AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 817 



HO^W TO ^WATER THE BEES. 



BY PHILLIP SMITH. 



I want to tell how I water my bees, for the benefit of those who may not know 

 of a better plan. 



I take a large cigar-box, or any other box that can be made water-tight either 

 with wax or paint — a tin box made purposely tor watering bees might still be better. 

 Make the lid to fit loosely inside of the box ; bore the lid full of gimlet holes, nail 

 two liitle strips on thQ underside of the lid at each end to keep it from warping, 

 and one on top of the lid to lift it in and out with. 



While filling the box with water, if the lid gets too heavy, tack thin slices of 

 cork underneath it to keep it on top. The way I got my bees started to water in the 

 boxes, was to take sweetened water at first, very early in the spring of the year, and 

 I was careful to always keep water In the boxes. I generally kept one box with salt 

 water in it — say one tablespoonful to a quart of water. Sometimes the bees seem 

 to be very greedy for the salt water, and at other times they would not touch it for 

 three or four days. 



I think I have saved thousands of bees by having this watering-place. It is 

 located on the south side of the house in a cool, shady place, where there is not so 

 much wind as in some places. During the ten hot days in July and August, when 

 the mercury stood at 106'2, my bees drank 33^ gallons of fresh water a day out of 

 these boxes. I filled them every morning and noon during those hot days, and spent 

 considerable time watching the bees coming and going for the water. I had 15 

 colonies at that time, and I have no doubt that some bee-keepers will discredit this 

 statement, for it seems hardly possible, but it Is nevertheless true. I measured very 

 particularly, and I know that the boxes did not leak. 



I was bothered very much the summer before, with bees in the watering-trough 

 and around the well-bucket where timid folks often did without water on account 

 of the bees being too thick. 



This was my third year with bees. I got 150 pounds of honey, and doubled my 

 bees from 9 to 18 colonies. I am very well satisfied with the business, and expect 

 to continue. I have gotten many good things out of the " Old Reliable," and give 

 the above on watering bees, hoping that it may do some one else good. 



Williamsburgh, Kans., Dec. 1. 



SEI.ECXIPJG A HIVE. 



BY CHAS. DADANT. 



It is during the winter that bee-keepers should prepare their hives for the com- 

 ing spring. Now comes the question. Which hive is the best? Of course there is 

 no doubt that the hive must have movable frames, since this hive is acknowledged 

 by everybody as the best, and, in fact, the only one with which all the indispensable 

 operations of the apiary may be performed. But there are several sizes and forms 

 of frames and hives extensively used in this country : the suspended or hanging 

 Langstroth frame, which is the standard frame of America, the size of which is 

 17% inches in length by 9^ in height; the Quinby hanging frame differs from the 

 Langstroth by its size only, which is 183^x113^ ; the square or American frame, 

 12%xl2% ; the square Gallup frame, llj^xll}^. 



I have tried these four styles, not with one or two hives of each, but on quanti- 

 ties, and with the Quinby frames I have obtained the best results, not only in honey, 

 but in wintering the bees also. Before going further, I advise all bee-keepers, who 



