1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



897 



bees some 40 yeaiv^. often having as many as 

 600 colonies, exhibited a hive of lus invention, 

 worlved on the principle of the New Heddon 

 hive, only his is 14'4 incii(>s wide, and 15 inches 

 from front to real', wiiile Ileddon's is Ir^'''^ wide 

 and ISV inciies from front lo rear. The iiive is 

 in two i)arts. as is Ilcddon's. He said lie used 

 that princii)le wiicn ili'ddon was ii hoy. and lie- 

 fore he kei)t bees. 



One featnre of thr hive we liked much was 

 the band to set nndei- tlie hive in wintering, to 

 raise up the frames one inch liigiier than in the 

 summer, as that is wliat we i)ractice in our own 

 apiary, and it prevents tlie iiives clogging with 

 dead bees in the winter. I believe I shall like 

 his double super tO(>. as it will be so much light- 

 er for me to lift when full of honey, as I nearly 

 paralyzed my arms in the summer of 1SS9 l)y 

 lifting lH)ney and heavy hive-covers. 1 believe 

 it would be wise, where men expect their wo- 

 men-folks to care mostly for any one apiary, to 

 make ail the supplies, hives, covers, and all, 

 as light as possible, for this reason. Several of 

 us lady bee-keepers there at the convention at 

 once said that that was a woman's hive. I was 

 delighted when I found he was going to present 

 one of his hives to me. I felt it was of the 

 Lord, to lighten my work somehow, not by dis- 

 carding our hive, but bv making it and its fix- 

 tures lighter. Yet I think I sluiU like the Tay- 

 lor hive very mucli, so I transfeired a colony of 

 bees into it as soon as I canu' home, so as to be 

 sure to have it there for next season's work. 



He claimed for his double super, that, when 

 the middle sections were tilled, the super could 

 be turned around, tiius putting the partly tilled 

 ones in the center, and the tilled ones on the 

 outside; also, in putting on supers in the spring, 

 rather weak colonies need have but one of them 

 until they get well at work, and then the sec- 

 ond could be added. 



He is a very practical man, making all his 

 own supplies, except where pine is used, cut- 

 ting the timber from the tree, drying his own 

 lumber, and manufacturing his own supplies: 

 and, judging from the samples he showed at the 

 association, of sections and hives, Mr. Axtell 

 says his work was first class, as he says it was 

 done as well as the sample shown. 



Roseville, 111.. Nov. :3(i. Miis. L. C. Axtki.l. 

 (To be rontinued.) 



Mrs. A., I most heartily indorse all you say 

 in regard to the convention: and I am exceed- 

 ingly glad that you have got acquainted with 

 our friend B. Taylor. If you have a colony al- 

 ready in one of his light shallow hives, we may 

 expect you to give this form of hive a good 

 practical test. I believe, with you, that the 

 Lord has called you to investigate this very 

 matter, with the end in view of making tln^ 

 work lighter for oiu' w omen bee-kee])ers. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I, ROOT. AND HIS 

 FEIBNDS WHO LOVE TO RAISiJ CROPS. 



DISPOSING OF THK WASTK I'KODICTS AHOIT 

 orn 1I().MKS. 



Oni' pleasant thing about tiie business of 

 market-gard(>ni-ig. eillu'r under glass or out in 

 the opeii air. is that the market-gardeni'r finds 

 a money Vdliic in- 1 he very tilings t hut ordinari- 

 ly are considered tlu' great<'st nuisanc<'s about 

 bur homes. We iiave already so thoroughly 

 discussed the matter of disi)osing of sewage, 

 night-soil. etc.. that I need not go over the 



gronini again. My leason for taking up the 

 matter once more is. tluit some new exp(>rience 

 lias come to us. Some years ago. when I asked 

 about the liest manner of ilis|)osing of the jji'od- 

 iicts of the ()nt-builbings around our homes, 

 some of tlie (Ji,i:am\(;s readers ref(>rred me to 

 the Smeaii system of dry closets, etc. We have, 

 at the t'xpense of a considerable sum of money, 

 just had our entire ])lant supplied with the 

 Smead closc^ts. As I have watched th(» work- 

 men, and car<'fully scanned, scruliiii/.ed. aiul 

 experimenletl with every feature of their in- 

 vention. 1 think I can tell you all about it. 

 In I'act. the biggest part of it is using sim|)le 

 principles that we bee-keepers have already 

 for years been thoroughly conversant witii. 

 Over and over again, tlirongh our bee-joiu'iials. 

 has been desci'ibed a itlan of \'entilating a be(>- 

 cellar liy connecting it with the cliiiiiney of the 

 house. A stovepipi' goes from the chimney 

 down close to the floor of the bee-cellar. The 

 draft from the stove jjjiIIs up all foul gases and 

 bad odors. Well, this is the Smead system. 

 But he i)uts up a great chimney — in our case. ?,0 

 inches square inside. This goesujj l:i feet high- 

 er than the higli(>st part of the roof of tlie build- 

 ing. At the l)ottom of this chimney, or stack, 

 is a furnace. Any place to build a tire will do. 

 The more kitch(»n stoves, bake-ovens. and every 

 other kind of stoves, you turn into this chimney, 

 the better. Now have your closet right in your 

 house, anywliere you want it — close to the 

 kitchen stove or dining-room, or down in the 

 cellar, oi' upstairs. Or. if you choose, you can 

 have a closet upstairs and one downstairs, and 

 one in the cellar. The draft from this big 

 chimney of yours will i)nll every bit of bail air 

 and offensive smell away so completely that 

 your closet will be as sweet-smelling as your 

 sitting-room or pantry. The Smead folks 

 furnish iron seats, with an iron lid to shut down. 

 This lid is hinged so it shuts itself when not in 

 use. The lloor is cast-iron. This is painted 

 with asphaltiim. so that it can be waslied 

 whenever it need be. There are many little 

 holes in this floor. When washing, the water 

 goes right down through these holes, and any 

 bad smi 11 there nuiy be in the room is drawn at 

 once through the holes in the floor. If you 

 make a smoke in the room by burning some 

 paper, the smoke and even blaze will at once 

 shoot down through these holes in the floor; 

 and if the cover of any of the seats is raised, a 

 burning pai)er h(>ld near the opening will show 

 that it draws like the door to your stove. 

 Haven't we been stupid, that we never thought 

 of tills before? Now. if you still prefer tohave 

 an out-building, as most farmers do, make a 

 brick or woodcMi chimney to this wood(>n out- 

 building. Have it go so high that there will i)e 

 a draft to it. Sucli an arrangenuMit will make 

 any ordinary ont-bnilding ever so much sweeter 

 and pleasanter. even if yon do nothing further. 

 When you are going through the country on 

 the cars, just watch the out-buildings as you 

 pass by the homes of our peo])le. You will 

 notice that many of them have a ventilating- 

 shaft already— in fact, almost all nciv ones 

 have. Hut these veniilating-sliafts are too 

 small and insignilicant. Let them go w]) a good 

 deal higher, and make them a good deal larger. 

 Now for another matter: If yon have prac- 

 ticed drawing away the night-soil on wagons 

 and sleds. ;is we have done for years past, you 

 have found out that it is a very heavy material 

 to handle, besides being very disagreeable. 

 Well, how large a portion of this great load of 

 oll'eiisive matter do you suppose is made up of 

 wati'rV Suppose you evaporate the water so 

 you have only the dry residue. Let me give 

 you a statement that will astonish you. Tiie 

 whole amount of accumulation of a large 



