370 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



torn. This bottom-piece must have a passage cut 

 out of the bottom of the piece for a bee-passage. 

 We line upon the inside with half inch lumber. If 

 the lumber is dry, put it from front to rear. 



About those bee-passages, or entrances, through 

 the lining: We want for each hole a block I'i inch- 

 es thick, about three or four inches square. Bore a 

 l!4-inch hole through it; put those blocks in be- 

 tween the side and the lining, to correspond with 

 the holes through the side, and nail through the 

 lining to hold them in place. Fill in between the 

 outside of the hive and inside lining with some kind 

 of packing. We use chaff, well packed in, as we 

 are putting in the lining. Put a piece IV2 inches on 

 top of the chaff, so the lining will be even with the 

 top of the hive. Wenail a 11^-inch strip across the 

 open side. Let it reach half across the partition at 

 the left-hand end. This piece is for a tie to hold 

 the side from springing off. 



We want two loose cushions, shown at B, Fig. 3. 

 Make them 13;4 inches wide, and half as long as the 

 distance from the bottom of the hive up to the top, 

 80 they will just slip in under the tie. They will be 

 about Sl.V inches long, 3 inches thick, one side 

 boarded up with half-inch lumber. The other side 

 is covered with cloth. Eight-ounce duck is what 

 we use. Fill them with chaff. On the lower cush- 

 ion. Fig. 2, B, there are two strips, ?« of an inch, 

 nailed (on the board side of the cushion) to secure a 

 passageway for the bees between the cushion and 

 the outside of the comb. Put the cushions in with 

 the board side nest to the bees. The movable sides 

 are made in two pieces, cleated at each end. The 

 lower one rests on a cleat that is nailed on the bot- 

 tom-board, and beveled a little outward to carry ofif 

 any water that gets into the joint. It is held in 

 place by buttons. The upper half-side rests on the 

 lower one, and has a two-inch cleat across the top, 

 and halved on to the cleats that are on the stationa- 

 ry sides. This cleat helps to hold up the cover. 

 There is a pair of buttons near the top of this door 

 to hold it in place. Fig. 3, H, standing on the ground 

 is one of the honey-boards cleated at each end, 

 made just large enough to cover one of the divi- 

 sions, when it reaches half way across the parti- 

 tions. They are laid on loose. Be sure that they 

 lie down tight, so no bees can go under them from 

 one division to another. Those two holes in the 

 board are for a feeder to be set over them, in 

 case we want to feed. We keep the holes covered 

 with wire cloth, when not wanted for feeding. 

 The lower set of frames stands on the bottom of 

 the hive— see Fig. 1. The upper set stands on top 

 of the lower set. We cut strips of perforated zinc 

 3 inches wide. These we place, one on each side of 

 the lower combs, for the upper frames to stand on. 

 Hanging on the hive. Fig. 2, is an empty frame, 

 top end down. They are of pine, ''^Xh The bot- 

 toms of the side pieces are cut off on a slant, so the 

 frame stands on a point. The top ends are left 

 square. The frames should be 20:'8 inches long. 

 The top-bar is cut 13% inches long from point to 

 point, and projects beyond the sidebars (engrav- 

 ing is not strictly correct), and are cut off on a slant 

 of I of an inch. The bottom and middle bais are 

 115i inches long, cut Fquare. Put the bottom-bar 

 up about an inch from the point of the side-bar, 

 and the middle bar up more than half way. The 

 top-bar is nailed on to the ends of the side-bars. 

 Kach end of top-bar should extend % of an inch be- 

 yond the sides. 



To keep the frames apart the proper distance, we 

 drive into the back side of the frames four common 

 three-penny nails— two in the top-bar, one near 

 each end, and a nail in each of the side bars about 

 four or five inches up from the bottom. Drive 

 them in so far that the width of the frame and 

 what sticks out of the nail will be VA inches. In 

 use, set in the first frame with nails back against 

 the back of the hive, and each frame after. The 

 nails will do the spacing. The hive will hold nine 

 frames and the movable cushion. 



For a cover (see Fig. 2) we use a board under the 

 eaves, 7 inches wide, the gable board 13 inches at 

 the peak. By reference to the engraving you will 

 see that the cover is in two pieces, and hinged with 

 heavy four-inch strap-iron hinges to hold the two 

 halves together. We put in between the gables two 

 four inch strips— one on each side of the peak un- 

 der the roof-boards; nail through the gables into 

 the ends of them. This makes three thicknesses at 

 the ridge, so it will not sag in the middle. When 

 the roof is all done and the hinges on, we next saw 

 the gable-end boards in two in the middle. The two 

 half-roofs are now held together only by the hinges, 

 so that, in working with the bees, we don't have to 

 take the cover off, but turn one half over on to the 

 other half; then we can work two colonies, after 

 which we can reverse the cover, and work the oth- 

 er two. In the winter we fill the top chamber with 

 straw or chaff cushions, but we leave the honey- 

 boards on, putting the filling above the honey- 

 boards. 



For a stand to set the hive on we use good strong 

 stakes, three feet long, of good durable timber. We 

 sharpen the ends and drive them into the ground 

 nearly the whole length, so as to leave five inches 

 out. This forms a square of 30 inches. We then 

 drive a fifth stake in the center, after which we 

 level all with a good spirit-level. Nail two four- 

 inch strips of inch lumber across the top of the 

 stakes, 30 inches long, and a short piece on the 

 middle stake; see that the stand is level and out of 

 wind. Then set on the hive. Don't let the ends of 

 the strips stick out beyond the hive. They will 

 take water under, and rot the bottom of the hive. 

 On top of the hive are two of our smokers. 

 Platteville, Wis., April, 189). E. France. 



No doubt many of the friends think the 

 shot-tower hive a complicated matter, and 

 some will ask why it is better than an ordi- 

 nary hive. Perhaps it is not any better for 

 the majority of bee-keepers, but it is cer- 

 tainly larger. The hive is so big, in fact, 

 that the bees never get out of stores, rarely 

 get weak in numbers, and they have so 

 much room they seldom swarm. All these 

 things lit it eminently for au out-apiaiy, 

 when it is not to be looked at, perhaps, for 

 weeks at a time. Now, I may have got it 

 wrong ; but if I am correct, friend F. some- 

 times takee a barrel of honey from one of 

 these hives at a single visit. In fact, the 

 hive is so well arranged to take care of it- 

 self, that a great deal of the time all he has 

 to do with them is to go and get his barrel 

 of honey whenever the bees have gathered the 

 barrel full. Remember, each comb is toward 

 14x20 inches square, and there are 72 of these 

 great combs in each hive. Now, if these 

 combs should average 5 pounds each, vou 

 have your barrel full, and more too. But 

 please do not go and make a great lot of 



