"novices" gleanings in bee culture. 



51 



CHEAP HIVES. 



QjINCE first describing the cheap form 

 U^* of Langstroth hive in the- American 

 Tlee Journal, in our "Gleanings," many 

 comments have appeared in regard to it, 

 and most of them, we believe, take the 

 ground that because it is cheap, it must 

 necessarily be small and inefficient; we 

 think our readers, however, have under- 

 stood that by using two or more as may 

 be needed all the room can be furnished 

 that is required, and it can be done also 

 simply and expeditiously. For large 

 amounts of box honey it had better he 

 made double width as we have explained 

 before and this also admits of spreading 

 the frames out horizontally. The covers 

 in this case will be better, made of two, 

 three, or even four boards; and instead 

 of Matching we would saw in the edges of 

 the boards to be joined, with the buzz 

 saw about half an inch, by raising the 

 table to the proper highth, if the guage 

 lie set properly, by reversing the board 

 we can by two or three saw cuts make a 

 nice groove 3-16 by \ inch in debtb. 

 Now saw a strip from our |- lumber 3-1G 

 in thickness to^be driven in the slot thus 

 formed between the boards of the cover, 

 and we have a joint much less liable to 

 leak than the one formed of matched 

 lumber. 



The objection raised that the "Simplic- 

 ity" or "dollar" hive is not ornamental 

 we shall perhaps be obliged to admit, yet 

 where they are painted some light color 

 and grapevines be trained to shade each 

 one, as we have advised, we think them 

 pretty enough. (They should always be 

 painted and the color if not white 

 should be light enough to prevent their 

 absorbing too much of the heat of the 

 sun in hot weather, as dark colors always 

 do. With our arrangement of the apiary 

 we should also have them all one color). 



So many seem to think a projection of 

 the cover necessary, and almost entirely 

 on account of the "looks" that we will 

 en urn crate our reasons for preferring none. 

 First and formost it would add considera- 

 bly to the weight of each hive; and we 

 particularly wish our hives for facility in 

 handling to wei<i;h not one ounce more 

 than is absolutely necessary. Secondly, 

 they would occupy more room, in the 

 house, in shipping (by wagon especially I 

 or when piled away full of empty combs, 

 or when put aside for any purpose until 

 wanted. We presume most bee keepers 

 have had experience in shipping hives or 

 bees of the annoyance caused by the pro- 

 jecting covers 'jostling" each other, knock- 

 ing tops loose, etc., etc. Thirdly, the 

 tendency to warp is much greater with 

 the projection, and 'twould be quite dif- 

 ficult to "let the cover in" to the frame 

 that holds it to "cross naif as We do, and 

 thus prevent the possibility of warning. 

 Fourthly, the expense for projections on 

 fifty or one hundred hives is quite an 



item, and further we should find it diffi- 

 cult to get boards of such width that a 

 single one would make the cover a.- il 

 does now easily, for either the Langstroth, 

 Gallup, or American hives. Fifthly, we 

 could not well have them made bottom 

 and cover one and the same thing and so 

 that the bevels lit exact!}', close and 

 tight, no matter how they are piled up, 

 hives alone, covers alone, or both to- 

 gether. 



"We have just sent Mrs. Tupper an 

 American hive made "Simplicity ' fash 

 ion or rather a Simplicity hive made with 

 frames just one foot square, and she 

 writes us she is so well pleased with it. that 

 she has a man at work making twenty 

 like it. 



This hive is even easier to make than 

 the Langstroth because all the boards 

 used are of one width, viz: II; inches 

 finished, and cover and sides are of the 

 same dimensions, so that we simply cut 

 off" from a board 15 inches wide or about 

 that, three pieces 1G inches long for sides 

 and cover and two pieces 115 \ inches for 

 ends. Now make all to an equal width 

 (14|) and rabbet out ends of side pieces 

 (frames in this hive go crosswise) and 

 cut off strips to go around the cover with 

 machine as described and illustrated in 

 our March number. 



Hinge the cover on one end and make 

 the entrance on the same end, and we 

 should advise having the entrance with 

 this hive fronting the south and let, the 

 bees go out directly under the grape vine 

 trellis, thus giving them unobstructed 

 tii<j;ht even while we are making examin- 

 ation; 



With a circular saw and power, and 

 nice, well seasoned pine boards dressed 

 just -J thick, we know of no nicer and 

 more profitable "fun" than making jusl 

 such hives for $1.00 each, but if you want 

 really to enjoy it, please be careful in ad- 

 justing your guages and don't make mi- 

 takes. "Be sure you are right then go 

 ahead." The above hive takes ten frames 

 just 12 inches square outside dimensions, 

 and when the hive is worked two story, if 

 we have a prolific queen, it works beauti- 

 fully, better than the "Gallup" hive to 

 our notion, and wo used both last season, 

 but we hope both Mrs. Tupper and Mr. 

 Gallup will excuse us for disagreeing 

 with them in preferring the standard 

 Langstroth frame for rapid brood rearing. 

 However, had we an apiary all of Amen 

 can hives, that is, frames one foot square, 

 we presume we should use them so, but 

 we would certainly transfer them if we 

 had the old kind of frames which are still 

 deeper. 



So great is the inconvenience of using 

 more than one sized frame that we have 

 this present week transferred both our 

 Gallup and American hives to our Lang 

 stroth frames; not that these hives did 

 not do well, bid that we were obliged on 

 their account to keep an extra extractoi 

 standing around. "I'is true we might use 

 one that would take an}' sized frame like 



