630 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Bee-escapes should be provided wliei'e need- 

 ed, and windows as desired. 



This makes a compact arrangement for a 

 medium-sized apiary, and one as convenient 

 as Ave can conceive of. with protection from 

 sun and bees while working, where there 

 are no boards on the ground to rot. where 

 no toads or mice can find harbors. In hot 

 weather 1 remove the bottom-boards and 

 put blocks under the corners of the hives 

 to reduce the swarming tendency. I open 

 the sides for shade and ventilation, or close 

 them for protection from the cold. A little 

 heat in the honey-house will keep the tem- 

 perature above the killing-point during the 

 coldest Aveather. 



Basehor. Kan. 



A WINTERS WORK IN MAKING HIVES 



BY A. H. BELL 



There is one thing which ought to inter- 

 est a g^'eat many readers of Gleanings; 

 and that is. the range of work required of 

 one man in connection with the bees and 

 the ajiiary. such as making hives, supers, 

 frames, nailing up and wiring frames, fast- 

 ening in foundation, etc. 



The past winter I began to make prepar- 

 ation for this year's crop and increase. I 

 make my own hives, supers, frames, etc., 

 just because lumber here is cheap and I 

 can make just as good hives and fixtures 

 as I have ever been able to buy. Jan. 1 T 

 started my combination saw. which is run 

 by a five-horse-power gasoline-engine, and 

 finished up May 1. During that time I 

 hauled all my lumber from Roundup, 11 

 miles distant, and cut out 135 ten-frame 

 hives, corners halved to nail both ways. I 

 made telescope covers having tar-paper on 

 top. with inside cover and reversible bot- 

 tom for about 400 ten-frame shallow supers 

 5% in. deep, halved at corners, and all hives 

 and supers handholed. 1 also made 4000 

 shallow extracting frames and 1.300 Hott- 

 man brood-frames, all pierced for wire. 



As soon as 1 had every thing sawed out 

 I moved out the saw to make room; then I 

 began nailing hives first and then supers. 

 Then came the frames, nailing both brood- 

 fi'ames, and extracting at the rate of 800 a 

 day. While wiring I wired 700 extracting 

 frames with two wires each and 600 brood- 

 frames with three wires each. In these 

 frames I put full sheets of foundation, 

 using 400 pounds. I found this somewhat 

 slower work. The best I could do in an 

 hour was to put 80 sheets in the shallow 

 frames. But the whole job ran only 600 



sheets per day, while with the brood-frames 

 I averaged 350 per day. This includes im- 

 bedding the wire with a spur imbedder, and 

 placing frames in the hives and supers. 



The difference in number between ex- 

 tracting and brood frames is due to the fact 

 that I fastened the foundation in extract- 

 ing- frames with melted wax and a Vaudeu- 

 sen wax-fastener, while my brood-frames 

 Tvere quarter-sawed. I used the quarter 

 strip to nail in tlie foundation. This is a 

 very good way to hold the foundation, but ' 

 it is a good deal slower. 



I then painted every thing three coats of 

 white lead. All this work was done by 

 myself, and May 1 found me ready for a 

 crop of 30,000 pounds of honey. 



All the sawing was done on a saw-table 

 of my own make, which is a combination of 

 even' thing I could think of. 



Elso, Mont. 



THE WINTERING PROBLEM 



Guesses vs. Facts; the Need of More Complete Data 

 on which to Base Conclusions 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



The symposium on wintering in Glean- 

 ings for September 1 is interesting, par- 

 ticularly in its graphic illustration of the 

 careless *'rule-o'-thumb" method of reach- 

 ing conclusions jtrevalent among people 

 not trained to the precise methods of the 

 scientists. Just so long as deductions are 

 made from the faulty, imperfect, and in- 

 complete observations as recorded there, 

 just so long will the practices based thereon 

 fail to bring any thing like uniform results. 



Citations of some of the factors not not- 

 ed by the writers will serve to illustrate 

 the imperfection of the data. One will fail 

 to state thickness of packing or material 

 used; another, the nature of the outer 

 case, whether it is of thick or thin stock, 

 and is virtually air-tight or the contrary, 

 is or is not covei'ed with a water-proof 

 paper; the color, etc. Another, stating one 

 or the other of these, fails to say whether 

 tight covers are over the brood-nest or 

 cushions, and whether the bees have a pas- 

 sage over toj^s of frames under these or 

 not. A few other items may be enumerat- 

 ed, such as frames side or end to entrance; 

 size of the latter; direction it faces; direc- 

 tion of pi'evailing winds; any gales or un- 

 usual atmospheric conditions; size of colo- 

 nies (average variable in different years) ; 

 queens old or young; breeding stop early 

 or late; pollen stores, large or small; na- 



