1877 



(iJ.EANINGS IN BEE CITLTITRE. 



157 



V o'clock, liad fallen on tiie prroinul in (juite 

 y little cluster where they paused to take 

 Itieath until tliey could a«-aiu take winjr to 

 gei into the hive. At tliis time the spring 

 balance showetl a gain oi an ounce every 

 five tnininit<>s. To help tlieni. a cloth was 

 tacked from tlieir old alif?hting boanl to the 

 entrance of the hive ; tliey then crawletl in 

 in a steady stream, and the dial of the balance 

 at once showed a gain of one ounce in every 

 four minutes. Other experiments seem to 

 indicate very clearly that a good alighting 

 itoard, or rather a free and miobstructed 

 passage to the hives, is a very important 

 matter. 



If any kind of a boartl is placed on the 

 jjround in frout of the hives, it is sure to 

 Avari) under the influence of the hot sun on 

 i>ne side, and the damp earth on the other. 

 If we clamp it to prevent this, we have a 

 place for toads, mice and other vermin to 

 hu-k, and taking all things into considera- 

 tion, we prefer a broad bank of sawdust, 

 spread directly on the ground. When this 

 is first put down, it is blown about by the 

 winds, and beaten down by the rains, but if 

 you press it down when damp or wet, it will 

 when dry hold its place nicely, is not affect- 

 ed by the weather-, affords no lurking place 

 under it, and gives an excellent foot hold 

 for the bees when returning during a windy 

 ilay. After the days work is over, the sight 

 of the bees congi-egated about in their 

 -• door-yard," is suggestive of peace and 

 tranquillity to anyone who has studied tiie 

 i[ueer ways of these '" little busy bodies.'' 

 So much attached in fact do they seem to 

 become to the idea of keeping this little 

 door-yard clean and tidy that they will labor 

 l)y the hour in trying to pull up any tiny 

 blade of gi-ass or weeds that may have the 

 audacity to attempt to grow any where with- 

 in a foot of their hives. This sawdust idea, 

 is also an excellent one when we are watch- 

 ing or himting queens with clipiied wings in 

 natural swarming. With a nicely kept door- 

 yard, you can get your eye on the queen, 

 when several yards from the hive, when 

 other\vise yon might have to hunt in the 

 grass and weeds for an hour, and then not 

 find her. 



With the house apiary, we are compelled 

 to have a regular door-step, or alighting 

 board, and these should be as broad as we ' 

 ean conveniently have them. Om- own, are 

 14x10 inches, and are securely clamped, and 

 painted on both sides. While the bees do ! 

 fall to the ground to some extent during ai j 

 heavy yield of honey, there is less , trouble | 



; tlian we imagined, for they generally strike 

 the bmad alighting board. Another point 

 I that favors their easy ijigress to tlie liives, is 

 the 2 inch auger liole entrances. Many of . 

 I the l)ees will shoot right into them, find 

 alight safely on the combs ; the auger hole 

 ; seems to be a plain mark foi- them to aim at, 

 j even when some distance from' their liive. 

 Very likely it accords with their natural dis- 

 position of seeking hollows in the forest 

 treefi, and these entrancx^'S are not very un- 

 like the knot holes they many times have 

 for entrances in forest trees. It will be an 

 excellent plan t6 keep tlie ground clean 

 about the house apiaries also, that we may 

 see when queens are being brought out du- 

 ring natural swarming, superceded, &c. 



The old style of Langstroth hive with its 

 portico, furnishes a very convenient alight; 

 ing board, but aside from the expen.se, and 

 inconvenient projections on tlie front of the 

 hive, we have found them very annoy- 

 ing on account of the excellent harbor they 

 afford for spiders with their attendant webs. 

 We might omit the roof, it is true, but then 

 the rain would beat into the hive incoil-i-e- 

 niently. Taking all things into considera- 

 tion, we much prefer the entrances as used 

 Mith the Simplicity hiv^, and the alighting 

 board or alighting ground rather, made of 

 the packed down saw^dust. See hiveS." - 



ASTTS. Although I have given tKe^- 

 matter considerable attention, I can not find 

 that ants are guilty of anytlmig that should 

 warrant the apiarist in waging any very de- 

 termined warfare against them. Some 

 yeai-s ago, a visitor frightened me by sayiiig 

 that the ants about my apiary, would steal 

 every drop of honey as fast as the bees could 

 gather it. Accordingly I prepared myself 

 with a tea-kettle of boiling water, and not 

 only killed the ants, but some of the grape 

 vines also. Afterward there came a spring 

 when tlie bees all dwindled away and died, 

 but abont eleven colonies, and the hives 

 filled with honey scattered about the apiary 

 unprotected, seemed to be about as fair a'' 

 chance for the ants that had not " dwindled" 

 a particle, as they could "well ask for. I 

 watched to see how fast they would carry 

 away the honey, but to my astonishment, 

 they seemed to care more for the hives that 

 contained bees, than for those containing 

 only honey. I soon determined that it was 

 the warmth from the cluster, that especially 

 attractetl them, and as the hives were di- 

 rectly on the ground, the ants soon moved 

 into several that contained only a small 

 ^i'luster and for awhile both used one ctHnmon 



