" NOVICE'S " GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



63 



HEADS OF fiRAIN FROM DUTDK- 

 EST FIELDS. 



Ir |Vf Ll '- 82.— Wax being scarce I used my 

 I * I grafting wax (Downing* receipt 3 of 

 "" beeswax, 3 of rosin, 2 of tallow,) for my 

 barrels, which makes a tougher wax, less lia- 

 ble to crack and melts easier than wax alone. 

 Mrs. Tupper was certainly wrong when she 

 said that the extractor injured the young 

 bees, my little girl turned so fast as tu throw 

 some worms out. and yet the balance hatch- 

 ed out quite satisfactory. You have left us 

 "greenhorns" in a complete muddle about 

 the best way of extracting. It is well I had 

 got through before your July No. came to 

 hand or else "P. G." would have scared me 

 out. The only advice I can give is to 

 set your extractor as near the hive as pos- 

 sible and then go it. J. B. Towxley, Red 

 Hill. Va. 



We don't know why grafting wax is not 

 just 'he thins for barrels. YVe are very 

 glad that Mr. T. found no trouble from 

 robbers in using his extractor close to 

 the hive. We have this season had no 

 day as yet that the yield of honey was 

 Mat enough to induce them to behave so 

 well. If each hive gave oO or 40 lbs. of 

 honey, as they should, Mr. T. would have 

 to stop so often to carry in his honey that 

 'twould be a bother; and if he carried a 

 barrel along, too. he would need Mr. 

 Blakeslee's "car and tent". If his hives 

 were none of them more than twenty- 

 four feet from his bee house door, as ours 

 are, would he not think it cheapest to 

 have his extractor a fixture, implements 

 stationary, and carry in the combs and 

 return them ? 



No. 83.— I am going to ask a great favor of 

 you, hoping that you will take the time to 

 srant it. My cellar is not right somehow to 

 keep my bees in. They mould and get damp, 

 although we call it a dry cellar, and I have 

 made up my mind that if you would take the 

 time and give me written instructions just 

 how to build a bee house that would accom- 

 modate 100 colonies and have it so that I can 

 use it in the summer to extract honey in. 

 I would repay you in some manner sufficient- 

 ly to satisfy you. I want descriptions or 

 specifications very minute and plain, so that 

 a common carpenter and joiner could not err 

 in ! mil ding the same. I have undoubted con- 

 fidence in you with regard to this building. 

 We have long, cold winters here. 



Martin H. Adams, Port Ann, X. Y. 



It is a pleasure for us to be able to as- 

 sist our subscribers in any way, and the 

 subscription paid for "'Gleanings" entitles 

 all, to all the information we are able to 

 give on the subject of bee culture. Were 

 we to build again, we should make out a 

 bill for lumber as follows. See plan of 

 the bee and honey house in April num- 

 ber : 



52 pieces for joists and studding, 2x12 

 inches and 10J feet long. These are to 

 he nailed ta^ether so as to form thirteen 

 frames, 10' feet square. The ends may 

 be simply hipped at the corners on all ex- 

 cept the two frames that are at the ends 

 of the building. These should be let into 

 each other so as to have the corner studs 

 and outer floor joists flush with the out- 

 side of the building. This makes our 

 joists for the door and overhead and for 

 the studding only one foot apart : but we 

 think this none too near when we consid- 

 er the barrels of honey that are to be 



rolled on the floor, and the necessity of 

 holding our packing so it wril not sift 

 out. 



Mr. Washburn remarks that Hxl2 stuff 

 would do equally well for the studding 

 and overhead, and we think he is right : 

 for when boarded tight on both sides such 

 a frame is very strong. 



Your carpenter must manage, by some 

 means to nail a floor on the under side of 

 of the joist* as well as above to hold :he 

 sawdust packing between the two. We 

 accomplished this by raising the floor be- 

 fore putting in the uprights, so that a 

 workman could nail on the under side. 

 About a dozen more pieces will be need- 

 ed for the studding for the gable ends, and 

 these should be got out as long as con- 

 venient, for these at each side of the door 

 had better reach up to the roof. 



The rafters, twenty-six in number, may 

 be lix-i and of such length as will be de- 

 termined by the pitch of your roof. Ours 

 projects one foot from the eaves, and the 

 roof boards the same at the ends, so we 

 have a one foot cornice all round. This, 

 however, is more for taste than utility. 



With the aid of our photograph, any 

 carpenter would be able to construct the 

 building without further directions, we 

 think. 



We have made our roof with rather a 

 sharp pitch for convenience in storing the 

 shelves and inner doors in the loft in sum- 

 mer time. The floor is to be packed with 

 sawdust when laid, but all the rest is sim- 

 ply put in the loft and pushed over be- 

 tween the studding until full. As it set- 

 tles in drying, more can be pushed in every 

 fall before storing the bees inside, for sev- 

 eral years. 



As with extractors, each one must de- 

 termine bow much expense he can put in 

 such a house, but we should always build, 

 if possible, so that the house may be 

 painted sometime, if not when built. We 

 presume that a house could be built for 

 $50 that would winter bees perfectly : but 

 in that case it would have to be rough 

 and plain. Ours cost about $200 com- 

 plete. Before you decide you cannot af- 

 ford a house for wintering, reflect that in 

 case even as many stocks survive on 

 their summer stands, we shall have to 

 provide at least five pounds of food per 

 extra every winter. 



No. "1.— Don't make such sweeping asser- 

 • a bout feeding as you have lately. Re- 

 member you are a "Novice, as of old." 'Wit- 

 ness the loss of a stock in June, which, it it 

 had been fed. perhaps might have been mak- 

 ing part of the tons of honey yielded by the 

 "Hexagonal Apiary." It strikes me that you 

 hare been running that "old windmill" at 

 such a rate this spring, that the poor bees 

 have often had to exclaim, "Ah! he is only 

 a Novice ! for he has not attended to us as he 

 once did, and we shall have to give up." 



P. H. Gibbs, Guelph, Ont. 



Thank you. friend G., for frank criti- 

 cisms. We are certainly still but "Nov- 

 but not such cruel ones as to let 

 any bees starve, we assure you, nor can 

 we look back and see that neglect was 

 the trouble, unless it was neglect in mak- 



