March 1908,] 



259 



Apiculture. 



The roof is more complicated, as it is 

 so constructed as to hold the frames in 

 place, so that, when lifted off, the frames 

 come with it. Fig. I. will give vou an 

 idea of how to arrange for this ; but 

 there are several methods employed ; 

 and probably your own ingenuity will 

 be able to improve on it. Over all should 

 come a second roof of tarred paper whose 

 edges hang well down over the sides of 

 the tiny hive. 



I am myself inclined to prefer having 

 a round hole in the under roof £ inch in 

 diameter, and to cut the top-bars of the 

 frames to correspond. Then either a 

 sealed cell or a virgin in a round cage 

 can be slipped in without disturbing the 

 bees. This hole can be plugged, when 

 not in use, by means of a grafting-plug— 

 or, better still, a cork. 



And now to stock your little hives 

 with workers. Let one comb in each 

 contain honey or syrup, and the other be 

 empty or consist of foundation. By 

 cutting up a full comb, you can easily 

 attach it to the little frames by means 

 of wax. Take the frame containing the 

 queen from a colony and place it in an 

 empty hive, letting that hive occupy the 

 old hive's original position. Then smoke 

 and drum the old hive, so as to make the 

 bees gorge. Then shake them off their 

 combs into the hive and hang the combs 

 in the new hive with the queen. If the 

 bees are properly filled with honey, they 

 will not sting nor fly out of their hive 

 when shaken, but, when the final comb 

 is shaken, will cluster on the side. Move 

 your mating-boxes up close to this hive, 

 and, lifting off the lids one by oue with 

 one hand, with the other scoop up two 

 or three cupfuls of bees from the cluster 

 and dump them into the small boxes, 

 closing down the lids at once- If the 

 entrance-hole has been previously closed, 

 they will, in six hours, be ready to 

 accept a virgin when run in among them. 



It is as well to remove all your nuclei 

 to a place at least a mile away, ranging 

 them round a hive containing the drones 

 you wish to mate with your queens. In 

 five days you should, if the weather has 

 been fine, find that the young queen has 

 laid eggs, when she can be at once dis- 

 posed of, and a second introduced. As 

 the boxes now contain open brood, a 

 virgin cannot be run in as before ; but a 

 sealed cell can be given, or a virgin can 

 be introduced in a cage. 



You will note in Fig. I. that the frames 

 of the nuclei are so attached to the roof, 

 that they can easily be moved slightly 

 to one side to facilitate examination for 

 eggs or queen. 



Sometimes you will see a cluster of 

 bees hanging on the outside of a populous 



hive and doing no work. It is a sign 

 that the hive is very full and about to 

 swarm. But there is no reason why you 

 should leave these bees in idleness if 

 you have other work for them. Spray 

 them with syrup, and then scoop them 

 into a mating-box. Or again, you can 

 take a scoop from a natural swarm with- 

 out materially weakening it. There are 

 various ways of filling up your boxes ; 

 and probably you will be able to devise 

 other methods of obtaining a few bees 

 yourself. 



Unless you are pressed for room, leave 

 the newly-mated queen in her mating- 

 box for a week, as the eggs she then lays 

 will be sufficient to keep up the nucleus 

 to proper strength. Otherwise you may 

 have to add bees to your nuclei from time 

 to time by hand. 



Fig. II. will give you a rough idea of 

 the appearance of a mating-box ; and I 

 have only to call to your mind that 

 smoke, or thin warm syrup will always 

 quiet bees sufficiently to permit hand- 

 ling ; and that you must always be ex- 

 tremely careful in touching a queen, so 

 as not to impair her laying capacities. 

 III. 



A few words may not be out of place 

 here with regard to the financial side of 

 bee-keeping. And let me say at once 

 that I would not have the beginner run 

 away with the idea that he is going to 

 make a small fortune out of this industry. 

 To do so requires years of experience ; 

 and even then a man should possess 

 several hundreds of hives and combine 

 the production and sale of honey with a 

 factory for the supply of apiarists' 

 lequisities. At the same time, however, 

 there is no doubt that a small apiary, pro- 

 perly managed, ought to provide its 

 owner with a delicacy for his table, and, 

 at least in part, pay the rerit of his house. 

 It may even do this last altogether— it 

 depends much on the mau,- and, in 

 addition, put a few rupees into his 

 pocket. Let us consider, therefore, the 

 expenses of a year's working on five 

 hives, together with the capital outlav. 



I will suppose that the apiarist decides 

 to go in for the native mee-messa. A 

 hive such as I have described will cost 

 him about Rs. 10 ; frames and dummy- 

 boards Rs. 2"50 ; bees— supposing that he 

 joins up three stocks from chatties into 

 one— at the outside Rs. 6. Total per 

 hive Rs. 18'50. Total for the five hives 

 Rs. 92-50. 



We will suppose that he has laid out 

 Rs. 20 on small accessories from England, 

 for which sum he will have got a great 

 deal— enough foundation, for instance, 

 to last him many years. His capital, 

 therefore, is Rs. 112'50 at the outside. 



