610 



GLEAKIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



cold; and by means of which our bees can be win- 

 tered to better advantage, and, it is likely, with no 

 g-reater consumption of stores, than in a cellar. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rog^ersviile, Genesee Co., Mich. 



Friend TI.. you speak of the Given founda- 

 tian continually. l)nt .say nothing of that 

 made by rolh; Init 1 believe tlu' latter is the 

 kind generally in use the world over. If I 

 am not mistaken, even Ileddon. although so 

 enthusiastic on the Given foundation at one 

 time, has abandoned it ; and, by the way, I 

 don't believe he has ever told us just why. 

 Will he please speak out? If I am not mis- 

 taken, a good many otliers who formerly 

 used the Given foundation-press have given 

 it up ; and, in fact, at present there are no 

 more Given presses made, that I know of. 

 If I am mistaken, I expect, of course, to be 

 corrected ; but if I am not, why confine your 

 remarks to flat bottom and to Given, or do 

 you mean us to infer that the (iiven is so 

 near like that made on rolls there is practic- 

 ally no difference ? You say more sections 

 can be tilled with foundation for less money 

 by using flat bottom. I think, if we try 

 hard, we can malve as many square feet to 

 the pound as anybody wants, and with nat- 

 ural base ; but friend Miller and some others 

 think they don't want foundation running 

 more than, say, about 12 square feet to the 

 pound. — In regard to clamp and cellar win- 

 tering, I believe we now entirely agree ; but 

 with the experience I have had with the 

 climate of Medina County, O., I should say 

 we don't want our bees in clamps or cellars. 

 Others may, however, like cellar wintering, 

 and succeed best with it, even here. 



HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES, ETC. 



DR. C. C. MILLEU T.^J.KS TO US ABOUT CUPBOARDS, 



HANDY TABLES, AND OUTDOOR AIR FOR THE 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 



fHREE or four years ag-o I put in my leisure 

 time one winter at a bit of carpentry. At 

 the back end of the house was built on an 

 addition for a summer kitchen. Then this 

 was prolonged to make a honey-room, with 

 no partition between the honey-room and the 

 kitchen. This winter of which I speak, I got some 

 flooring and studs, and put up a partition between 

 the kitchen and honey-room, also lined the walls of 

 the kitchen with flooring, and ceiled it overhead 

 with the same. Then on one side of the kitchen I 

 built a cupboard that occupied all the room 1 could 

 g'et between the corner of the room and the door, 

 making the four cupboard doors run within an inch 

 of the Hoor, and within 3 inches of the ceiling. 

 This made a cupboard 8 ft. long, 9 ft. high, and 1 ft. 

 deep. It is quite common to let a cupboard run to 

 within perhaps two feet of the ceiling. This makes 

 just so much space about wasted, sometimes worse 

 than wasted, for it is merely a place to catch dirt. 

 Better let it run clear to the celling. 



The cupboard whose contents were to be re- 

 moved to this kitchen cupboard had shelves far 

 apart, measuring from lOV-i to 14 inches in height. 

 Instead of taking this for a pattern, 1 measured the 

 actual depth occupied by the articles on the differ- 

 ent shelves, and made the new shelves just far 



enough apart for their accommodation. Com- 

 mencing 31 inches above the floor, leaving this 

 space to set and hang different articles, I made the 

 shelves from 6 to li inches in height, thus giving 

 me 8 shelves instead of 4, as in the old. Now, there 

 is nothing remarkable about this kitchen or cup- 

 board. Any boe-kcei)er handy with tools could do 

 the same work; but taking the two together, and 

 my wife would rather give up any other room in 

 the house. She says that I can not realize how 

 many steps are saved by the present arrangement. 

 Formerly the dishes had to be carried through 

 the dining-room to the kitchen, and back again to 

 the pantry, but now they are lifted from the cup- 

 board to the table and from the table back to the 

 cupboard, with scarcely a step between. We bee- 

 keepers are great for planning about our bee-work. 

 If we had the housework to do, don't you think wo 

 should plan some to make the work lighter':' and 

 can we not do the planning, even if the queens, and 

 not ourselves, do the work'? 



One day, on account of sickness, if I remember 

 rightly, I undertook to skim the milk. There was 

 no room on th* shelves to skim it, and I had no 

 choice but to set it on the floor or carry it out into 

 another room. Next day I ordered a light table 

 made to set the milk on for skimming; and yet, 

 for aught I know, it had been needed just as much 

 for years. It only shows that I was not as observ- 

 ing as I should have been. It occurs to me that, 

 from what I have said above, some one may infer 

 that we generally eat in the kitchen. The infer- 

 ence is an entirely correct one. When we have 

 company we can use the dining-room ; but for our 

 little family the kitchen is plenty large; and al- 

 though home made it is nicely papered, so that it 

 looks as good as if bought out of a carptnter-shop. 

 I much prefer to eat there, and thus save work. 



And now I have a conundrum to propose, to 

 which I should like one or more answers. What can 

 be done in winter time to give to the women-folks a 

 regular outdoor airing every day? I don't mean 

 those who can afford to ride out every day. That 

 may do for some, but for most it is not convenient, 

 if not impracticable. And yet it is a serious matter 

 for a woman to stay indoors day in and day out, and 

 hardly ever get a sniff of outside air. Is there any 

 thing they can be called upon to do, in the way of 

 some appropriate duty that will oblige them to be 

 outdoors regularly a certain length of time each 

 day'? They can bring in wood and water, but in 

 many cases that is too hard work ; and yet, since 

 studying upon this question, it does not worry me 

 as much as it formerly did to see a woman lugging 

 in wood on a cold winter day. My wife having been 

 brought up on a farm, she has quite a taste for 

 poultry; and by careful selection had built up a 

 beautiful flock of Plymouth Rocks. I succeeded in 

 convincing her th.-xt there was no particular profit 

 in them; and as it interferred with the bee-work 

 she very reluctantly consented in the fall to give 

 them up the next spring. In the winter, however, 

 I found she spent so much time pleasantly outdoors 

 with the hens that I changed my mind and conclud- 

 ed it was profitable to keep them. But all can not 

 keep hens. What can they do? C. C. Midler. 



Miu-engo, 111. 



Friend M.,if you hadgone into the pantry 

 wlien at our house, and used your eyes, you 

 would have seen exactly the arrangement 

 yon mention — a cupboard opening into the 



