A YEAR'S WORK IN AN OUT-APIARY 41 



tentlon before leaving. This keeping of grass and weeds down in front 

 of the hives is quite an item here in New York, as they spring up almost 

 by magic in a wet season like this one. From some experiments I have 

 made, by allowing the grass to "block" some hives for this purpose I 

 find that, where badly tangled, the colonies in such hives will not store 

 more than two-thirds as much honey during a good basswood yield as 

 will those having a free fllghtway. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, one of the closest observers in the bee-keeping 

 ranks, thinks that a one-third loss is too much to attribute to a "tangled" 

 entrance. But I can not help thinkinig he has never seen hives as "badly 

 tangled" up with grass as I have. The engraving does not do the 

 "tangled hive" justice. Just imagine the grass growing a foot above 

 the top of that hive and super, and that so thick that you can hardly 

 see through it. Then imagine how it would look after a south wind 

 and rain had "lodged" it right over on the hive and entrance, and left 

 it matted down there for from one to three feet over the "doorway" of 

 the hive, and you will have only a fair idea of what I have seen in 

 apiaries here in York State. Yes, I have seen this "tangle" so bad that 

 it was fairly filled with pollen-pellets torn from the "baskets" of the 

 pollen-gathering bees. And the strangest thing of it all was that the 

 owners of these "tangled hives" called themselves "bee-keepers." 



I am led to speak of this for the reason that I have found in many 

 apiaries which I have visited during basswood bloom the bees crawling 

 or hopping from spear to spear of grass or weeds, for from one to three 

 feet from their entrance, before they could arrive at home with their 

 loads. Heavy-loaded bees "tangle" much worse than those with no 

 loads, and it seems cruel to make the little fellows struggle so to reach 

 home, to say nothing about the apiarist's loss in honey. The looking 

 after all of these things is often what makes the difference between suc- 

 cess and a partial or entire failure. By this time the bees in the supers 

 above the escape-boards will have nearly all run out of them, and the 

 few remaining will go out during my wheeling them to the wagon, 

 loading and getting started. The load and the mud make slow driving 

 the order this time, and it is about 1:30 p.m. when I arrive at home. 



In the above the reader has an account of what was done at the 

 sixth visit. To be sure, there is considerable sermonizing mixed in, but 

 this seems necessary for a full understanding of the matter. 



CHAPTER Vir. 



TAKING OFF THE SURPLUS ; WHAT TO DO WITH THE UNFINISHED SECTIONS; 

 PEEPABATION FOE THE BUCKWHEAT FLOW. 



It is now July 24, and the basswood bloom is all gone. With the 

 exception of one or two days at a time, it has been rainy, cold, or windy 

 all through its bloom. If possible the weather has been worse for the 

 bees than during clover-bloom. If we could have had the good hot 



