42 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[August, 



colonies, and two natives. Neither of them 

 swarmed, except one of the natives, upon which 

 all the boxes were not placed until they had 

 commenced preparations for swarming. 



I observe a communication in the December 

 issue of your Journal, from I'ev. A. C. Manwell, 

 Whitewater, Wisconsin, giving an account of 

 his trial of the Eureka hive, in which the pro- 

 duct of one colony of Italians was two new 

 swarms and IGo lbs. of surplus honey in the 

 boxes. Had they not swarmed, they woidd 

 probably have stored more than 200 11)s. of sur- 

 plus. This report of Mr. Manwell goes to con- 

 firm the great importance of ample box room 

 for surplus. I will give furtlier views in some 

 future numbers of your Journal. Should any 

 one of your I'eaders wish further information, I 

 will send it on receiving their address and 

 stamp cover to postage. 



Jasper Hazen. 



Albany, N. T. 



[For the Americau Beo Journal.] 



Eow to make Glass Surplus Honey Boxes. 



Mr. Editor : — In my early experience in bee- 

 keeping, T endeavored to construct glass boxes 

 for surplus honey, in the manner suggested by 

 Mr. Quinby ; but, owing to the variable thick- 

 ness of glass, and the difficulty of cutting the 

 pieces to exactly the right size, I found that to 

 construct a neat box in that way, required so 

 much time and labor, that I was constrained to 

 abandon 'the method. 



I then tried paper fastenings, using no wood, 

 except for tops and bottoms. This I found to 

 answer well, and made a beautiful box. The 

 only difficulty was to hold the glass in the proper 

 position until the fastenings were applied. This 

 difficulty I finally obviated by the following 

 means : My boxes are six by six inches, and five 

 inches high ; get out a block of soft, light wood, 

 two and a half or three inches thick and six 

 inches square, (nailing two or more pieces of the 

 inner plank together, letting the grain cross, 

 until the proper thickness is obtained, will an- 

 swer as well, ) get out also a square piece of plank, 

 about three- fourths of an inch thick and eight 

 or nine inches square, which, after sawing out 

 of each -cTTrner a block two inches square, is to be 

 nailed centrally to the blocks first described, the 

 corners of Avhich will project over the space left 

 by removing the blocks from the corners. (The 

 thin i)iece last described is to form the base of 

 the block.) Now make a mortice or hole in ihe 

 base board, on each side and about three-six- 

 teenths of an inch from the blocks. In these 

 insert a substantial peg or standard, with a 

 shoulder on the outside, to hold it firmly, leaving 

 space enough between the standard and the cen- 

 tral block to receive the thickest glass without 

 jamming. Make a few thick wedges, about two 

 inches long, have your glass cut in pieces five by 

 six inches ; place one piece on each side of the 

 block, the lower edge resting on the base board ; 

 insv-rt a wedge between each standard and the 

 glass, to hold the latter against the block. Slide 



the glass along until the corners are as near true 

 as possible, (a slight opening or projection wdll 

 not materially injure it.) You have now the 

 form of your box complete. Have some strong 

 paper (colored can be used, if desired,) cut into 

 strips about three-fourths of an inch wide. Make 

 a paste by dissolving two ounces of glue in a pint 

 of water ; add a teacupful of flour well stirred,^ 

 with water and free from lumps ; boil until as 

 thick as can conveniently be applied with a 

 brush ; cut your strips of paper into lengths of 

 five inches, apply paste, and place one centrally 

 on each corner of the box, and with a piece of 

 cloth press until the paper is ai^plied smoothly. 

 (The corners of the base board being removed, 

 there is nothing under the corners of the box to 

 interfere with your applying the strijjs of paper. ) 

 The lumber for the tops and bottoms should be 

 of light material, and as thin as possible— about 

 the thickness of veneering is best. Each piece 

 (top and bottom) should be one-eighth of an inch 

 wider and longer than the inside measurement 

 of the box. If the boxes are 6 by 6, the toi)S and 

 bottoms should be 6| by Q^. Place the top on 

 the box, use a strip of pajier wider, if necessary, 

 tlian for the corners ; apply it around the top, 

 turn it down over tlie wood,' remove the wedges, 

 and with the thumbs under the base board, and 

 two fingers of each hand, pressing two opjiosite 

 sides of tlie box against the block ; invert 

 it ; lift out the block when the paste is some- 

 what dry ; put on the bottom and fasten it 

 in the same manner, and your box is completed. — 

 It is best to have a nvimber of blocks, so that 

 they can be used alternately ; and thus allow the 

 paste to become dry, before it is necessary to 

 remove the block from the box. There should 

 also be strips i by ^ or | of an inch, nailed across 

 the grain, on the bottom side of the base board, 

 to prevent its warping, and to elevate it slightly 

 for convenience in raising to invert, when the 

 block is to be removed. 



These boxes I have used for ten or twelve 

 years. I have sent thousands of them to market, 

 and have never yet fimnd the paper deficient in 

 strength. Indeed, I have had boxes to fall and 

 the glass fractured in many pieces, and yet the 

 fastenings failed to give way. By using gilt or 

 other ornamental paper, and by properly com- 

 bining complementary colors, they can be made 

 of the most attractive appearance ; and in addi- 

 tion to this, they can be made with the greatest 

 ease and rapidity. I have often made one hun- 

 dred per day, including the cutting of the glass. 

 A lady, or even a girl of a dozen years, can make 

 them with grent facility. I can confidently re- 

 commend all who use glass boxes, to try these, 

 as it will cost nothing more than an hour's work 

 to prepare the block. You may fiiil to get them 

 to stand just right, the first few trials, if you use 

 but one block ; but "try again," and you will 

 soon wonder you ever failed at all. 



I will now give you a plan for boring holes in 

 hives or crown boards, for placing surplus honey 

 boxes over. In the first place, I take it for 

 granted that most of your readers use boxes with 

 both tops and bottoms -open bottom boxes being 

 unsuitable for transportation. It is very incon- 

 venient to be obliged to bore more than one hole 

 in each box, as it is some trouble to get them so 



