188 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



few beeB there may be in the building, to 

 escape after the room is darkened and closed 

 up. You see, there are about a dozen en- 

 trances that have Reese bee escapes on. 

 After the room is darkened there are a dozen 

 holes that shine dimly. The few bees that 

 may be inside fly to these holes and pass out. 

 Years ago, when we used to work in the 

 house apiary, we were troubled by bees that 

 collected on the floor making their way 

 toward the door when it was opened, as 

 there was no means of their escaping; and, 

 furthermore, as we did not then know of the 

 window bee escapes, we had to work in a hot, 

 sultry room, poorly lighted, and, more often 

 than not, filled with smoke. The bees that 

 crawled on the floor, somehow managed to 

 crawl up our trousers legs, and get mashed 

 under foot; and this, with the heat and 

 smoke of the room, was unendurable. All 

 these things forced us to abandon the house 

 apiary. When we go to work now, we close 

 the door behind us, open up the darkened 

 windows, and let the breezes of summer pass 

 through. The smoke passes out of the win- 

 dows so as to make no serious inconvenience. 

 Still further to obviate the difliculty, I have 

 in my mind's eye a ventilating shaft to con- 

 nect with the peak of the building, under 

 which to set the smoker when not in use. 

 From present indications this will not be 

 necessary; but should it be required it can 

 be put in at very little expense. I have not 

 yet tried the bee escape for taking off comb 

 honey inside. It is, however, too late to 

 make this experiment; but if the bee escape 

 works outdoors, I know it will inside; there- 

 fore the house apiary is not such a terrible 

 place in which to handle bees, after all, 

 judging from the present outlook. Subse- 

 quent developments may cause me to be 

 disgusted with it,^ however. 



Oh, yes! I forgot to say that each colony 

 or nucleus in the house apiary should be 

 thoroughly fastened in by itself. Each com- 

 partment should be made as tight as any in- 

 door hive. They are not yet quite bee tight, 

 but this fall I propose to have them fixed so 

 they will be, if I continue to like it as a place 

 for working with bees as I do now. 



There is another thing that I did not men-- 

 tion; and that is. that there is no grass to 

 mow — no long, wet grass and weeds to wade 

 through; no burning sun and no running in- 

 doors when it rains. 



Do not imagine that I have gone so crazy 

 on the house apiary that I am going to re- 

 commend it in preference to hives out- doors 

 —not at all. But there are a good many 

 who, years ago, at considerable expense, 

 built house apiaries, and now they have them 

 in disuse. I simply wish those who have 

 them to see how they can be made availat)le 

 again. There are others located in cities, 

 perhaps, where land is expensive, and a 

 room or house apiary on top of a building 

 could be used very nicely." 



It will be seen that the Ree e cone escapes 

 over some openings in the wall, wire cloth 

 over the windows with escapes at the top, an 

 arrangement for darkening the windows 

 when the operator leaves the building, bee 



escapes to use on the hives when removing 

 surplus, all combine to remove the discom- 

 forts connected with the use of the house 

 apiary. 



There is another point in connection with 

 house apiaries that is of some importance in 

 some localities, and that is that everything 

 can be kept under lock and key. This would 

 seem especially desirable for out apiaries. 

 One would scarcely like to go to the expense 

 of building a house apiary at an out apiary 

 unless very positive that that locality was to 

 be permanently occupied. If the building 

 was so small that it might be readily hauled 

 to some other locality it might answer. 



As to the wintering of bees in house apiar- 

 ies it would seem that the bees might be 

 readily protected with cushions, as there 

 would be no storms or water to guard 

 against. 



I know that house apiaries have been well- 

 nigh universally abandoned, and the object 

 •of this discussion, to which the August Re- 

 view is to be devoted, is to try and decide if, 

 with the advantages offered by the bee es- 

 capes, it is worth while to revive their use. 



exTRT^oxeo. 



The Manipulation of Sections. 



During the past two or three months it 

 seems as though a new hand, or rather an 

 old hand, had gotten hold of the Canadian 

 Bee Journal. It has more life and vim and 

 some excellent, practical, helpful editorials. 

 The July 1st issue contains the best advice I 

 have yet seen upon the management of sec- 

 tions upon the tiering up plan, and, with 

 my most hearty endorsement, 1 copy the en- 

 tire article: 



"Several have written us in reference to 

 putting on and taking off of sections. There 

 seems to be a difference of opinion in re- 

 ference to this. But we prefer, after the 

 bees are sufficiently strong, and the white 

 clover commences to yield, to put on one 

 case of sections first, and as soon as the bees 

 commence to work in them nicely, aid get 

 them partially drawn out and a little honey 

 in the most of them to raise up the first case 

 of sections, and set another under it next to 

 the brood. The bees continue, if they are 

 strong enough, to store in the top sections 

 while they are drawing out those below. As 

 soon as the second case of sections is drawn 

 out and partially filled with honey, the next 

 above will be about full, and sometimes the 

 bees will just commence to cap a little in the 



