232 



THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



would be unsatisfactory. Every landscape 

 photographer knows that a distant view 

 becomes a mere "streak" upon the plate. 

 The eye can appreciate it, but the camera 

 reduces it to a mere nothing. Only com- 

 paratively near objects can be photo- 

 graphed satisfactorily. 



THE WEIRD, DESOLATE PLAINS OF NORTHERN 

 MICHIGAN. 



The valley of the Manistee at this point 

 is largely made up of what the settlers 

 call the "Skiberian" plains. The land was 

 originally covered with pine, but it has 

 been lumbered off, and then the fire 

 has run over the ground, burning up al- 

 most everything except the stumps. A 

 team can drive in almost any direction 

 over the plains. Besides ths stumps there 

 are a few scrub oaks, some popples, brakes, 

 sweet fern, huckleberries and winter- 

 greens. These plains are the picture of 

 desolation; they remind one of a desert, 

 and yet, for me, they have a strange fas- 

 cination. 1 like to cross them. They are 

 "something different." The last time 1 

 crossed them there were spots where the 

 bushes were so blue with huckleberries 

 that I could not help saying: "Wait a 

 minute Elmer," and 1 would jump out and 

 eat my fill. Did you ever try eating 

 huckleberries and wintergreens at the 

 same time ? If not, then you have a de- 

 licious taste in store for you. The berries 

 were not so plentiful this year as usual, 

 but there were enough so that the white 

 tents of the pickers had begun to dot the 

 plains. 



THE APPETITE AT PICNIC MEALS. 



At last we reach the Morey yard, where 

 John (Elmer's boy) has been keeping 

 bachelor's hall for the last two weeks, 

 watching for swarms, putting on supers 

 when needed, putting in foundation, trans- 

 ferring some old combs, etc. Why is it 

 that such common things as bread and 

 butter, dried beef, and a cup of tea, have 

 such a flavor when eaten ofP a barrel 

 head, or a bee hive cover, in a honey 

 house out in the woods ? 



USING BEE ESCAPES AND ARTIFICIAL HEAT. 



In the frontispiece this month I am 

 showing you a view of the Morey apiary. 

 No honey has yet been taken off, but you 

 can see that we are to get a fair crop, 

 and by the time these lines greet the eyes 

 of my readers, much of the extracting 

 will have been done. You see, we have 

 plenty of supers and combs or sheets of 

 foundation, and when a colony is in need 

 of more room it is given, but all of the 

 honey is left on until the end of the sea- 

 son. It is then perfectly ripened and all 

 sealed over, and has a body and flavor of 

 which I never dreamed until I put this 

 method into practice. The honey will be 

 taken off with bee escapes, and then 

 warmed up artificially before it is ex- 

 tracted. One end of the honey house is 

 partitioned off, making a room 5x12 and 

 six feet high. By means of an oil stove 

 we can bring the temperature in this 

 room up to 110 degrees, if we wish, and 

 95 is high enough. Honey warmed up 

 artificially to as high a degree as it will 

 bear without softening the combs too 

 much, can be extracted quicker and 

 cleaner than honey as it usually comes 

 from the bees. Another thing, there is no 

 need of any hurry about it. Just have 

 plenty of supers, and pile them up until 

 the season is over, then takeoff the honey 

 with bee escapes, and extract it at your 

 leisure. In this way, bee-keeping is rob- 

 bed of much of its strenuousness. Of 

 course, it is not absolutely necessary to 

 leave on all of the honey until the season 

 is over. When the honey in a super is all 

 sealed over, it may be removed, and such 

 full supers may be stacked up in the 

 house until we are ready to extract. 



BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT AT AN APIARY IN 

 THE WOODS. 



1 stayed with John three days; looked 

 the bees over, and put on about 50 more 

 supers, and then rigged up the honey 

 house all ready for extracting. The first 

 night that I stayed there, after John had 

 gone to sleep, 1 crept to the window, 

 pushed it softly to one side, leaned my 



