January, lyio. 



American Vae Journal 



less well made out of good material 

 aud well painted, and such a case costs 

 too much for the average bee-keeper. 



So, while running my "thinkworks" 

 overtime, I chanced to see a lot of Jar- 

 paper where a railroad grading gang 

 had torn down a temporary stable. I 

 picked up some 40 or 50 pieces about 

 "i'/i feet long, and thought I would try 

 it. I first wrapped 5 or (3 thicknesses 

 of newspaper around a hive, and then 

 the tar-paper, tying with binder twine. 

 I didn't like it; it looks like very //tin 

 protection, and if it breaks at the cor- 

 ners, or a piece gets loose anywhere, 

 the wind will beat a tattoo with it that 

 must be exceedingly annoying to the 

 bees. So I quit, and fired up my 

 " thinkworks " again, and finally evolved 

 a case that will beat any other outdoor 

 protection 1 have ever heard of or read 

 of — wind-proof, rain-proof, non-con- 

 ducting, and cheap enough for anyone. 



1 never had any occasion to buy tar- 

 paper, and don't know what it costs, 

 but I know it's cheap, and 1 don't think 

 it will cost 10 cents a hive to pack 

 them snug. 



In the first place, my hives are all 

 (except 3) grouped in twos, a hi Miller, 

 and facing south, and were already 

 "top-packed" — with chaff in the super, 

 and cover put on loosely. 



I happened to have a lot of short 

 posts, and I set these, one at the south- 

 east and one at the southwest corners 

 of the 2 hives. I let one corner of the 

 post come against the corner of the 

 hive, and the rest stand out south as 

 far as it would to shed the wind away 

 from the entrance. A piece of 1x6, and 



2 feet long firmly driven in the ground 

 would answer the same purpose. 



Now a sheet of tar-paper is set on 

 edge in a semi-circle around the hives, 

 working it well down to, or into, the 

 ground, so the wind can't get under; 

 and then with two strips of lath, nail it 

 fast to the posts. If you use boards in 

 place of posts, it will take just about 8 

 feet of paper to reach around to the 

 edges of the boards (with two 10-frame 

 hives). The tops of the posts should 

 be about 3 inches lower than hive-top. 



Now take a handful of straw, chaf?, 

 leaves, or whatever you have to pack 

 with, and shove it down at the back 

 corners of the hives where the paper 

 is inclined to touch the hive, firs/. This 

 pushing out at the corners will draw in 

 the back somewhere, but don't do this 

 too much. Now mark around on a line 

 with the tops of the posts, and with a 

 sharp knife slit the paper from the top 

 edge down to this line, making slits 

 about 10 to 12 inches apart, or a little 

 closer at the corners. Now with all 

 the packing in, and packed tight up to 

 to line next to the paper, and sloping 

 to the hive top, fold in the paper so the 

 corner flaps will overfold the others 

 (with new, pliable paper, if you are a 

 good hand, you can fold in without 

 slitting, which is better). Now an- 

 other sheet 3 feet long laid over these 

 flaps will cover the top completely, and 

 you can secure with plenty of weights, 

 or if you use wooden covers tack to 

 the end-pieces of the covers. 



Stuff some old pieces of gunny sack 

 between the hives in front to keep the 

 chaff from being worked out by chick- 

 ens, etc., and the job is done. It takes 

 much less time to </u than to <fisif/bc. 



Tar-paper is offensive to the mice, too, 

 and I don't think they are so apt to nest 

 inside this as in a board case, but if 

 you use straw or chaff for packing, put 

 it out and let the chickens scratch all 

 the grain out before you use it around 

 the hives, and if the hive-entrances are 

 more than ^s-inch, contract them with 

 a strip of tin tacked on. 



Ventil.\ting Blocks. 



I tried Dr. Miller's plan of putting fl- 

 inch blocks under the corners of the 

 hives for ventilation to repress swarm- 

 ing. I think them a great help, but my 

 experience was contrary to his, the 

 bees used both sides and back as en- 

 trances, and when I removed the blocks 

 they clustered around the back a long 

 time before going around to the front 

 entrance. 



North Platte, Xebr. 



Why are These Things So? 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Why are what things so? And what 

 is there of interest in the matter to the 

 bee-keepers of the United States? 

 These thoughts came to me upon laying 

 down a paper published 23 years ago in 

 which I read this sentence: 



"We (thebee-keepersof the United States] 

 should do all we can to maintain decent 

 prices for honey." 



