406 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



Trade Notes. 



HIVE-CO VERS. 



There seems to be a good deal of misunder- 

 standing as to the exact construction of our 

 double-decVced gable cover, as illustrated in our 

 catalogue, and we have therefore prepared 

 some new engravings showing it a little more 

 clearly. The sectional view at the upper left- 

 hand corner of Fig. 3 shows that it is made up 



FIG. 6. — ROOT'S GABLE HIVE-COVER. 



of 5 pieces of board, 4 of which are of ^s lumber. 

 The longer boards are nailed into the ridge- 

 board far enough apart to leave a gap. as at B. 

 This makes the ventilator —one, of course, 

 being at each end. As it is desirable nowadays 

 to have all the covers flat on the under side, the 

 two shorter ?^ boards are nailed to rabbets in 

 the gable-end pieces, as shown at E, end view. 



This cover was made in response to a demand 

 from the far western and southern friends — a 

 light, neat, double-decked cover — for something 

 that would be suitable for hot climates, or. at 

 least, more effectual to resist the sun than the 

 old-style flat cover made of % boards. The 

 ventilators at B, in the sectional view, are de- 

 signed to give plenty of top ventilation; and 

 we found in practical experience last summer 

 that colonies under such covers, exposed to the 

 direct rays of the sun. without any shading, 

 were less inclined to cluster out on hot days; 

 and, except in very hot localities, we believe 

 the ordinary shade-board would be unnecessary. 



THE HIGGINSVILLE GABLE COVER. 



Another very excellent gable cover — one that 

 is designed to take the place of the flat cover, 

 is the one devised and made by the Leahy Mfg. 

 Co., of Higginsville, Mo. The idea we consid- 

 ered so good that we asked the firm to send us 



a sample cover. We placed the same in the 

 hands of our engravers, and the result we here- 

 with show in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 shows the 

 regular gable cover, such as t^ie Leahy Co. 

 have been sending out. We have not made 

 any inquiries as to how the same is made; but 

 from a manufacturer's standpoint, we judge 

 that it is made by sawing a IJ^ board, a little 

 greater than the length of an ordinary hive- 

 body, and half its width, diagonally through 

 the thickness, in such a way as to leave two 

 pieces, each of which has one side ^ inch thick 

 by % on the other. The two thick edges are 

 put together, and cleated as shown in Fig. 1, 

 the point of meeting, or the crack, being cover- 

 ed by an ordinary ridge-piece. The ordinary 

 flat cover, made out of two K boards, half the 

 width of the hive, the union of which is covered 

 by a V-shaped strip of tin. is a very poor ar- 

 rangement — see Dr. Miller's Straws in this 

 issue. Such a cover was designed either as a 

 cheaper substitute for the single-board flat 

 cover, or to do away with the warping. While 

 it may have accomplished the latter, our own 

 experiejice, as well as that of others, has shown 

 that they leak very badly, and were decidedly 

 a poor piece of economy in the end. The Hig- 

 ginsville model, we judge, would give no trou- 

 ble from warping; would be perfectly water- 

 tight, and. moreover, answer the requirements 

 of those who prefer a single-thickness cover 

 that may be handled with one hand. 



Along with the Higginsville gable cover came 

 another sample from the same firm, showing a 

 little different combination — see Fig. 3. The 



FIG. 4.— HIGGINSVILLE GABLE f OVER AND HIVE. 



end cleats are rabbeted out as shown. This 

 would really make a stronger cover, and at the 

 same time would allow hives to be tiered up 

 one upon the other. With all the other forms 

 of gable covers, the stacking-up feature is im- 

 practicable, especially when heavy hive-bodies 

 are filled up with comb. This is really a minor 

 consideration; but it has weight with some. 



THE NEW LANGDON NON-SV^' ARMING DEVICE. 



A few issues ago we promised to give a de- 

 scription of this as soon as the inventor was- 

 ready to have its details described. He has 

 now given us authority to set forth the princi- 

 ple of its workings, as well as the construction 

 of the device itself. On account of certain en- 

 gravings not coming to hand, we are unable to 

 publish a very Interesting article by Mr. Frank 

 Benton, on the Langdon non-swarming device 

 —an article which appeared in Insect Life, 

 issued in April, 1893, by the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, Washington. D. C. 

 For the present, at least, we shall have to con- 

 tent ourselves with 'a brief description, taken 



