132 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



May 



when during the working season, we can 

 see the bees tilling sections and bnilding 

 comb just back of these glass division 

 boards, the effect is more beautiful than 

 can well be imagined. The room should 

 afford as few comers where stray bees may 

 get a lodging, as possible, and to this end, 

 we close the triangular corners by bits of 

 board I, I. They may have a knob on top, 

 and these boxes will then serve for little 

 cupboards in which to keep various uten- 

 sils. If the room is open a great deal, the 

 bees are inclined to wast« time in buzzing 

 against the glass, therefore it may be well 

 to have a cloth curtain to drop over them, 

 except when we wish to examine the progress 

 of the colony. To prevent the house from 

 becoming damp, we need a ventilator H, in 

 the centre of the ceiling, about a foot square, 

 and we can also have a trap door in the cen- 

 tre of the floor to admit cool air from the 

 cellar, during very hot weather. D, is the 

 door step, and the entrances are shown 

 tlirough the walls, just by the battens. It 

 will be observed that the middle hive on 

 each side, has its entrance through, or rath- 

 er under the batten ; this is that the bees 

 may have an additional mark for their own 

 hive, for the entrances — 2 inch auger holes 

 —at the sides, are made at the right and 

 left of the battens. The plan seems to work 

 well, for we have lost fewer queens in the 

 house apiary than from any of our out-door 

 hives. The battens are also a shade darker 

 in color, than the rest of the house ; thus 

 making them ornamental as well as useful. 

 A light drab, is a very pretty color for such 

 a building. 



Besides the hives we have just described 

 on the shelf, we have precisely the same 

 arrangement of them on the floor, or if pre- 

 ferred, raised on a little platform a couple 

 of inches above the floor. In exti-acting, 

 we can get along very well with the lower 

 tier, by removing the sheet of glass, and 

 shaking the bees on the floor close to their 

 combs ; with the upper ones, we find it best 

 to stand on a chair or box, and shake them 

 on top the frames close to the wall. If they 

 scatter about, and threaten to run all over 

 tlie walls and ceiling, take the next on the 

 other side, until they get back, assisting 

 them meanwhile with a little smoke. For 

 comb honey, we W(n-k just as we do with 

 the out-door hives. 



The u]»i)er story will be found very conve- 

 nient for storing various things about the 

 apiary, such as the chaff cushions during 

 the summer, and enii)ty sections and combs 



during the winter; for we wish to hive 

 our lower room at least always neat and 

 tidy. 



FL.OATIN'G APIARY. 



This project we believe has never as yet 

 been put in practice in our own country. 

 The idea is to have an apiary on a large flat 

 bottomed boat or raft which is to be floated 

 along, on some of our large rivers, so as to 

 be constantly in the midst of the greatest 

 flow of honey, almost the season through. 

 It is well known that the white dover com- 

 mences to bloom flrst in the extreme south, 

 and then gi-adually moves northward ; if we 

 could be in the midst of this yieM during its 

 height, for 6 or 8 months, it w )uld seem 

 enormous crops might be obtain- d. We are 

 infonned by history, that the ancient Egypt- 

 ians of the Nile made a practical success of 

 these floating apiaries, and that they were 

 warned when it was time to return home 

 by the depth to which the boat sank in the 

 water, under the weight of the cargo of hon- 

 ey. That the bees might not be lost, the 

 apiary was floated to a new field during the 

 night. Something similar, located on wheels 

 to be drawn by horses, has been suggested, 

 but we believe never attempted. 



THE RAILWAY APIARY. 



The honey house is placed at the lowest 

 side of the apiary and a track or tracks with 

 proper switches made to run between each 

 two rov/s of hives. A barrel is fixed low 

 down in the car, and extractor and iuiple- 

 ments placed over it. The whole is covered 

 with a light, square tent, made of cjinvass 

 and wire cloth for an assistant to work se- 

 cure from robbers. Roll your car to the top 

 of the slope, hand the full frames from the 

 hive through a slit in the canvass to your 

 assistant until the hive is finished, then roll 

 your car to the next two hives, and so on 

 until you get to the house, when your barrel 

 should be full and ready to roll oft' for an- 

 other. 



The same arrangement would answer for 

 avoiding the labor of removing comb honey 

 from the hives ; and if the bees are wintered 

 in-doors, the hives can be placed on the car, 

 and run directly into the wintering house. 



Some experiments have been made with 

 hives permanently located on small low 

 cars, which are to be run into a frost-proof 

 house for wintering, or whenever the weath- 

 er is such as to make it advisable to house 



tJiem. 



« — ♦ • 



There now! I lime finished the firsts pag-es of 

 my A B C Book, my I'ricnds, and now if I have made 

 any mistakes, please tell nio where on a postal, and 

 we will have it right before we go any farther. 



