 

 strings. The netting is long enough to 

 tuck the lower end under the vest. It 



is a perfect protection, and one can work 

 with it with the facility that he could 

 with the naked eye. 1 will venture to 

 say. if any bee-man will try the " win- 

 dow "he will long for nothing else in 

 way of a bee-veil. 



A Handy Frame-Hook. 



Another good thing I got up is a hook 

 to lift loaded combs out of a hive. Take 

 a firm, thick, galvanized wire about 8 

 inches long, and bend one end into a 

 large round hook for the handle ; flatten 

 the end, for lifting wire nails out of the 

 fames presently to be described ; then 

 bend the other end into a short angle of 

 a square. With the short hook the 



f 



My Frame-Hook. 



frames are taken out, the purchase being 

 made Inside of the frame. This small 

 hook serves another very convenient 

 thing, viz: I have the slats of my mats 

 made by the thousand, and put them to- 

 gether myself with copper wire. At the 

 two ends of one side I leave a twisted 

 loop of the wire, to receive this small 

 hook in removing it. This is done with- 

 out delay, and without breaking the 

 slats. Mats put together with twine are 

 a nuisance, and those of gum-cloth are 

 not much better, as the bees make havoc 

 with both of them. 



Swarm Catchers. 



To secure swarms I use two ordinary 

 coffee bags, the opening of each being 

 fastened to a firm wire ring. One is at- 



3Iy Hwarm Catcher. 



tached to a long pole, and the other to a 

 short one. I have likewise two hooks 

 inserted in the end of long poles to cor- 

 respond with each. 



Where the bees cluster high up, very 

 often even without the aid of a step- 

 ladder, they can be readily secured with 

 the long poles. As soon as the bees are 

 in the bag, a twist of it will close it up, 

 and without any loss of bees, it can be 

 carried to any desired place, where an 

 empts hive is ready to receive them. If 

 I do not get the entire swarm at the first 

 trial, I repeat the operation, until I have 

 entirely secured them. 



If the queen is secured in the first 

 operation, the remaining bees will mi- 

 grate on their own accord to their new 

 home without any help, and even if they 

 should return to their former hive, noth- 

 ing would be lost. 



Keeping the Frames a certain distance 

 Apart. 



There is a desideratum to have all the 

 frames permanently fixed at equal dis- 

 tances apart. For a few years I used 



the frames with metal-corners. I like- 

 wise discarded them on account of their 

 ready displacement before fastened by 

 the bees, and the extra labor they de- 

 mand in putting them together, and 

 afterwards to make good the results of 

 their displacement. There is one tri- 

 fling merit in them, and that is, they do 

 not adhere much about the tin— but the 

 troublesome wax adhesion is not so 

 much on the top as at the bottom and 

 sides. I now use only the wooden 

 frames, and even with them I made a 

 special provision to secure their fixed 

 locality, for several reasons. Instead of 

 adjusting the frames at the stand, I do 

 that preparatory at the honey-house. 

 In moving the hive to the stand, no 

 handling, or subsequent jarring, will 

 displace the frames. All the combs are 

 very likely to be built in proper regu- 

 larity, thus saving frequent examination 

 of the hive. The regular open space be- 

 tween the comb will give the bees an 

 advantage in their warfare with the 

 moth, and will prevent the bees them- 

 selves from crowding the frames out of 

 line I etc. 



I have a measure made out of tin 

 about one by fourteen inches long, with 

 ten holes, to correspond with the ten 

 frames of the hive. This measure is 

 laid inside of the hive where the frames 

 are to rest upon. Then with a punch, 

 corresponding holes are made through 

 the tin into the hive. Each of the ends 

 of the upper pieces of the frames are 

 perforated with the same punch, in a 

 true line with the holes in the hive. 

 Each frame is now readily retained in 

 its proper place by dropping wire nails 

 into the holes. 



Bee-Smo leers. 



I have used and worn out different 

 kinds of smokers, and found objections 

 to all of them. Their want of durability 

 —the smoke giving out at times when 

 specially needed, and often they irritate 

 the bees before they are subjugated, 

 throwing them into a belligerency that 

 is transmitted to those not touched 

 by the smoke. It is a golden rule that 

 bees are best handled with gentle ma- 

 nipulation, and in the absence of all 

 noise; the working and the rattling of a 

 smoker, per se, surely is not the thing to 

 meet this important axiom. 



I finally discarded all smokers now in 

 use, and made one that is so very sim- 

 ple, that I almost hesitate to bring it in- 

 to notice, notwithstanding it is the best 

 I ever used. I make it thus: 



I take an old gallon paint-can with a 

 handle fastened to one side, and running 

 straight out. Then I have a circular 

 tin lid from a lard can, about 14 inches 

 in diameter; it likewise has a handle 

 fastened on one side, leaving the other 

 side smooth and even. The former is 

 the '■ smoker," and the latter is a ■• fan " 

 to regulate the fire. This smoker gives 

 a large volume of smoke, and in opening 

 a hive, if there is a favorable current in 

 the air, the "deck" is cleared instan- 

 taneously. In a dead calm, the fan is 

 used two or three times, with the same 

 effect. Should there be a blaze in the 

 can, lay the fan over it and it is immedi- 

 ately extinguished, and by removing the 

 fan a great volume of smoke follows. 



As there is no puffing and blowing to 

 excite the ire of the bees, consequently 



