April 14, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



277 





Contributed Articles 





Making Frames, Hives, and Supers. 



BY EDWIN BEVINS. 



A FEW weeks ago a far western bee-keeper wrote lament- 

 ing the low price of honey and the advanced and ad- 

 vancing prices of hives and other bee-supplies, and 

 asked what the bee-keeper is to do in order that he may get 

 a little profit out of the sales of his product. For the pur- 

 pose, I suppose, of helping this man and others like him 

 out of his bewilderment, Editor Hutchinson suggested that 

 bee-keepers may do some things to cheapen the cost to them 

 of things they have to use. Among other things, Mr. 

 Hutchinson said they might use frames with top-bars "s- 

 inch wide. The use of such top-bars might help to reduce 

 the cost of honey-poduction a little, and would do for a club 

 to use against the trust, but for this purpose or any other 

 purpose I would prefer a club having a little more timber. 

 When Mr. Hutchinson wrote I do not think he meant to 

 advise the use of such frames, as may be inferred from a 

 question recently asked Dr. Miller, and which the Doctor 

 was at much pains to answer. Mr. Hutchinson merely said 

 that they could be used for a purpose, and indicated the 

 purpose. 



I have used top-bars only /^-inch wideforquite a num- 

 ber of years, and am now using them for kindling wood as 

 fast as I can without destroying perfect worker-combs, and 

 substituting frames with top-bars 1 and 1-16 inches wide in 

 all hives where I useloose-hanging frames. The loose-hang- 

 ing frame is a nuisance in hives with metal rabbets. When 

 resting on a plain wooden rabbet it sometimes happens 

 that considerable force is required to loosen the frames, 

 and the pressure may cause the shoulder of a frame to give 

 way. I use frames now 1 1-16, and Js-inch up and down, 

 and have no trouble with splitting when trying to loosen 

 them. The frames with Js top-bars have too much space for 

 brace-combs between the top-bars, I have one kind of hive 

 in which I use loose-hanging frames altogether, and want 

 nothing better either in hive or frame for extracted honey. 

 I use some of them for comb honey, too. This hive has the 

 same dimensions as the 10-frame dovetailed, except that the 

 bodies are 12 inches deep instead of 9,'4. 



Dr. Miller's idea that the frame with the narrow top-bar 

 can be more easily moved from side to side to facilitate the 

 removal of the first frame is not always true. It would be 

 true if the bees would always build combs '/% inch thick and 

 no more. I frequently find the combs extended beyond the 

 lower edges of the top-bars. In such cases, how about mov- 

 ing from side to side ? I want a wider and stronger top- 

 bar than Js-inch, and shall not adopt it for the convenience 

 of the foul-brood inspector. 



1 make hive-bodies, covers, bottom-boards and supers 

 for my own use, but not frames, except in case of emer- 

 gency, like that which occurred last summer. Then I made 

 some top-bars 1 1-16 inches wide with saw and jack-knife. It 

 is not hard to do, but I prefer to economize in other ways. 

 Having made more than 200 hives, besides all of the supers 

 that are needed both for comb and extracted honey, I may 

 be supposed to know something of the cost of these things. 

 I will not give figures to fall into everybody's hands, but will 

 simply say that there are some bee-keepers, and some that 

 want to become bee-keepers, who cannot afford to buy hives 

 and supers at the prices charged by the manufacturers. 



Somewhere in this article I used the word " trust," and 

 may be challenged to tell what I know about a trust. I 

 don't know anything. One thing is significant : I have 

 under my hand a half-dozen catalogs from as many con- 

 cerns, and all cut after the same pattern, so far as prices 

 are concerned. 



Returning to the subject of making hives and supers, I 

 will say that the bee-keeper who has some leisure — some 

 time when he will not be fully employed, and is reasonably 

 handy with tools — can make a great saving by doing his 

 own work. The cost of lumber will not, or at least need 

 not, be so great as that recently given by a prominent 

 manufacturer in his own paper. When a sum equal to the 

 cost of a thing is added to it the thing comes high to the 

 user. I think that is what is done with about all the things 

 a beekeeper uses. Probably co-operation in the purchase 



of these things is the best means for bringing the prices of 

 supplies down to a point that will allow the bee-keeper to 

 secure a profit on the sales of his honey, that is within his 

 reach. Manager France got a rate on 60-pound shipping- 

 cans that was much below that of supply dealers and manu- 

 facturers in general. I see the rate has been withdrawn. 

