THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



215 



iiig-board at tlie proper iilaces, the staudard 

 l)eiuy hiuyed to the uiuler side of the feed- 

 board, witli a uail drove into the h)wer end, 

 tiled sharp, aud, when swung against tlie 

 house, will hold the board very rigid. It is 

 one of the handiest tools one can have about 

 a liouse-apiary for hiving l)ees. 1 use the 

 wire basket that shuts autouuitically when 

 the bees drop into tlie basket, sliould the 

 bees cluster on a tree: but I usually catch tlie 

 queen when she comes out, and place her in 

 a trap, and hang the trap on a pole or tree, 

 as you will observe in the picture. The bees 



will soon cluster, aud may be shook on the 

 feed-board, the queen liberated aud hived 

 without the least trouble. The small dark 

 spots above the entrance are two-inch auger- 

 holes with funnel-shaped wire-cloth bee-es- 

 capes. A three-inch sj)ace between the hive 

 and weather-board is packed solid with saw- 

 dust, answering the same purpose as the 

 chaff hive. During the winter I till the 

 porticos with straw, having an air-chamber 

 on the inside of the house to the hive, cover- 

 ed with wiie-cloth, that affords abundance 

 of air for the bees. I' also have a three-inch 

 tiling, (K) feet in length, passing about six 

 feet under the ground, and conducted thence 

 up through the floor of the house, having a 

 small ventilator at the roof; and on a cold 

 day one would be surprised to see how mild 

 tlio air seems to be, passing from the ground. 

 My floors are carpeted, and no jarring is 

 noticeable when one desires to examine the 

 htees." 



In the last issue of (UfanimjH he has the 

 following: 



" Permit me to say a word from my ex- 

 perience with the Reese bee-escape placed in 

 the bee-liouse, as you will observe by refer- 

 ring to page 990, 1H89. After reading E. K.'s 

 short experience in this line on page r>(Jl 



(IWtl) I am not surprised at the facts he has 

 given. I have often wondered why it was 

 that persons abandoned the house-apiary. 

 Well, since reading K. H.'s article I presume 

 there was good reason: and as I have always 

 used the escape, and never had any incon- 

 veniences from the bees in the house outside 

 of the hive, it ought to be a good reason why 

 I thus pondered over the problem. 



I have frequently seen articles condemn- 

 ing house-apiaries, and I frequently thought 

 of writing you for the reas(m: but, thanks to 

 E. R. for the explanation. I want to say 

 that anyone having a house-apiary can, by 

 putting in a two-inch hole, with the cone 

 bee-escape just over eacli hive, henceforth 

 continue to call l)lessings down ui)on the in- 

 ventor of that most valuable gift, the bee- 

 escape, to the bee-fraternity. 



In rny article on i)age 990 I did not say 

 anything about inside manipulation. I have 

 an abundance of light from a revolving win- 

 dow in the south end, sufficient to catch a 

 (pieen, see eggs, or for any work: also blind- 

 ed when not at work. Of course, I use a 

 spring blind. To be handy, the ventilator, 

 or escape, above, carries the smoke away at 

 the roof: and the cone escape— why, it's just 

 grand. Put them on over a three or four 

 inch rim, and the crate on the top in the 

 evening, and in the morning no bees, or 

 scarcely any, are found in the crate. If any, 

 they are ([uite young. Yes, the escape works 

 tiptop in the house, and I want to predict 

 the most pleasant manipulation of bees you 

 have ever enjoyed in your life. If you thus 

 arrange your house-apiary, however, you 

 must not forget to have plenty of light while 

 manipulating or looking ft)r queens and 

 eggs. The spring-blind is the handiest, and 

 most convenient in working the house- 

 apiary. I use so little smoke one would 

 hardly perceive it, aud the ventilator draws 

 it away when you are not using the smoker. 

 One thus working with the house-apiary 

 does not or can not know what robber bees 

 are to a certainty— at least, that is my ex- 

 perience." 



A 14-Hive House Apiary. 



In his contribution to this number Mr. 

 Oliver Foster mentions the house apiary 

 that he described years ago in (Ueatnngs. 

 Here are the article and illustrations to which 

 he refers: 



"Here is a sketch of the house apiary I 

 promised to describe. It is TjxIO, and 7 ft. 

 high : 4 feet at sides. The roof is of inch 

 boards, matched to turn water. They are 

 nailed at top to a '>\\ scantling,which passes 

 under the ridge the full length, and at the 

 lower side to a similar piece shown at A. 

 These are supported in tlie middle by posts, 

 B B. Between these posts are hung trap 

 doors which open out as shown at C. 



There are seven two-story hives on each 

 side, with a space of two feet between the 

 rows. The frame used in this apiary is 

 9;;4xl2V4 inches. The inside walls of hives 

 are of half -inch stuff. The stven hives of 

 each row are all built together in one box 9 



