MANAGEMENT OE OUT-APIARIES 53 



piling away these escape-boards, as there is nothing about the apiary that 

 is out of use for so long a time during the year as are these. The plat- 

 form on -which they are piled should be flat and level; otherwise, after 

 ten or eleven months of storage, the whole number may be found "out 

 of wind," and so twisted, or tjie joints pulled apart, or both, that cracks 

 large enough to admit a bee will be the result. Several times did I find 

 them thus before I realized what was the trouble, and in one instance 

 I had two supers, of 44 nice completed sections each, robbed out between 

 the visits I made when leaving supers over escape-boards till I visited 

 the apiary again. Had this been at the home yard, this robbing would 

 have been noticed; but with an out-s^piary there is no one to see or look 

 after such things, which makes it very important that every thing at 

 such an apiary be in apple-pie order at all times. Many do not seem 

 to realize the value of bee-escapes in ridding all supers or tiered-up hives 

 of bees with so little trouble. I consider the Porter bee-escape of great 

 worth; and especially at an out-apiary I would almost as soon think 

 of going back to the days of box hives as to be obliged to rid the supers 

 of bees in the way we used to do before these escapes came into being. 

 Therefore, it pays well to look after these, that they may be kept in good 

 order. Some are deterred from starting out-apiaries by what they con- 

 sider necessary — an outlay for buildings to store things in ; for stould 

 they continue only a year or two at any place with an outyard, such 

 buildings would be almost an entire loss. But I do not find it necessary 

 to have any thing more at the out-apiary than a few extra hives and 

 covers, and often all but two or three of these get into the bees' possession 

 before the season's work is ended. Smoker fuel, smoker, bee-veil, tools, 

 etc., are stored in these hives; and with the flnish-up in the fall all are 

 piled away as I have given, where they stand right in the bee-yard 

 all the fall, winter, and spring, till they are needed again, the hives and 

 supers giving all the protection that I find necessary in this locality, 

 and all that is needed in any locality, in my opinion, unless it should 

 be the "wild and woolly" West, where thieves are liable to carry off 

 every thing not under lock and key. And even th-ere a few pounds or 

 sections of honey handed out to those living near the out-apiary will 

 generally win for miles around. No one knows how a few sections of 

 honey given to the half-dozen families living near the out-apiary will 

 sweeten for miles around, till they try it. The few receiving these little 

 tokens will be your friends; and as those further away are the friends 

 of these few, the good words they say about you will make friends of 

 t^e whole; so that "all will almost fight for you, and if they want some 

 honey they will come to you to purchase it, never thinking of taking- it 

 otherwise. But be stingi/ with the product of your out-apiary, so the few 

 nearest it call you "a louse," then there will be no end to the annoyance 

 you will have, and I gaiess this will apply in nearly equal terms to the 

 home yard as well. 



WEIGHING UP THE HIVES. 



When I come to the colonies which were tiererl, T weigh them, as 

 some are liable to be short of stores, through storing too much in the 

 combs above; and any that are light are supplied with plenty by giving 

 them full combs taken frgm the "heavy'' pile in exchange for thei? 



