February, 191 1. 



American l^ee Journal j 



cases in the other yards hardJy got warmed 

 up. The hives were well spotted up, show- 

 ing that the bees had indeed needed the 

 flight, and now if they had been put right 

 in the cellar all would have been well. 



However, the next day my time was 

 occupied, and the next — it started to rain 

 in torrents, then froze and formed sleet, 

 and my, what a mess the hives were in, 

 with ice all over them ! I decided to wait 

 a few days, and see if it would not sihow 

 a bit, but never a thaw showed up, and 

 after waiting until December 4th, and find- 

 ing the thermometer at zero, I put the 

 bees into the cellar. Yes, it wae a nice 



job, as all who have ever had the e.xperi- 

 ence will vouch for, but under the cir- 

 cumstances it was the best we could do. 

 The hives were all tilted well forward, 

 and that night the furnace room was left 

 open, so that the heat could go among them 

 Three days afterward I was in the cel- 

 lar and found the hives all nice and dry. 

 WTiat the outcome will be remains to be 

 seen, but from all appearances the bees 

 seem all right yet. If I had only been 

 able to put the bees into the cellar the 

 day after the flight, how nice it would 

 have been ; but, then, you see, I didn't 

 do it, so that alters the question. 



Southern 



Beedom^ 



Cnnducted by Louis H. Schoi.i . New Brauntels. Tex. 



A Season's Work in the Apiaries 



Since we have been at most of our yards 

 the past month to give the first and pre- 

 liminary examination of the colonies, we 

 have found .that our care to have all the 

 colonies with more than a sufficient 

 amount of stores in the fall, for the win- 

 ter, has paid us well. It has paid us well 

 in that the result is strong, healthy and 

 vigorous colonies of bees that will soon 

 be in the very best condition for the 

 honey-flow at any time that it may come. 

 It has paid us well, also, because we will 

 not have to resort to any of the more 

 or less messy feeding to save our colonies, 

 the result of which in the end generally 

 is that even with the best of care in feed- 

 ing, the colonies do not come out as 

 well as those that did not need the atten- 

 tion. It has paid us well, also, because 

 we have not had to worry about the fact 

 that the bees were short of stores, and 

 that they might starve in case a severe 

 spell of weather might set in before we 

 could attend to them. It is bad ■policy 

 to "rob" the stores too closely in the 

 fall, and generally results in a lot ol 

 sleepless nights for the keeper, if not 

 worse results than that. 



Finding the bees in such shape it did 

 not take long to equalize the stores of the 

 few that were not in the best shape by 

 giving to the light ones from the very 

 heavy. Out of 22 apiaries there was only 

 one where the stores were very short, 

 but this was due to the fact that the help 

 in the fall overestimated the light fall 

 flow from which the bees were to rear 

 their winter's stores. 



Overhauling the Old Supplies. 



The trips to the apiaries were taken 

 on the ver>- nice days when it "was a 

 pity to stay indoors," and it made us feel 

 a good deal better when we did have to 

 stay in when the weather was bad, know- 

 ing that the bees were now in fine shape 

 for the rest of the early spring. During 

 unfavorable weather the workshop had 

 much in store for us. The old supers and 

 all kinds of hive-parts, frames, bottoms 

 and covers, and a hundred other things 

 were thoroughly overhauled, and "made 

 practically as good as new." This is an- 

 other thing that pays. The work-shop 

 and the honey-house also were given ;i 

 thorough "spring cleaning." Now all 

 these things are out of the way and in 

 fine shape for the work to follow. 



Putting Up the New Goods. 

 Our carload of new supplies has ar- 

 rived also. We mentioned these in our 

 last article and are glad, indeed, that we 

 ordered our supplies early. Our order 



was filled immediately at the factory be- 

 cause they were not overrun as they will 

 be later, and as there was not such a 

 rush in getting out orders there was no 

 delay in the shipment arriving here in 

 due time. Now we are putting in all of 

 our spare time nailing up 3000 supers and 

 several hundred bottom-boards and covers, 

 besides a lot of other new goods that will 

 be needed later. It is a pleasure to have 

 these standing in readiness, and we are 

 not afraid of losing any possible honey- 

 flow that might come at any unexpected 

 time. It pays to have our tubs ready, 

 as the saying goes. 



