18S5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CVLTVllE. 



449 



If your colony gets strong enough so you use 

 some of the hives three stories high, you 

 have an extra bottom-board, or an extra cov- 

 er, as you choosfe. 



Now a word in regard to prices. I started 

 out with the idea tliat the body and cover 

 woukl cost about the same, and that good 

 ones made of a fair quality of lumber should 

 be afforded for about 2o cts. in the tlat— per- 

 haps a little less where a crate of ten is pur- 

 chased at once, or may be a little more where 

 a customer wants a little better quality of 

 lumber used. 1 believe this has got to be a 

 rule the world over, pretty much ; that is, 

 where our money is used— about 2.5 cts. for a 

 cover, and about 2.5 cts. for a body ; nailing 

 and painting extra, according to circum- 

 stances. Nothing very complicated in the 

 above, is there v Well, the complication 

 comes in pretty soon. Lumber cliecks and 

 splits and decays, especially if not kept well 

 painted ; and in the South the heat of the 

 sun is a pretty severe ordeal for any sort of 

 woodwork ; tlierefore a tin roof becomes de- 

 sirable ; and one tiling in favor of a tin roof 

 is, tliat comparatively cheap lumber can be 

 used if we have a tin cover; for boards that 

 will work l(j or 17 inches wide, without knots 

 or checks, cost a good deal of money. And 

 not only can we use cheap liinibcr, but 

 where we have a tin cover over the lumber, 

 each board may be split in tiro, and be plen- 

 ty strong enough, with its metal covering. 

 1 have tried many times, and ha\e even sent 

 to the tin-iniiies of iMigiaud to getligures on 

 sheets of tin. to see if I could not add a tin 

 covering, and still stick to the old price. It 

 can not be done, friends — not yet; but'we 

 have got so near it that, for just six vents ex- 

 tra, we can give you a tin covering that will 

 last a lifetime, if yon keej) it luiinted. Now, 

 most of you would jump at the conclusion, 

 from what I have said above, tliat we can 

 sell a sheet of tin that would cover a Sim- 

 plicity hive, for six cents ; but we can not do 

 It. You will see iHiy^ from my remarks 

 above. The tin alone' is worth !) cts., or a 

 little less by tlie box. Another thing : While 

 the tin cover is exactly what is wanted for a 

 corer, it is not needed, nor, in fact, wanted, 

 for the pieces you have for the bottom- 

 board. It would be cold for the bees" feet, 

 and might give them the "toothache"" in 

 frosty weatlier; so where we put up ten 

 crates with tin ior the covers, we can just as 

 well omit the tin for those that are to be used 

 for bottom-boards ; but as we do not know 

 how our friends who are to receive tliem 

 may want to use them, we are obliged to 

 make a separate table of prices for hives 

 wliere covers are to be lined with tin. 



Now. a good many want a cover that lias 

 capacity enough underneath to liold a case 

 of sections; and by using half-inch lumber 

 for it, and saving the expense of wide lum- 

 ber (for a IV-story cover is made of light 

 narrow boards), we have succeeded in mak- 

 ing such a cover at the same price as the or- 

 dinary Simplicity cover made of Ao. 1 lum- 

 ber. Jiut this cover will not do for bottom- 

 boards either, so you see we have to have a 

 separate table where this half-story cover is 

 used. Now, then, the above seems to accom- 

 modate almost everybody, in the way of a 



bee-hive. It includes two kinds of bodies — 

 a permanent bottom-board body which we 

 call a Portico hive on our list, and the ordi- 

 nary Simplicity body. It also includes three 

 kinds of covers— the Simplicity of wood, the 

 Simplicity cover covered with metal, and the 

 lialf-story cover. But all of these work to- 

 gether perfectly and indiscriminately. We 

 can put any kind of a cover on any kind of a 

 body, or any kind of an upper story on any 

 kind of a lower story, and you can" enlarge 

 at pleasure by piling them up. But unless 

 these things which I have mentioned are ta- 

 ken into consideration, a new hand is apt to 

 get sadly puzzled over our tables in the price 

 list. Those who have used Simplicity hives 

 for years, have, I believe, made no mistakes 

 in ordering hives. 



ON THE HIVES CANADIANS USE. 



WITH ALSO A KIND WORD i^PKINKLED IN HERE 

 AND THERE. 



HE June number ol' Gleanings is at hand, 

 and I read witli much interest the genial let- 

 ter of my old friend W. F. Clarke. His little 

 remark in reference to my "experimenting 

 with the Jones frame" calls for some explan- 

 ation; and perhaps my experience may prove as 

 profltal)le to others as that of others has frequently 

 been to me. Far beyond all have I been benefited 

 by a gentleman of Medina (A. I. Root), whom I en- 

 gaged ten years ago to experiment for me in his 

 own apiary, and report the results every month. 

 He has never yet failed in doing so. He tried to 

 convince me that the Langstroth frame was best 

 for a northern climate, but has not yet done so, al- 

 though his experiment last spring was certainly a 

 successful one. He tried raising bees in hotbeds; 

 that failed; just as he had me al>out convinced that 

 manure and glass were going to do it, then the con- 

 servatory experiment also failed. Chaff hives of 

 formidable diniensions next came to be the long- 

 expected remedy for wintering and springing 

 tronl)les; that, the winter of 'SO, '82, and '84 proved 

 a snaie. All these years I have been trying to 

 j profit by the line on which Mr. Hoot kept moving 

 along, but seldom followed his lead, us I think such 

 a man has a line which he alone can follow most 

 successfully. This 1 think will explain why so nniny 

 different sizes of frames are in use. 



Several yeai'S ago, having a number of Jones 

 hives in use I became satisfied that they were too 

 deep for spring management, and the experimental 

 stage is now so far past with me that I have 100 

 stocks in it-frame hives, size of frame being 10x14, 

 inside measure. I understand that Mr. Jones, who 

 furnished my hives this spring, is now constructing 

 a similar one, "reversible" in every point, which I 

 have no doubt wilt be" largely used as the coming 

 hive. Is it not the case, that those who have lost 

 most heavily during winters past have used the 

 Langstroth;frame? I refer more especially to open- 

 air wintering, as I believe the L. frame and hive 

 willwinter bees in special repositories or cellars as 

 well as any other hive used. Hut, how about 

 springing? The'esscntial points to me of.successful 

 wintering of from 50 to 1.'>U stocks each winter, are 

 plenty of good _ honey (not sugar, unles8>s a com- 

 pulsory.supplement), setting into a good warm cel- 

 lar beforesevere frost sets in in the fall, 6inch eu- 



