40 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



er, it will probably be far more satis- 

 factory and cheaper, on the whole, for 

 hi;n to buy his supplies from some re- 

 sponsible suppl3'-house. Too often, he 

 d(,)es not know what he wants, and is 

 g-uided in his selection by the opinion 

 of others, and would not be able to ex- 

 ercise any competent supervision over 

 the mechanic employed to do the work 

 at home. As a result, his supplies 

 will probably be a bungling- botch. 



For the specialist the case is differ- 

 ent. Throug-h costly experience, he 

 has learned that success depends upon 

 his own peculiar skill, g-ood pasturag^e, 

 and plenty of bees, rather than upon the 

 complicated hives and super apparatus 

 exploited by the supply-inen, seeming- 

 ly devised for the express purpose of 

 cornering the market by the introduc- 

 tion of appliances so complicated that 

 it is impossible for them to be con- 

 structed outside of a large factory, 

 supplied with special machiner.v. 



A BE]>KEEPER CAN GET HIVKS MAUK 



ACCURATELY IF HE WILL BOSS 



THE JOB. 



Thiee j'ears ago I began the manu- 

 facture of mjr hives, using onij^ hand- 

 work. I emplov'ed a good carpenter 

 by the day, explained the details of 

 construction to him fully, and then 

 bossed the job. At first it was necessary 

 to remind him, now^ and then, that a 

 sixt enth of an inch made the differ- 

 ence between right and ivrong, and 

 that in hive-construction everything 

 must be right. However, he soon 

 learned just what I wanted, and has 

 has since made 120, ten-frame, Lang-- 

 stroth hives for me, which are equal 

 in workmanship and finish to those made 

 b}' any supplj^ dealer at anj- price - 

 they are simply perfect in construc- 

 tion. 



In the matter of cost, the saving has 

 been considerable. Although I have, 

 so far, boug-ht the brood-frames from 

 a supply dealer, which has increased 

 the cost somewhat, the ten-frame hives, 

 nailed up ready for painting have cost 



only about 85 cts. each, not including 

 any surplus apparatus. So well am I 

 pleased with results, that I expect to 

 have 10(1, three-story hives made the 

 present season, and estimate a saving 

 of over S150 on the lot. My man has 

 now a steam-jiower plant with a circu- 

 lar saw, and will cut the frames for 

 about 50 cts. per hundred. As the 

 brood-frame is the part of the hi\e re- 

 quiring- the greatest exactness, I 

 should prefer to purchase them from 

 a supply-house, rather than to take the 

 risk oi losing some lumber in the ex- 

 perimental stage of manufacture, but 

 the sharp advance in prices has caused 

 me to decide to ha\e them made as be- 

 ft)re stated. I am confident that the 

 cost of plain Langstroth frames, with 

 top-bar % inch square, will not exceed 

 $1.00 p.ir hundred. As this will make 

 a saving of S27, besides the freight, on 

 the frames alone, I feel that I can well 

 afford to take the risk. 



As to a buzz saw for my own use, I 

 think too inuch of my fing-ers to ever 

 rim the risk (jf losing' theni in playing 

 with the uncertain thing", and would 

 advise any bee-keeper who ma}' be 

 thinking of buying- one, to take an in- 

 ventory of his fingers at their cash 

 value, and see if he can afford to lose 

 two or three of them, before deciding 

 t J risk them in the vicinity of a buzz 

 saw. The famous advice, "Don't 

 monkey with the buzz saw," is well 

 worth considering- in this instance. 



HIVES MAY BE MADE AT HOME IF COM- 

 PLICATED FIXINGS .\KE AVOIDED. 



It seems to me that the plan I have 

 outlined is one that is worth the con- 

 sideration of the practical bee-keeper. 

 True, we have been told that the aver- 

 age carpenter cannot make hives that 

 are accurate. Try it. The experi- 

 ment costs but little to tr}'. The great- 

 est drawback to success is the com- 

 plicated hives, and, especially, the 

 abominable Hoffman frames, which 

 have been so widely distributed through 

 the country for the last few v-ears. 