Our Covers and Bottoms. 



We go to our lumber yard and pro- 

 cure as many pieces of 1x8 inches by 16 

 feet clear lumber as we will need for 

 the required number of bottoms and cov- 

 ers to be made. For the covers we will 

 place 5 or 6 of the boards, one on top 

 of another, on 2 saw-horses as evenly 

 as we can. Then we clamp them together 

 with several screw clamps so they will 

 not shift about. We then mark the whole 

 lot into 2-foot lengths, square them off 

 and saw the whole 5 or 6 boards at one 

 time. This is a great labor-saving method 

 that we have practiced for many years. 

 Next we out the bottom-boards into 21- 

 inch lengths in the same way. 



For the end cleats of both bottoms and 

 covers we take 1x12 inches, by 16 feet 

 soft lumber, and proceed with the mani- 

 fold process of cutting the boards, 5 or 

 6 at a time, into 16-inch lengths, or just 

 the width of the lo-frame hive, or what- 

 ever length is used. These short pieces 

 are then taken to a saw-mill or a plan- 

 ing-mill, where they are ripped into cleats 

 i^ inches wide. At the same time we 

 take enough plain battens, w^hich are Hk 

 zYz inches by 16 feet, out of which we 

 get the cleats for the bottom-boards upon 

 which the hives rest. For the back 

 cleats these are cut in the same wholesale 

 fashion, by clamping a bundle of 5 or 

 more together, into 16-inch lengths. The 



side strips are 19^ inches. These pieces 

 are then ripped into 3 equal widths at 

 the saw-mill, which makes them just right 

 in width after they are sawed. 



To Put Them Together. 



By referring to the illustrations you 

 will understand how the cover is put to- 

 gether by observing Fig. i. Two of the 

 2-foot or ix8x24-inch pieces are placed 

 side by side with 2 of the i6-inoh cleats 

 at each end, as shown. These are nailed 

 together by long, slim 10 D wire-nails, 

 which reach through all three thicknesses 

 of the wood, and then are clinched under- 

 neath. This makes the cover so that 

 there is no possible chance for warping. 

 Over the middle of the cover is nailed a 

 a strip of what is known as G batten, 

 which completes the cover for painting. 

 Three good coats of paint are then ap- 

 plied, and this makes a cover that will 

 outlast any other we have tried. Besides, 

 they are cheaper in first cost. They are 

 also heavy enough so that it is never 

 necessary to put unsightly stones on the 

 hives to hold them down. 



The bottom-boards are made in much 

 the same way, only that one cleat is 

 nailed at each end wath 6 D wire-nails 

 as shown in Fig 2. Then the strips 

 ripped out of the battens are nailed on 

 for the hive to rest on. This is easily 

 made, and when well painted outlasts oth- 

 ers that we have used. Its much more 

 cheap construction also is an important 

 item with us in making our bottoms and 

 covers ourselves. 



Be it remembered, however, that al- 

 though we make these we do not believe 



KlG. 



-The Scholl Hive-Bottom. 



?"iG. I.— The Scholl Hive-Cover. 



in going farther than that, and therefore 

 we order all our other hive-parts, bodies, 

 supers and frames, from the very best 

 factories. This insures us accurately made 

 hive.s, which is of the utmost importance. 

 These can not be made by hand, nor 

 with inadequate machinery. 



The Wokk on Nice, Sunnv Days. 



Whenever we have some of those beau- 

 tiful da\-s when we would like to enjoy 

 a long drive into the countr>', we go to 

 some of our apiaries that need certain 

 attention. Thus we are enabled to keep 

 up with our bees while we are preparing 

 everything in the shop, and enjoying our- 

 selves all the while at no extra expense. 

 Nor do we lose -any time by this arrange- 

 ment, for we can go out and have a pic- 

 nic while we are going to attend to some 

 of the apiaries aniles away from home. 

 .And it is this that makes bee-keeping both 

 profitable and pleasant. Bee-keeping for 

 pleasure as weU as for profit sounds good, 

 and if one can make it so, why should 

 he not? 



Bull( Comb Honey and Granulation 



Several times I have been asked the 

 question as to what course was taken to 

 prevent the granulation of bulk comb 



