THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



the first nice prime swarm, for which I 

 paid $5.00 in work on his farm. In- 

 creased to two the first season; to seven 

 the next; and with the increase and what 

 I have purchased the past 14 years, I 

 now am in possession of 375 colonies. 



1 will state here that the bees have 

 been my main support while I have been 

 increasing my numbers. With returns 

 from them I have cleared up a farm of 

 20 acres, just out of town, built fairly 

 good buildings, and have some $3,000 

 worth of bees and supplies on hand. 

 Have been married the past three years- 

 have two children. 



I am telling you the above to show 

 that, with proper care and management, 

 the busy bees will bring you remunera- 

 tive returns for their keep. 



I will also state here that it is more to 

 help the novice than the expert that I 

 would write. It is often hard to change 

 the ways of the staid old bee keeper. 

 'Tis just as well, perhaps, but let the 

 young man that enters the field investi- 

 gate the different methods and devices. 

 Let him be sharp-shod all the while, and 

 he will not slip because of his inability to 

 master some little apparent vexatious 

 problem that may, and always will, come 

 up. 



NAILING AND WIRING BROOD FRAMES. 



You will note by the frontispiece that 

 I use the self-spacing, Hoffman style of 

 frames. These frames are made by 

 myself at a factory here in town. Being 

 familiar with the workings of the 

 machines, the management rents me the 

 use of the machines that I may wish to 

 use in making the frames. 



To start with, in nailing, 1 lay a 16- 

 ft. X 2x9-inch plank on good solid foun- 

 dation at the proper heighth for nailing. 

 I then nail four strips 1 x 1 >^ inches x 

 1 6 feet long, to the top side of the plank. 

 One strip is nailed fiush with the back 

 edge, another flush with the front edge, 

 and the other two so that an inch-space 

 is left between all the strips. These 

 strips should be of even thickness, as 

 the end-bars to the frames are laid 



crosswise of the strips, and the spaces 

 between the strips are so that the nails 

 which are to be driven through the end- 

 bars, later to be bent into hooks to thread 

 the wire on, may not penetrate the plank. 



I now nail another thin strip to the 

 edge of the strip farthest from me, so 

 that it sticks up 3-16 of an inch. This 

 is used as a "bumper" to crowd the end- 

 bars up against in filling up the plank. 

 To fill the plank with end-bars, I start 

 in at the left end of the plank, first nail- 

 ing one end-bar fast, solid, then filling up 

 the plank; which, if self-spacing frames 

 are used, will hold 135 pieces. I crowd 

 them together tight, and drive a two- 

 penny nail in the last bar to hold them 

 in place. If the end-bars sag down in 

 the middle, tack a two-penny nail in at 

 intervals to hold them in place. 



Now take a straight-edge and lay 

 across the bars, over the space between 

 the strips, and mark along the full length 

 of the plank. This will require three 

 marks in all, there being three spaces 

 and three nails required in each end-bar 

 to bend for threading the wire. Let me 

 say here that should you desire the wire 

 to be closer the top or bottom, that you 

 can regulate that to suit yourself by 

 using a narrower strip at top and bottom. 

 In this case it will leave the wires two 

 inches from top- and bottom-bars, if you 

 drive the nails in the center of the space, 

 less the thickness of bottom-bar, and the 

 distance you rabbet out in the end-bars. 

 I think the illustration will make it plain 

 to you, so that you will have no trouble 

 in figuring it out, should you desire to 

 try this method of nailing for wiring. 



I am now ready to nail. First, I distribute 

 two-penny fine nails along on top of the 

 end-bars, and start in at the right side 

 to nail. I drive a nail on each mark 

 made on each bar, and am careful to 

 drive them in the center of the end-bar 

 and drive them straight, so that when 

 they pass through the bar they will be 

 in the center of the underside ready to 

 be bent when the proper time comes. 



After driving these wiring nails through, 