Very well, I agree to that, and as far 

 as I kiiow all who take and read our 

 bee-literature of today are with me in 

 this matter. And from what knowl- 

 edge I have, there are few bee-keepers 

 of the present who do not read the bee- 

 literature, in comparison to what there 

 were 23 years ago; as there has been a 

 great drifting toward "specialty" in 

 our pursuit during those years; and 

 the specialist in any calling in life is the 

 one of all the rest who keeps abreast of 

 the times by reading up on the subject 

 of his or her specialty. 



Very well, again. And have not the 

 bee-keepers done all they can to main- 

 tain decent prices for honey? Cer- 

 tainlv, the specialists. Those who have 

 read' our bee-papers during those 23 

 years, well know that there has been no 

 subject more thoroughly gone over 

 than this matter of prices for our pro- 

 duct. We have adopted attractive 

 styles of packages, gone over all the 

 ground looking toward the shipping of 

 honey, so it should arrive in market in 

 an inviting condition; established rules 

 for grading, so that the fancy product 

 should not be mixed in the same crate 

 with that of an inferior quality; tried 

 to form associations and honey com- 

 panies to proclaim and boom this 

 graded product, etc. And what has 

 been our success in this matter? Let 

 us analyze a little and see what advan- 

 tage these things have been to us. 



In this old paper in which I found 

 the sentence quoted, I find comb 

 honey quoted at from 12 to 16 cents a 

 pound ; and on turning to the quota- 

 tions of today I find that the average 

 of the many houses quoting honey re- 

 mains at the same 12 to 16 cents. And 

 thus it would seem that all our efforts 

 during the past 23 years to advance the 

 prices of honey, by getting it to mar- 

 ket "graded to a feather," as the poul- 



try men would say, putting it up in 

 fancy sections, fancy shipping-cases, 

 forming associations and companies 

 to educate and buy the honey of those 

 who once put the same on the market 

 at ruinous prices, etc., have only en- 

 abled us just barely to " hold our own " 

 as to prices, so that honey put on the 

 market in the best possible shape con- 

 ceivable in the minds of bee-keepers, 

 brings only the same price that it did 

 23 years ago. Rather poor encourage- 

 ment, is it not? 



But what more encouragement do I 

 want than to be able to buy my bee- 

 papers with the same number of 

 pounds of honey that I could 23 years 

 ago? Then, I can buy my bee-books 

 with the same amount of honey; and 

 my queen-bees necessary for the itn- 

 provement of stock; and — and — and — ! 

 I tried to say supplies, in which to hive 

 my new colonies, sections in which to 

 store my honey, cases in which to ship 

 my honey to market, etc. ; but I could 

 not. And they tell me that the reason 

 I cannot purchase these supplies with 

 the same honey I could 23 years ago, 

 and thus "maintain decent prices for 

 honey," is because /iim/ni- is becoming 

 very scarce through the denuding of 

 the forests. Perhaps. But if you take 

 a socialist paper you will find some- 

 thing said about a /nri/f on lumber, 

 which enables the lumber trusts to cry 

 the "denuding of forests" to their ad- 

 vantage. But, hold on ! I have no 

 special reason to complain of the ex- 

 change of my honey for my bee-sup- 

 plies. Back a few sentences I said 

 something about "holding our own," 

 and quoted a poultryinan's expression. 

 Whew ! that poultryman's product 

 almost takes my breath away, as I look 

 back over the 23 years. Eggs today 

 40 to 50 cents a dozen. Then, 20 to 25 

 cents. Why is not our honey 30 to 40 

 cents instead of 15 cents? Talk about 

 holding my own! Look at butter, 

 meat, flour— in fact, almost all a family 

 needs for their existence (except 

 honey), and what show has the honey- 

 producer with these things? 



Only this morning I had to pay to 

 my neighbor agriculturist 15 cents a 

 pound for lard, so that Mrs. Doolittle 

 could put a crust on the pie I am sup- 

 posed to have for dinner; and that 

 brother agriculturist robbed me of 

 nearly half of my honey that I sold for 

 the money to buy that lard with, when 

 a comparison is made of the prices of 

 honey and lard 20 to 30 years ago. 

 Then, two or three days ago Iliad to 

 pay 34 cents a pound for the butter that 

 I spread on my pancakes before I put 

 on a lot of honey, spreading the butter 

 thin and the honey thick, thinking in 

 this way to equalize things a little, 

 when I remembered that we bee-keep- 

 ers used to talk in bee-conventions 

 that the price of butter and honey was 

 supposed to "go hand in hand," and 

 would probably so continue down 

 through all the time. 



What IS the trouble ? Has the United 

 States been "denuded of cows" like 

 they have of forests, or of hen's, or of 

 hogs? Will the socialist tell us about 

 /uriff, and a farmers' trust enabling 

 them to hold the prices of butter, lard, 

 eggs, etc., up to where it takes from 

 two to three times the amount of my 

 honey to buy the same amount of their 



