May 30, 1907 



463 



Anic»rican l^ee Journal 



possibly can. If he wants anything over 

 and above the boards sawn square across 

 at the ends of the hive, he can make it 

 a Httlc finncr at the corners, but I do 

 not think that is necessary. If made out 

 of good, fair lumber, what we used to 

 call "cull lumber" — they don't call it 

 cull lumber now (lumber with some oc- 

 casional "shakes" in it, or a worm- 

 hole) — and nailed together at the cor- 

 ners, it will last 30 or 40 years, with 

 reasonable care. All it wants is a plain 

 bevel at the ends inside, and it does not 

 want any cleats around the outside; it 

 wants handholds, and that is all I should 

 put in a hive. There is no need of pay- 

 in $1.50 or $2.00 for a hive, when you 

 can make one from which you can get 

 just as much honey for 25 cents. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — For the bottom- 

 board I would just have a plain board. 

 Some make a board with a cleat at the 

 end to keep it from warping, and a rim 

 on each side. I agree with Mr. Taylor 

 about the sides — just plain boards nailed 

 together. 



Dr. Bohrer — How thick do you make 

 your bottom-board? 



Mr. Hutchinson — % inch. Plain 

 handles to lift it by ; cover and plain end ; 

 plain rabbets at each end to hang the 

 frames in; and all-wood frames. 



Mr. Abbott — I am interested in where 

 these brethern live, that they can buy 

 lumber enough to make a box as big 

 as a hive frame for 25 years. Take any 

 hive-frame, make it 12 inches long, 

 where can you buy that amount of 

 lumber? 

 Mr. Taylor — How many feet are in it? 

 Mr. Abbott — You can figure it your- 

 self. They charge down in our country 

 for the cheapest kind of ship-lap that 

 you can get — that is, so full of knots 

 you can't put your finger down where 

 there isn't a knot — $2.50 a hundred. 

 Mr. Taylor — Move into Michigan. 

 Mr. Abbott — And for any kind of 

 lumber such as used in a modern bee- 

 hive you have to pay from $3.50 to $4.50 

 for the lumber. We could go back and 

 wear homespun jeans, if we wanted to; 

 we could go back to the long-horned 

 Texas steer; we could go back to a 

 great many things; we could go back to 

 homely men and women if we wanted 

 to; but in these modern days we want 

 a good looking woman, a well-dressed 

 man ; a fat, sleek cow ; a fine house and 

 an automobile ; and I do not see why 

 a bee-keeper is not entitled to just as 

 good things as other people. Thirty 

 years ago they said that cheap clothes 

 made a cheap man. There is a good 

 deal of truth in that. And cheap bee- 

 hives make a kind of cheap bees and a 

 Cheap John afifair all around. 



Mr. Taylor — We are not proposing to 

 go back. We are proposing to go ahead. 

 These men who are making supplies are 

 inviting purchases, and they are asking 

 big prices, and men who have not very 

 much experience — who have not the 

 ability to make their own hives — are 

 buying them. When they get those hives 

 and put bees in them and look after their 

 crop, where are they going to get the 

 money, after paying for all this stuiif, 

 to buy their fine Jersey cows and their 

 automobiles and their fine houses? I 

 tell you, we are in the business to make 

 something out of it, and we can't make 



anything out of it if we go to these men 

 and buy the stuff that they offer at their 

 prices. That is the way I look at it. 



Mr. Stuebing — I think every bee-keep- 

 er will pay a little higher price if he 

 gets a good boltom-board and a good 

 cover. I think they are the important 

 things. 



Mr. Wheeler — I am a friend of the 

 bee-keeper, and a friend of low prices 

 as far as you can get a good article for 

 a low price, but at the same time on 

 this bee-hive body, I think the dovetailed 

 corner is a great improvement. I have 

 had hives side by side and have tried 

 them for 15 or 20 years — one with cor- 

 ners simply nailed together, and another 

 lot where I dipped the dovetailed cor- 

 ners into a good strong paint, drove 

 them together, and they have stood the 

 weather nearly 20 years without being 

 warped or twisted. I believe the dove- 

 tailed-corner bee-hive is far and away 

 ahead of the other, in which the nails will 

 rust and they will begin to twist, and 

 they won't either fit the cover or fit the 

 bottom-board, but they will twist out of 

 shape, out of square. The dovetailed- 

 corner hives, if they are put up right 

 and driven together, with new paint, will 

 last indefinitely. They will never lose 

 their shape, and no matter if the nail 

 rusts off they will keep their shape. 

