390 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 2, 1904. 



any more colonies than you can care for and have every- 

 thing done in good order. 



I firmly believe that better results ean be secured in 

 this way with 50 colonies, than can be with 100 on the let- 

 alone plan, or that of not seeing them more than three or 

 four times a year. 



What I want to impress upon the minds of the readers 

 of the American Bee Journal is this : That a thorough, 

 practical apiarist will succeed with almost any of the frame 

 hives now in use, by properly looking after his bees and 

 caring for them; while a careless, " scarcely ever look at 

 your bees" man will not pay his way with the best hive 

 ever invented. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



Shall Bee-Keepers Make Their Own Hives? 



BY H. C. MOREHOUSE. 



THIS is one of those peculiar questions that may be 

 truthfully answered by " yes " and "no;" a question 

 upon which bee-keepers will never all agree, and which 

 one must settle for himself, being governed wholly by indi- 

 vidual conditions. 



Some bee-keepers are fitted by both temperament and en- 

 vironment to manufacture successfully a large portion of 

 the equipment used in their apiaries ; others are not. Un- 

 questionably, it has paid me during the past four or five 

 years to make my own hives and supers ; more recently I 

 have added brood-frames, pattern slats and separators to 

 the home output, and this, also, has paid. But I have 

 neighbors that it would not pay, and who could hardly be 

 induced to undertake it — and they are wise. 



When I decided to take up bee-keeping as a life work, 

 my capital consisted of a very large stock of ambition and 

 enthusiasm and a mighty small bank account. In order to 

 get a start under these conditions I was forced to economize 

 — to stretch each dollar to the limit. I started the season of 

 1900 with IS colonies of my own, -25 leased colonies in soap- 

 boxes, and 30 empty hives. These hives were of my own 

 manufacture, and were slowly and laboriously " carved out " 

 with the proverbial "saw and hatchet." Looking back now, 

 I do not believe it paid me to make those hives in that way, 

 and I certainly would not advise any bee-keeper who can 

 convert his time into cash at the rate of one dollar per day, 

 to follow that example. However, that labor, arduous as it 

 was, was sweetened with enthusiam, and the enjoyment de- 

 rived therefrom was some recompense. 



In the succeeding years my increased annual needs in 

 this line have rendered hand-manufacture out of the ques- 

 tion. I now hire the use of the necessary machinery at the 

 planing mill, paying 25 cents per hour therefor. Of course, I 

 had to learn to use saws, dadoes, etc., and to adjust them to 

 do absolutely accurate work. This requires care rather than 

 skill and deftness, and it is not beyond the reach of the 

 average bee-keeper. My fingers are all intact, and I have 

 only been hit once by allowing a board to catch on the saw 

 — result of carelessness. 



During the present season I have made 600 10-frame 

 supers and 100 single-story 10-frame hives. A statement of 

 the cost, together with a comparison with the price of the 

 same goods, factory made, will be a convincing proof that I 

 saved enough money to make it worth while. 



The supers were made complete, including slats and 

 separators. The lumber was No. 2 stock boards, double 

 surfaced, contained some knots, and cost $24 per thousand 

 feet. The corners were halved, and hand-holds were cut in 

 the end-pieces. There is occasionally a loose knot that has 

 to be covered with tin. The work was neatly and accu- 

 rately done, will compare fairly well with any factory work. 

 They cost me, approximately, IS cents each. I figure in 

 my labor and time at $3.00 per day. Ten-frame supers, 

 eastern make, cost in Denver, 38 cents apiece. The saving 

 in cash on these supers amounts to fully $150, taking into 

 account the freight from Denver to this point. 



The hives were made in the same general manner. The 

 frames are thick-top, plain, unspaced. A plain, cleated 

 bottom, and Gill (muslin-roofed) cover, complete what, in 

 my humble judgment, is as good a hive for all practical pur- 

 poses as has ever been constructed. I am using such hives 

 side by side with the more complicated and costly afi^airs, 

 and there is no difference whatever in the results, summer 

 or winter. This lot of 100 hives in the flat cost me exactly 

 $40. Ten-frame one-story hives with "Colorado" covers 

 (not as good as the Gill cover), are quoted by Denver deal- 

 ers at $1.05 each. Here is another saving of at least $70, 

 including the freight. 



