1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



51 



upon which the hive is placed without fastening; 

 but when reversed again, in the fall it must be fas- 

 tened to the hive, to remain so till placed where it 

 is to stay the following spring on its summer stand. 

 Just what the best thing was to fasten with, was 

 not easy to determine. At one time I thought to 

 use hooks for fastening; but a little experience 

 with \andeusen clamps taught me that, after be- 

 coming a little old, there was some difficulty in get- 

 ting the parts to fit properly together. Besides, 

 there is some objection to having a hook, or any 

 thing that projects, so as to prevent an entirely 

 plane surface. Then I thought nothing would be 

 quite so satisfactory as to have four screws let into 

 the bottom, screwing the bottom firmly to the hive. 

 But my assistant objected to setting a hive full of 

 bees on its end twice each year to put in and take 

 out the screws. Finally an old cabinet-maker ad- 

 vised me to fasten the hive on the bottom in the 

 same way that the frame of a common table or 

 stand is fastened to the top. An inch bit bores a 

 shallow hole in the side of the hive, which is 

 lengthened by a gouge chisel, and then the hive is 

 turned upside down, and a quarter-inch hole is 

 bored through in a slanting direction, to come out 

 at the side of the hive in the first-named hole. Thus 

 the hive can be placed on the bottom-board, and 

 four 1^-inch screws, two on each side, perhaps 

 three inches from each corner, can be screwed in, 

 holding the two together in a very solid manner. 



So far I am much pleased with the more than 200 

 of these bottom-boards in use. I am, however, dis- 

 appointed in the ease of putting them on. It is 

 difficult to set the hive exactly to fie the saw-kerf 

 mentioned; and as the hives sometimes get out of 

 square, the difficulty is increased. I think next 

 summer I shall try leaving some of them fastened 

 without reversing; and for the summer, put in a 

 thin board with cleats under, or perhaps a shallow 

 box made of thin stuff, and inverted, leaving a 

 shallow space under the bottom-bars. I shall be 

 glad of suggestions, whether my general plan be 

 approved or not. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Dec. 16. 



It is true, friend M., that you have never 

 had a desire to invent a hive, but you have 

 helped us here at the Home of the Honey- 

 bees a good deal in deciding upon the de- 

 tails of the construction of a good many 

 things One of the things, however, that 

 we could not quite agree upon was the bot- 

 tom-board of the Dovetailed hive, as you 

 will remember. You argued in favor of 

 one made reversible, essentially as you de- 

 scribe and illustrate above. Now, the ob- 

 jections that I would have to the one you 

 illustrate is, that it would be more expen- 

 sive. Another thing, a body that would be 

 adapted to such a bottom-board could not 

 be used for a super, because such a body 

 would have to be a bee-space deeper below 

 as well as above the frames, and that would 

 not work, you know% in tiering up. It is 

 true, there will be some advantage in in- 

 verting the bottom-board, as you describe, 

 during winter; but, really, is "it necessary? 

 Is there not a cheaper and simpler way? 

 Why not leave the bottom-board off entire- 

 ly? When we carried our forty colonies 

 into my front cellar, we removed the bot- 

 tom-boards from all except from some 

 seven or eight colonies. The bottomless 



hives we piled one above the other, after the 

 manner of H. R. Boardman (see Glean- 

 ings, p. 319, 1889). The dead bees drop out, 

 I find, very nicely, in between the hives. 

 There is plenty of bottom ventilation, and I 

 am sure from what I now know that I 

 should not want a bottom, even if reversi- 

 ble. During all the warm weather we have 

 been having, the bees in the cellar have 

 been remarkably quiet ; and the number of 

 dead bees on the floor, I should say, was 

 very small in comparison with the number I 

 saw at Mr. Boardman's repositories. Now, 

 doctor, you do not always winter bees suc- 

 cessfully in the cellar, if I remember cor- 

 rectly, and yet 11. R. Boardman does so in- 

 variably. Don't you believe that you would 

 have just as good success as he, by leaving 

 off all the bottom-boards altogether, and 

 piling the hives up in the cellar quincunx 

 fashion— that is, one hive covering the 

 space between two others below? and if 

 that were a fact, wouldn't the reversible 

 feature on your bottom-board be an unnec- 

 essary expense?— Now in regard to the mat- 

 ter of fastening bottom-boards for hauling 

 bees. I have tried the screws on some .>5 

 colonies, the bottom-boards being screwed 

 on while the hive was empty and the body 

 turned upside down. When we brought the 

 bees up from the bass wood apiary to my 

 house, and when we came to remove these 

 screws from the hives containing full colo- 

 nies, you may imagine that we had a— well, 

 " a picnic." Mr. SpafOord held the hive up 

 in the air w^hile I crouched down under, 

 with screwdriver, and wormed away until I 

 thought my neck would break. Occasional- 

 ly a bee would come out when the screw- 

 driver slipped. But your plan of putting 

 the screws in from the top, toenail fashion, 

 would obviate all this trouble. But there is 

 this objection to it— it would take too long, 

 fastening and unfastening the bottoms. 

 Now, Rambler's plan of passing a loop 

 around the bottom - board and cover, and 

 twisting it taut with a stick, works very 

 nicely. It holds both cover and bottom when 

 removing the bees. A better plan is a double 

 loop, which I will explain in the depart- 

 ment of Our Own Apiary later. Both bot- 

 tom and cover are made perfectly secure 

 for moving bees, and for any other purpose, 

 except for shipping. Ernest. 



HONEY-DEAAT FROM PINE. 



SOME OF IT STORED DURING THE LATTER PART 

 OF DECEMBER. 



Mr.^A. I. Root:— Having seen many articles in 

 Gleaninos about the poor quality of honey-dew, 

 and they not corresponding with our experience 

 here, you will please allow me to state in your col- 

 umns, that ours in Virginia is an entirely different 

 article; and to prove my assertion I inclose a few 

 pine leaves coated with it. I also send by this mail 

 a vial containing a sample collected this morning, 

 by placing the point of a penknife under the drops, 

 many of which were as large as would hang on the 

 leaves. Bees are swarming on them, and the 

 queens are laying. We often have this honey-dew, 

 but I have never known it to come in midwinter be- 

 fore— generally in August or September. Please 