 Why ? Was it because of pressure from these dealers and 

 manfacturers ? Co-operation will bring things around to 

 suit the buyers of cans and all other supplies if the bee- 

 keepers will it. Surely, there is some one, or some dozen, 

 among their number who can safely be made their purchas- 

 ing agent or agents. 



But I have neglected to speak to another class of bee- 

 keepers, or rather, would-be bee-keepers. I mean the poor 

 women and boys who would like to have a few colonies of 

 bees but have no money. I can point you to sources of 

 material for hives and some other things that will cost you 

 no money, or next to none. 



I have square-cornered hives that have been nailed for 10 

 years or more, and the corners show no signs of opening. 

 Let me say to the one making his own hives, to use care in 

 nailing. If your pine is very soft you can use a pretty 

 good-sized nail. From this you can draw some inferences. 



Perhaps it is the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, 

 anyhow coming events cast their shadow before. Although 

 I see nothing resembling the ensanguined field of Culloden, 

 yet I see distinctly the reign (or rain) of the four-piece sec- 

 tion. Let us have a shower of then right away. Manufac- 

 turers should make and advertise them without delay. I 

 think that I would like to try some of them myself. I am 

 tiring of the effort to make the one-piece section retain its 

 squareness. Decatur Co., Iowa. 



Tliat Honey-and-Water Problem. 



BY J. B. JOHNSON. 



ON page 84, "Subscriber" asks me to answer questions 

 concerning the deliquescent properties of honey. Now 

 I love to ask questions myself, but find it hard to give 

 an intelligent answer, however I'll offer what aid I can, and 

 try not to make it misleading. 



It is true that some bodies are deliquescent, and some 

 substances and liquids are effervescent, but this matter of 

 honey absorbing or abstracting water from air, so as to in- 

 crease its bulk almost one-half, looks unreasonable. Good, 

 thick honey is so dense that if water be added without tak- 

 ing away other ingredients it must certainly increase in both 

 weight and bulk. Honey granulated dry would no doubt 

 absorb water from the atmosphere, but not increase very 

 much, if any, in bulk, but would increase in weight. 

 Natural air always contains water, because water always 

 evaporates and goes into air ; even a block of ice, in a tem- 

 perature far below zero, evaporates to some extent. 



All moisture on earth evaporates continually, and is 

 carried in the air, and afterwards returned in the form of 

 rain, etc. A warm atmosphere always contains more water 

 than cool air under the same circumstances. A cellar, al- 

 though cooler, usually contains a more moist atmosphere 

 than the rooms above, owing to lack of ventilation, and 

 open pores of earth in floor and walls. We know that if we 

 place a box of comb honey in a damp cellar or a moist room, 

 the comb will collect water so as to be wet ; but if you place 

 a perfectly clean, dry, empty comb in the same room it will 

 also collect moisture. If you put a jar of honey in a damp 

 cellar it will gradually become thinner if exposed to the 

 air, and if left in that condition long enough there will 

 be nothing left in the jar but water and a sediment at the 

 bottom of the jar ; but during that time it would undergo 

 many changes. 



In a real damp cellar of insufficient ventilation nearly 

 everything will soon be covered with mold, caused by the 

 organisms, fungi, or other closely related organisms. All 

 mold is covered by living organisms, and moisture is very 

 necessary to their propagation. If we place honey in such a 

 room, then add a culture of the ferment Sacchromyces illip- 

 soidens (the most common alcholic ferment), a certain action 

 will take place converting the sugar into alcohol. When 

 these organisms have properly done their work, it will then 

 be a favorable medium for the organism Mycoderma aceh 

 or bacterium lineola. If some of these organisms be then 

 put into this, they will immediately begin to make further 

 changes, propagating rapidly and abstracting oxygen from 

 the air and transferring it to the alcohol, thus converting it 

 into acetic acid. Then your honey has become vinegar; 

 and if still left exposed to a moist air it would finally be- 



