■2T0 



etc., before he decides on any certain make 

 of fixture, may prevent disappointment 

 later on, and start him on the right track. 



The second clause of "certain conditions " 

 is of next importance. The whole outfit 

 displayed in the above-mentioned pictures 

 is all home made but not hand made. Ev- 

 ery piece used in the makeup is fitted by 

 power saws and planer. I am frequently 

 asked, " Did you make your hives by hand?" 

 I simply smile, and say, "Yes, I nailed 

 them by hand, and I painted them by hand, 

 and handled the lumber by hand when fit- 

 ting the material; but I had power saws and 

 planer to help me." Although I have done 

 mechanical work all my lifetime, I consider 

 fitting hive material by hand a task all out 

 of the question. There is not a mechanic 

 in the country who, with all his skill, can 

 fit a single hive body, end piece, or make a 

 main-frame topbar by hand as nearly per- 

 fect as true-running machinery will make, 

 to say nothing of making it pay in quanti- 

 ties. 



Next in order is the mechanical skill of 

 the operator. Even when we have the nec- 

 essary machinery at our command, it re- 

 quires no little ingenuity to keep it in prop- 

 er running order. It seems like an easy 

 matter to set the gauge of a saw twice alike. 

 It is for nearly all housework, even for door 

 and sash manufacturing, that a little varia- 

 tion is many times admissible; but if posi- 

 tive uniformity is our aim, hive-making re- 

 quires more exact measuring than almost 

 any other kind of woodwork. As an illus- 

 tration of what uniformity in an apiary 

 means, I refer the reader again to the above- 

 mentioned photographs. From a superficial 

 view, the whole outfit seems to be uniform- 

 ly made; and, in reality, we find that this is 

 the case in every particular. Although the 

 material was manufactured at different 

 times, at intervals of from one to ten or fif- 

 teen years between different portions of it, 

 every separate part, such as hive bodies, bot- 

 tom-boards, covers, stands, etc., is inter- 

 chano-e able with every other one of the same 

 kind," and, more than that, every separate 

 piece large or small, used in the construc- 

 tion of those diiTerent parts, is a perfect 

 counterpart of every other one of its kind. 

 When we started hive-making at the begm- 

 ing of our beekeeping career, in 1876, and 

 had decided on the kind, size, dimensions, 

 etc. of our output, we made a list contain- 

 ing 'every separate piece used, and described 

 it by its exact length, breadth, and thick- 

 ness for our guide to work from. To this 

 list we adhered, year after year, as closely as 

 close measuring made it possible, and to 

 this day I use the eccentric-lever forms for 

 nailing main and broad frames (section 

 holders) I made at that time, 36 years ago. 

 The result of persistently applying our little 

 available mechanical talent to our work is 

 the complete uniformity in our apiary. The 

 benefit derived therefrom can not be over- 

 estimated. 



The lumber question, the last of the four 

 requirements above mentioned, has also 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



considerable bearing on making home man- 

 ufacture a paying venture. Thirty-six years 

 ago, when the hills ofour home town, Naples, 

 were yet covered with uncuUed pine forest, 

 average lots of lumber could be bought from 

 almost any neighbor at from $12 00 to 

 $15.00 per 'lOOO. These lots wouhi contain 

 any thing from six to sixteen or eighteen 

 inches wide, and mm from more or less 

 knotty to clear or i:)racticallj c'ear lum- 

 ber. In sorting out the different grades to 

 best advantage we could generally work up 

 any lumber-pile into quite resjiectable-look- 

 ing hives 



But times have changed. Our New York 

 hills are pretty well stripped of pine or any 

 other timber, and we are compelled to call 

 on our local lumber-dealers, who import 

 their stock from the West, for our supj)lies. 

 Under these circumstances the jiricess of all 

 kinds of lumber have risen to such dazzling 

 heights that the pocketbooks of us common 

 beekeepers can hardly reach them. To-day 

 we vvould have to pay for fairly clear lumber 

 (not strictly clear), such as would be desir- 

 able for hive bodies and cover tops, any- 

 where from $60.00 to $80.00. This item alone 

 puts an unpleasant damper on home hive 

 manufacture. 



After making a brief statement of the fore- 

 going, the inquirer generally asks: " How, 

 then, can I get my supplies?" Very sim- 

 ple. If a person feels anxious to occupy his 

 leisure time, and wishes to make use of the 

 mechanical inclination he may be favored 

 with, the shortest and most convenient way 

 to procure his outfit is to order the fitted 

 material from any of our established bee- 

 supply manufacturers. They keep standard 

 goods constantly on hand, and can fill an 

 order on short notice. In case their list of 

 supplies does not include the desired kind 

 or any particular make we wish, by giving 

 an exact description they will make to order 

 any article desired; and, what is the best 

 part of it, their work will be far superior to 

 any home-shop productions. 



In regard to expenses I know from experi- 

 ence that the price of fitted material is little, 

 if any, above the cost of the raw lumber it 

 would require to make the goods. For vari- 

 ous reasons a part of my outfit was ]irocured 

 in this way some years ago. To pro\ e that 

 I do not overrate the exact workmanship of 

 our bee-supply establishments, I will add, 

 incidentally, that these ordered goods were 

 made so near to given measurement that no 

 variation could be detected from those of my 

 own make. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



Upper Ventilation Makes the Honey Too Thick 



As I work away from home I ventilated my hives 

 by raising them Ji of an inch from the bottom- 

 board. I also put two oneinch auger-holes in the 

 top of the brood-chamber, and kept on full-depth 

 extracting supers. I fixed ten colonies in this way 

 without increase. One colony, whose hive was not 

 ventilated, east two swarms. I do not like venti- 

 lating here, as the moisture dries out of the honey 

 until it is too thick to extract; but I believe that 

 the plan is all right except in arid regions. 



Acequia, Idaho. C. A. Van Rypeb. 



