AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 689 



workers evenly marked four-banded. Both queens were black. They were hatched 

 in a black colony. Did the nurse-bees efifect them In any way? Whatever way they 

 came thus colored, it was the law of atavism or ancestral influence, I suppose. 

 Those if mated to yellow drones produce as bright stock as the yellowest queens, 

 and evenly marked. 



In thus breeding, I have been able to establish the gentle character of the Car- 

 niolan, larger workers than the original, with from three to five yellow bands, good 

 honey-gatherers, and good to winter. Such can be handled without smoke or vail, 

 at any hour of the day, whether honey is plentiful or not. The queens and drones 

 are completely yellow. We invite inspection, and with the greatest of pleasure 

 welcome all who love and follow bee-keeping. Come and see them handled. To 

 have such makes bee-keeping easy, and causes it to lose its terrors. One prominent 

 bee-keeper objected to them because they were too quiet. " Everybody would keep 

 bees and spoil the business," was the remark made. 

 (Concluded next week.) 



SIIUPIvE: HIVE-COIVSXRUCTIOX, ETC. 



BY EDWIN BEVINS. 



On page 600, Dr. Miller indulges in some criticisms of my tailless dovetailed 

 hives. That is all right, Doctor. I have been expecting that some .one would 

 sooner or later criticise them in just that way. I wish here to proclaim that the 

 changes were not made with any idea that they would be improvements. The point 

 I wished to make was, that any man who felt disposed could make a very satisfac- 

 tory hive with inexpensive tools, and save some money by so doing. When it is 

 desirable to tier up hive-bodies, it may be better to have hives of different construc- 

 tion, but as long as I use them only to put section-cases on, I think I shall run up 

 against no very serious difficulties in their management. When my bees store sur- 

 plus enough to more than pay for sugar for winter feed, I may buy dovetailed hives 

 of the orthodox pattern. But, come to think of it again, I don't like the orthodox 

 style. The alighting space is too narrow, and so I make my bottom-boards two feet 

 long, and nail a piece of wood two inches square under each end, the front one just 

 even with the end of the board, and the rear one an inch or two from the end. 



I fail to see what serious objection Dr. Miller can have to the cleats projecting 

 below the cover. With the grooved cleat, a part of it projects below and a part 

 above the cover. The part above the cover hinders the flow of water when it rains 

 and moisture gets in between the cleat and the end of the board, causing them to 

 swell, and then they shrink and check, and decay eventually sets in. If the cleat 

 does not project below the cover, the cover very easily gets out of place. I make 

 the cover long enough to acccommodate a cleat so heavy that the cover cannot 

 warp, and when placed on the hive it stays where you put it without the aid of hive- 

 hooks or stones. This cover has the advantage of being perfectly smooth on top 

 These covers and bottom-boards cost less than 5 cents each for material. 



I confess that when hives are to be piled up there is some advantage in not 

 having any entrances cut in the hive body, but where one winters bees on the sum-, 

 mer stands, there is not much piling up to do. My experience is yet too limited to 

 enable me to understand the necessity for having hives that leave no space below 

 the frames when placed on a flat surface. I make them in the way outlined in a 

 former article, because I can make them easier with the tools I have than I can 

 make them with grooved cleats and % inch strips. They answer my purpose very 

 well, and save me some money. But I suspect that this subject has little or no in 



