194 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUXK 



% 



TOWMiEY'S APIABY. 



'Y fnends. I take great pleasm-e in in- 

 troducing to yon om- friend Townly. 

 -^^ not only becanse I think yon would like 

 to know him., but becanse he has been so in- 

 sti-nmental in bringing the idea of chaff 

 packing on the summer stands, before the 

 people. I was so prejudiced against all kinds 

 of out door packing, that had it not been for 

 his vehemently insistino^ that I should give 

 it a trill (s^e page r^3. Vol. HE.). I might 

 yet be fussing witli small colonies and 

 spring dwindling. At my tirst meeting with 

 him. he introduced himself as "chaff." and 

 although he is not going to speak of chaff 

 particularly to-day. we will just peep over 

 the fence and listen, while he entertains a 

 neighbor, who it seems has just dropped in 

 to see the "bee yard." 



"These large, house hives are arranged nearly as: 

 we intend to have them all arranged, as fast as we 

 can make the hives. 



"Oyes: their being so far apart will make some 

 extra travel, but we like them best that way; they 

 not only look better, but they afford us plcntii of 

 room to go among them; we have always lived in 

 the country, and never liked to be crowded even by 

 our neighbors. Again, you notice that row of win- 

 tering boxes, with bees in them, on the north side 

 of the yard. They are from three to six feet apart, 

 from cerrtre to centre. The entrance to every oth- 

 er one is reversed, part of them fronting south, and 

 part fronting north; and yet the bees are constant- 

 ly trying to enter this end of them all. There are 

 no bees in the first large hive, in front of the shop 

 door, and none in any hive mthin eight feet from it. 

 but you see 'lots' of bees flying around and lighting 

 near the centre of the south end of it, showing that 

 they belong in a similar hive. They are heavily 

 laden with pollen too, showing that thev are old 

 bees and should have their location well marked. 

 If there were bees in that hive, with an entrance t'» 

 correspond with the other, the strange bees would 

 go in there and might be destroyed. A young 



THE APIARY OF .J. H. TOWNLEY, TOMPKINS. JACIvSOX CO., MICH. 



"Come riffht up here, Mrs. Johnson; you need not 

 he afraid of the b«es; they are Italians, and if they 

 are kindlv treated they will not sting, and can be 

 handled almost a« easily as so many flies. This hive 

 is a two story, chaff packed, summer and winter 

 hive. It is the invention of Mr. A. I. Root, of 

 Medina. Ohio. He publishes a bee paper there, 

 callei Gleanixgs, and through it has given us 

 many useful and valuable implements for the 

 apiary, among which we consider this one of his 

 best. " There are now two colonies of bees in it. 

 This smaller hive, sitting inside of the upper story, 

 will be set out during the summer, directly in front 

 <if the e^trance in the centre of this end. The low- 

 '•r hive is the same size, and will remain there sum- 

 mer and winter, as will also the large inside case 

 around the upper hive, with the space between 

 them and the outside case packed with chaff. The 

 entrance to the lower hive is at the bottom, in the 

 opposite end. The frames used above, filled with 

 comb, are intended for extracted honey, and are the 

 same as those used below. They are turned half 

 way around so as to cross the lowpr ones^at right 

 angles. The upper story can be filled witn frames 

 of sections, or with boxes as we prefer. 



queen would be certain to be lost, and if. by placing 

 the hives so far apart, we can save but one or two 

 queens in a season, it will pay for the extra labor. 



"Xo. we do not consider shade essential. It is true, 

 we like to see some shade in a bee yard, but Iwe 

 have kept bees both in the shade and in the sun, 

 for more than twenty years, and. except in the case 

 of youns swarms with new combs, if it is any ad- 

 vantage to have them shaded, either for box or ex- 

 tracted honev, or to prevent swarming, we have 

 yet to learn it. 



"Yes: it icoidd save some steps, if the shop was 

 near the centre of the yard, but it is an advantage 

 too, to bo able to see over the whole yard, from any 

 part of it; to see just when and where swarms are 

 issuing; and we think the one will just about off- 

 set the other. 



"Xo; there are no bees in the pile of hives under 

 the shed. They were uspd for upper stories las?t 

 year, and are merely piled up there for future use. 



"Sorry you must go so soon; come again, when 

 the trees are in leaf, and when we have "houscns" 

 for all our bees. We think the yard will be in bet- 

 ter shape, and look much neater than it does now. 

 Good dav." J. H. Towxi.ey. 