There are hundreds of bee-keepers throughout the 

 United States, situated as I am, that it would pay to manu- 

 facture their own hives, supers, etc. Especially is this true 

 of the specialists who use large quantities of such goods. In 

 localities where machinery is not readily accessible, I am 

 not sure but it would pay the bee-keepers to club together 

 and purchase the necessary machinery for doing such work. 

 The cost of a small plant is by no means prohibitory. 

 Where water-power is available the expense would be very 

 small, and where this is lacking gasoline can be utilized 

 with satisfaction and economy. 



One fallacy that bee-keepers ought to get out of their 

 heads is that good hives cannot be made of knotty lumber. 

 They can be, and, if properly painted, as all hives should 

 be. will last as long as the man who made them, and render 

 sterling service. 



Fancy, parlor-furniture hives go very well with lawn 

 apiaries, where bees are kept for pleasure rather than profit, 

 but the man who keeps bees and produces honey as a 

 solution of the "bread and butter problem," and whose 

 apiaries are scattered in all kinds of locations and exposed 

 to the fury of relentless storms and burning suns, will find 

 it to be to his advantage to tie up just as little money as 

 possible in hives and other apiarian fixtures. The elements 

 will soon reduce the most palatial " home of the honey- 

 bees" to a level with the roughest looking home-made hive,' 

 with the chances being greatly in favor of the rough hive 

 giving longer service than the "palace," and looking better 

 after five or six years of use. Boulder Co., Colo. 



[ Convention Proceedings ) 



Report of the Ououdaga Co. (N. Y.) Convention. 



The Onondaga County Bee-Keepers' Association met in 

 Syracuse, N. Y., Jan. 14, 1904. Owing to the exceptionally 

 heavy snowfall the previous day, the attendance was small. 

 The minutes of the last meeting were read by the secretary, 

 J. H. Cunningham, and adopted. Mr. Irving Kenyon, of 

 Onondaga County, then read the following paper on 



IMPROVED METHODS OF PRODUCINQ COMB HONEY. 



Upon this subject of whether we use improved methods 

 in producing our honey, depends the returns we will get for 

 our time and money spent with the bees. 



One improvement a great many, if not the majority of 

 bee-keepers, could make, is in securing their supplies in the 

 fall. November 1st is late enough to order them, and then 

 the bee-keeper won't have them in his shop much before 

 Dec. 1, if they have to go by rail. 



Having his supplies in his shop, say on Dec. 1, will en- 

 able the bee-keeper to busy himself during the stormy days 

 of winter in putting sections together and filling them with 

 foundation ; cleaning and filling supers, and any and every 

 other work that will save him time next summer during his 

 busy season. 



This will allow the bee-keeper to keep more bees, if he 

 can find pasturage for them, so he can make a business of 

 the bee-business, which I think would be an improvement 

 over keeping a few, to be neglected when the bee-keeper is 

 busy with other work, which is too often the case. 



Some bee-keepers say they don't care to have their 

 money tied up in supplies until they feel sure of the pros- 

 pects for honey, and know they will need them. When they 

 do finally send in their order for supplies, about May 1, 

 there may be SO or 100 orders ahead of theirs, and when 

 their goods are delivered to the railroad company, the bee- 

 keeper is never really sure they are coming through with 

 no vexatious delays. I have known of cases where the bee- 

 keeper, after making numerous useless trips to the freight 

 house, was worrying and wondering if Ills goods were ever 

 coming, and when they did come he was in a stew till he 

 got them ready and on the hives. By this time the season 

 was from two-thirds to three-fourths over, and the result 

 was he had a lot of unfinished sections, had lost a part of 

 the honey crop, and had just what he sought to avoid — his 

 money tied up in supplies to carry over. 



I don't know that we can call it an improved method, 



