DKCEMBF.R 15, 1816 



all built one way of the hive; but through 

 his t lying to economize on foundation the 

 combs were built this waj' and that, making 

 it practically impossible to remove one 

 frame without removing them all. The lum- 

 ber probably cost as much as would a whole 

 new factory-made hive. As you will notice 

 in the illustration, the maker strived to have 

 his hives easy to handle by grooving out 

 blocks and nailing them to the body. 



It must have taken him at least a day to 

 make a hive. Valuing his time at even two 

 dollars a day, which is a very conservative 

 estimate, and figuring the cost of the lum- 

 ber at par, you can very easily see that it 

 would have paid him well to purchase his 

 hives from some reliable manufacturer. I 

 have not mentioned the gratification one 

 feels on opening a factory-made hive and 

 seeing how every part fits. After using 

 them side by side for two years, one appre- 

 ciates the factory-made hive more and more. 



You beekeepers all know that it is not so 

 much the amount of brood-comb in a hive 

 that counts, but the amount of worker 

 comb. To get all or neaily all worker comb 

 in a hive j'ou must use full sheets of foun- 

 dation or else get your bees to working on 



starters at just the right time of year. Few 

 beekeepers know just when this time is, and 

 therefore it behooves us to use full sheets 

 of foundation and not risk getting a lot of 

 useless drone comb in our hives. 



To all beekeepers who will persist in 

 making their own hives, let me say, buy 

 your frames and use full sheets of founda- 

 tion. With lumber as high as it is now, it 

 hardly pays a would-be carpenter to exper- 

 iment with it. The hive shown, with the 

 exception of the cover, is better than the 

 usual run of home-made hives, and you 

 must be quite a carpenter to make one as 

 good. I would as soon get a full-blooded 

 horse or cow and put it in a shack, every 

 crack of which you could throw a cat 

 through, as to put bees into ninety per cent 

 of the home-made hives. 



When purcliasing your hives be sure to 

 get those having a metal roof — that is, if 

 you live in a climate as severe as that of 

 western New Yoi'k. If I have not pereuad- 

 ed you to purchase factoiy-made hives in- 

 stead of making your own, a glance at the 

 photograph will at once cause you to make 

 up your mind. 



Springville, N. Y. 



A COTSWOLD VILLAGE 



GLIMPSING OLD-TIME BEEKEEPING IN RU- 

 RAL ENGLAND 



BY A. H. BOWEN 



There is nothing more soothing than the 

 laug:uid content that broods over an old- 

 fashioned garden plot in a Cotswold village, 

 with its careless order and unsj-stematic 

 arrangement. It is all the more beautiful 

 because everything is allowed to flourish in 



its own sweet way, and the colors blend 

 one with another in perfect harmony. It is 

 here, too, that the old straw skep abounds, 

 and where bee lore and quaint customs sur- 

 vive among the simple village folk. 



As September Avanes, the bee-master pre- 



A corner of a typical Cotswold skep apiarj-. Throe Mocks i;ave eleven swarms, 

 and made the owner justly proud of his extensive apiary. 



casts and lobs, 



