AT WORK. 49 



bloom, so that scarcely any honey could be gather. 

 ed, would come two or three weeks of beautiful 

 weather, during which the bees would have no 

 work. These times of enforced idleness, coming at 

 periods when the weather is usually excellent for 

 the bees to work, seemed to me a serious drawback. 

 If one's bees could work every pleasant day, from 

 early spring until late in the fall, the honey product 

 would be immensly increased. It was a problem 

 upon which I began to think from day to day ; with 

 what success will be seen by and by. 



Satisfied that my location was as good as could 

 be found in the north, and putting aside the subject 

 of periods of enforced idleness as one of the ques- 

 tions that would do to chew upon, I next reviewed 

 my hives, frames, and apparatus. In the light of 

 all that I could learn from books and bee journals, 

 my arrangements were perfect, except that I discov- 

 ered two or three omissions in purchasing. The 

 hives must be set perfectly level, if I would have 

 the combs hang true in the frames. For this pur- 

 pose a spirit-level was needed. While extracting 

 honey the extractor would need to stand in the 

 work-shop at one side of the bee-yard. Hence the 

 frames must be carried from the hives to the 

 shop, and to do this some kind of a comb-carrier 

 was necessary. The Quinby smoker 8 would be 

 of use only as there was material for it to make 



