DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEES -A^ISTD BTOLSTEYT. 
Vol. IL MARCH 1. 1874. No. Ill 
MOW TO CONDUCT AN APIARY. 
No. 3. 
IV S “ order is heavens first law” we trust we 
jr_^ shall be excused for considering that the 
llist^ work to be done in March is to put the 
Apiary in complete order. Even before the 
bees are removed from their winter quarters 
we would insist that all rubbish of every des- 
cription be cleaned up, if any has collected du- 
ring the winter, and to avoid the unpleasant- 
ness of walking about in the soft ground we 
would the first thing, get a load or two of 
clean sawdust and make paths of it, to where 
each hive is to stand, and a good broad one to 
your own door. 
As soon as the bees are in their places we 
shall expect you to see to every hive daily, and 
we appeal to the lady of the house if it is not 
too much to tolerate having muddy feet con- 
stantly coming in, to say nothing of the injury 
to your own health, from standing in the mud 
or wet ground and grass, if you should happen 
to make a prolonged stay at something un- 
usual about some of the hives ; besides wher- 
ever “Papa” or “sister” or “ Auntie” goes, of 
course the little ones will want to go too, in 
fact should go, and we want to make it a pleas- 
ant place for all. When we first took possess- 
ion of our present apiary so many of the bees 
got drowned during their first flight in the 
spring in puddles and standing water, that we 
got exasperated and in spite of frost and snowy 
weather we went at it bodily and cut under- 
drains 30 inches deep across the whole piece 
every two rods, and then as no tile were pro- 
curable right oft', we sawed up pine dry goods 
boxes and covered the drains with short boards 
laid crosswise, then filled them up. That was 
eight years ago this spring and there has never 
been any standing water since, about our 
apiary. 
A pine half barrel let in the ground at a 
place where several of the drains meet, affords 
a view at all times of the working of them, and 
they have never failed to take away all surplus 
water. 
We presume the success of our Concords de- 
pends somewhat on these same underdrains, 
and by the way these grape vines should be 
pruned, by cutting all shoots down within two 
buds of the horizontal arms, as soon as this 
reaches our readers If It has not been done be- 
fore. The proper time for pruning varies with 
different localities, but it should be done soon 
enough to prevent bleeding if possible, but 
prune them any way, for of all untidiness, a 
grape vine sprawling about the ground or ma- 
king a brushheap of itself in an apiary is the 
most lamentable. Your success pecuniarily 
absolutely depends on keeping every thing 
trimmed up neatly; and while we think of it 
perhaps you had better make your sawdust 
paths first, then you can work around the 
vines and bees with pleasure. 
We believe we never enjoyed ourselves better 
than when we had a wheelbarrow full of saw- 
dust, the article being just scarce enough here 
to make it precious, and our “better half’s” 
dust pan, (that was before the apiary could 
afford one of its own) with which we sprinkled 
just enough in the mud to make a clean foot- 
ing, then rolled our barrow along and built a 
little further until we had white streets along 
beside and in front of the hives, that so capti- 
vated tlie children, they were ready to scream 
With delight, when told they were expected to 
get the fire shovels and run over the paths and 
pat the sawdust down until all was smooth 
and hard ; stepping oil' into the mud subjects 
them to tlie penalty of being chased by “Papa’s” 
wheelbarrow. 
Weak colonics and in fact all of them should 
be well protected by Quilts, and if each colony 
can have two or three ’twill not lie amiss in 
tlie spring. See that there is no crack nor 
crevice where the warm air from the cluster 
can escape, and keep the entrance so small that 
the bees can just pass out and in. As tlie frost 
is leaving tlie ground the stands will have a 
tendency to thaw on the south side first and 
thus tip them out of true ; but until we can 
decide upon some remedy, which seems not so 
easy, we can watch them and prop up one side 
a little until tlie frost is out. 
We hope a number of our readers will try 
the forcing plan given on another page, or will 
even try bedding a hive in the south side of a 
manure heap or one extemporized for tlie pur- 
pose. We can at least thus at small expense 
try the effect of a raised temperature, with ab- 
solute protection from all frosts, on brood rear- 
ing in the spring. 
In regard to stimulative feeding in spring 
we really know of no better way than the “dry 
sugar” given last month ; when the weather is 
such they cannot fly, turn up one corner of 
their quilt gently in the evening, and pour a 
few spoonfuls on tlie cluster. 
’Tis true by cutting a hole through the quilt 
and covering it with wire cloth, we might do 
it a little handier, or we might use a variety 
of feeders but we dislike having so many traps 
around or having so many quilts with holes 
cut through them. 
