1874. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



17 



tion to our whole circle of customers. If we 

 have been remiss don't be backward in letting 

 us know. 



The plan of making single hives double 

 width is ingenions, but how about the covers ? 

 We have often thought of it but could not get 

 over the top and bottom difficulty. As screws 

 would be much more expensive and the trouble 

 of taking a hive down after it has been once 

 properly set up is such we hardly think we 

 would use screws ; besides the cross nailing 

 holds them "forever" especially if the boards 

 are put the proper side outward as we have 

 ■directed. We feel sure you will not like hives 

 made on a mitre, we have tried such, they are 

 not as strong at the corners and are unwieldy 

 to nail. 



So many have applied to us for bees that we 

 dare not promise any at any price. Four 

 small colonies can be put in a Simplicity hive 

 without trouble; we have reared four queens 

 thus, and had them all laying nicely with an 

 entrance on each of the four sides. [Don't you 

 see how handy the knot-holes come again ? ] 



Mr. K. we shall have to thank you many 

 times for your suggestions. In regard to cut- 

 ting the leaves of Gleanings we think by far 

 the greater number of our readers would pre- 

 fer them so ; and we regret that the margin is 

 not as great as we had intended to have it. 

 As our paper is all purchased for this year we 

 shall have to wait until another season. 



[For Gleanings.] 

 KUSTIC BEE HOUSES. 



MiOVICE :— Thanks for Gleanings. 

 I have constructed a bee-house on this plan, 

 I first dug an excavation two ft et deep and 10 

 by 20 feet square, built a frame in it lathed it over and 

 covered it with straw two feet deep over the whole of 

 the building, I then covered it with a tight board roof. 

 The ground which I shoveled out of the cellar I pack- 

 ed against the side ot the buiding, starting with a 

 base of 5 feet, and tapering to 2 feet at the eaves, I 

 made a floor of dry saw-dust four inches thick and 

 put in 40 colonies of bees at a little elevation above 

 the floor. I now have a house that will never get 

 damp from the perspiration of the bees, the straw 

 roof being a perfect ventilator. 



Bees are wintering well up to this time, shut in the 

 hives securely at the bottom, but not air tight, and 

 with wire cloth over the frames to keep them from 

 crawling out when the temperature gets too high. 

 In cold weather I leave the cloth quilts on the frames, 

 and in warm weather 1 remove them. How is that 

 for high, Novice ? 



E. J. Worst, New Pittsburgh. O. 



Tip top for high, especially if you do succeed 

 in wintering this time. We are the more oblig- 

 ed as you have assisted us in replying to the 

 following, which was in type, with our reply 

 when yours was received. 



Bee-keeping in this section has about played out. 

 More than half of those who have been in the habit of 

 keeping a few stocks have become discouraged, hav- 

 ing lost from one third to all of their bees. I have 

 been considerably disappointed for the last two sea- 

 sons in not having any surplus honey, although I have 

 lost but a few stocks. I winter on their summer 

 stands and the bees get so weak by spring that the 

 honey season is over before the bees .are strong 

 enough to improve it. As I am not able to build a bee 

 house such as von describe, I would like your opinion 

 of a house made of wild hay, of which I have quite a 

 quantity. 



Say, set stakes to form a room ten feet square, board 

 up the outside (not tight) with fence boards, then set 

 another row of stakes about three feet outside of the 

 first row. and fill in between with hay. Lay poles on 

 top, then st;ick bay on them making a regular hay 

 stack with a room*insid( sheh ed oil' for holding hives, 



of course make an entrance three ft. by six with double, 

 doors. Would it need a floor ? and would the spaces 

 between the fence boards on the sides, and the poles on 

 top be ventilatiou enough)' or ought there to be ven- 

 tilators put in top and bottom ? 



I could build such a house with but very little ex- 

 pense. An opinion from NOVICE would be regard- 

 ed with great favor by 



Samuel. C. Ware, Towanda, 111. 



Such a house will answer every purpose we 

 feel sure and we think no ventilators will be 

 needed. Hay enough should be used to make 

 it perfectly frost proof and we think 'twould be 

 longer in warming through, late in the spring 

 than houses of sawdust walls. Such plans 

 have been in use in our vicinity for several sea- 

 sons and seem to answer every purpose, and we 

 know of no objection unless it be a general un- 

 tidiness, however this might be remedied to a 

 great extent. We would advise throwing up 

 the earth in the centre and making a ditch all 

 around to keep off surface water and having 

 about six inches of saw dust on the ground for 

 a floor. 



Perhaps a window or windows could be added 

 and the whole made so as to answer very well 

 for a honey house in summer also ; 'twould be 

 nice and cool, the odor of the grass would be 

 quite agreeable, and as almost every one can 

 get swamp grass for cutting, perhaps this rus- 

 tic Bee House in conjunction with friends But- 

 ler's and Muth's straw hives may be the thing 

 after all. 



Who will build the nicest one, i. e. to be all 

 "home made" ? 



P. S. — Mrs. N. says, "but the hay seed will be 

 rattling down into your honey, and then sup- 

 pose you should spill a barrel full or so on your 

 saw dust floor what would that do, and would 

 not rats and mice work in the straw etc. 'i " 



And that reminds us of a little incident to 

 wit : We think 'twas during a hot Sabbath 

 in August that Novice looked into the Bee 

 House and found a brilliant mirror of clover 

 honey covering the painted floor. 



Now P. G. did scold because he said it made 

 no difference if the bungs of the barrels were 

 not left uppermost, and also that there' was no 

 need of driving them in so "awfui" tight, but 

 better still she insisted on having the floor all 

 carefully washed up nice, the Saturday previ- 

 ous. 



Well, as we said, there was the honey; the 

 hot weather had so expanded it that it had 

 pushed the bung out and nearly } A of a barrel 

 was on the floor, if the barrel had been rolled 

 over more, more would have got out. Novice 

 of course "sang out" for Mrs. N. and as all the 

 rest were at church or somewhere, "Blue Eyes" 

 had to go too ; with honey knives and spoons a 

 terrible dipping was kept up which "baby" en- 

 joyed hugely until the close hot room (bees 

 would "help" if the doors were opened) began 

 to seem monotonous, but tunnels, spoons and 

 ladles and a series of chirrups from "papa" 

 lengthened out her baby patience until the last 

 bit was scraped up and then didn't we straiten 

 up our tired backs ; that is, Mrs. N. did, after 

 the floor was washed clean once more, Novice 

 amusing "Blue Eyes" with some honey and a 

 feat] ."n while. 



Well ' it all, except about a pound 



1:1 ' into our "coffee pot" that 



1 ■ ' !d "bad honey for feeding" and 



