People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1893 — VENTILATING HIVES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VENTILATING HIVES.

Th ore I» Re*Hy Little Danger of Chilling the Brood in Summer. I have always had more or less trouble every season with combs melting down and causing the bees to leave the hive. Swarms that are hived on empty combs and extracting supers often break down, especially if they are set in the sun. In the majority of nay frames the combs are not wired in, but built from “starters ” I am not sure but that it is more economical in the end to have combs built from full •heets of foundation that have been firmly braced by line wire. I have never bad any trouble with such combs, but the cost is considerably more than when built from “starters.” Some of my hives are exposed to the sun, and when large swarms are placed on unwired combs they are very apt to break down unless well ventilated or shaded. Extracting supers are still worse, for when the combs are nearly filled with honey and break it makes a very nasty, dauby mess. By giving thorough ventilation we can overcome this trouble to a great extent I often raise the hive about one-half inch from the bottom board, and also raise the cover. This gives a direct draft clear through the hive. Generally, it will be sufficient to raise the cover daily. Sometimes, during heavy wind storms, they will blow off unless a weight is put on them. I have had colonies get quite a drenching by the cover getting blown off; but never could see that it did them any injury, as they can quickly dry themselves. On a warm day we can always see quite a number of bees at the entrance, rapidly moving their wings; evidently they are trying to create a current of air through the hive, perhaps, for two purposes—to ripen newly gathered honey, and to keep the hive at the proper temperature. I have seen statements where the writer thought they were young bees testing their wings. It may be, but I think the main object is to ripen honey and ventilate the hive. They are much more noticeable in strong colonies than in weak ones, and the strong ones generate much more heat. I have my bees in the shade when convenient, and also ventilate them. There is no danger in chilling the brood, or making the wax too cool for them to work unless the weather is very cool. This applies to the honey season only, or when the weather is pretty warm, and not for spring or fall treatment.—E. S. Mead, in Ohio Farmer.

DRINKING FOUNTAIN. How One .Poultryman Utilized an Old Quart Bottle. An inexpensiva| drinking fountain may be made by fastening an ordinary quart bottle to a'board, as shown in the illustration, A being the board and B B the clamps which hold the bottle in place. A hook or loop at the top of the board will serve to hang the bottle to the wall of the poultry house. A piece of wire should be attached to the mouth of the bottle to prevent the bottle from resting on the bottom of the drinking pan underneath. Fill the bottle with water, turn it upside down in the pan, and the pressure of the atmosphere will prevent the water from

flowing out of the bottle only as it is lowered by the drinking of the water by the fowls. If preferred, the clampfe (B B) may be attached to a post or to the wall, and the bottle removed from the clamps when filled. —Farm and Fireside. PICKING THE GEESE. The When and How Depend Upon the Feed and Care. In answer to the query: “How often in one season ought geese to be picked?” a farmer with fourteen years’ experience answers, in the Philadelphia Farm Journal, that it depends entirely on the feed run and explains the whole situation as follows: They feather out more quickly where they are permitted to run on green pasture and have abundance of good water to drink. Every ten weeks should find them under such treatment with a good coat of feathers. Do not pick until laying is over. Geese cannot be artificially molting and producing strong eggs at the same time. Never pick them in cold weather. When ready to pick, which the experienced geese raiser can tell by the color of the plumage (if ready there will be no yellowish tinge on the white feathers, but to be sure pick a few from the breast of the goose), the feathers come easily and are dry at the quill end. If not ripe, they are soft and bloody. And this is one of the reasons why storebought feathers sometimes have such a disagreeable odor. The best guide, experience, xells us to take only a small pinch of feathers in the fingers ata time, and with a quick downward jerk, from tail to neck, displace the first coat of feathers with only a very little of the second coat, the down. Do not pick the bolsters, those large feathers under the wings. If you do, the poor creature’s wings will droop continually. When the goose dies we cac strip these off for filling pillows ioj home use. But never take them frost the geese while living. *

“There’s a roomer in the air," muttered the impecunious seventh-floor lodger, as he slid down the rope that led from his window to the back alley, “that the landlord won’t be able to trace, and I’ll bet on it!"

BOTTLE DRINKING FOUNTAIN.