 They have great trouble nowadays with 

 the nails rusting off. It is surprising how 

 well those hives will keep their shape 

 even after the nails are gone. I am in 

 favor of the dovetailed corners. 



Dr. Miller — There are so many dif- 

 ferent points of this question we hardly 

 know where to grab on. One thing that 

 has been neglected is the cover. That has 

 not been tackled, and the thing I am 

 most an.xious about is the cover. We 

 haven't a good cover yet that I know 

 of — a satisfactory cover. Some of these 

 good people that have learned how to 

 make hives, let them tell us how to 

 make the cover. 



Pres. York — Mr. Hutchinson says a 

 ]/s cover. 



Dr. Miller — Plain board, with a cleat 

 on each end. I have had lots of them. 

 They will warp so that a bee will crawl 

 out from underneath, "in my locality." 

 It makes a very satisfactory cover ; if 

 it would stay always new and always 

 straight I would like a plain board cover, 

 I wouldn't want any thing better. An- 

 other objection to them is that they do 

 not protect enough. They don't keep 

 warmth enough. A cover with an air- 

 space is very much better than that. 

 They are very expensive; but if we could 

 get one that was reasonably inexpensive, 

 I should like that kind better. 



Dr. Bohrer — Dr. Miller, do you use 

 covers made in 3 pieces, that is, the cover 

 itself, with the cleat on the end? How 

 do you like them? 



Dr. Miller — I have used them with 3 

 pieces, with 2 pieces, and with one piece. 

 The one piece is the most satisfactory 

 for me, and yet it has that objection. I 

 can not keep it .square, and no amount 

 of cleating will keep it square, either. 



Mr. Taylor — \\'liat kind of lumber do 

 you use? 



Dr. Miller — T never tried basswood. 

 That might t\vi-t worse. 



Mr. Taylor — What kind of pine? 

 Dr. Miller — .\ white pine. 



Mr. 'j aylor — Your locality must be 

 very bad. 



Dr. Miller— It is. 



Mr. Wilcox — I shall have to agree 

 with Dr. Miller about the covers. I 

 have them in use and have for many 

 years, and as they get older they will 

 warp and sometimes crack. I have 

 never been able to make any that would 

 stay good, year after year, for any great 

 length of time. We have fine yellow 

 pine up in our country. If it were not 

 for the cost 1 would want a gable roof, 

 and I would really think I would do 

 better if I had a little cleat around the 

 outside of the hive, and had that set 

 over on that. I rather object to the 

 wind blowing straight through it under 

 the cover— in at one side and out at the 

 other. It ought not to do that. I would 

 have room for covers if I wished to 

 use them. I believe the cover is quite 

 an important matter for the bee-hive. 

 There is just one more point in regard 

 to the dovetailed corners. If you are 

 going to buy your hives made in a fac- 

 tory, they are a nice thing, and I would 

 buy them. If you are going to make 

 them yourself, don't, because you make 

 them up pretty quick and they are liable 

 to shrink, some pieces more than others, 

 and the dovetailing does not fit. An- 

 other reason why : I can make a very 

 good hive and one that will stay good 

 by rabbeting the end pieces fs inch deep 

 half way through the board. That is 

 equal to 7-16 inch deep on the three 

 sides. The top and the two ends and 

 the side of the hive are nailed into them, 

 and they are also nailed the other way. 

 They are nailed both ways, and they 

 hold together just as well as the dove- 

 tailed. I have had them in use side by 

 side for the last 10 or 15 years, and can 

 see no difference ; and it is easy enough 

 to make them that way. 



Mr. Taylor — I want to say a word 

 about the cover. I have a great many 

 covers. Of course, once in a while one 

 will warp a little, but I would not use 

 a % inch board. I would use a ^/f, and 

 you see at once the reason for it. It 

 has not the strength in warping to 

 draw the cleats out of shape. I would 

 use a f^ inch board, and instead of us- 

 ing a single cleat at the end I would 

 have a flat piece nailed on to the end 

 of the cover even with the upper sur- 

 face of the board, and then another flat 

 piece up on the top covering the first 

 cleat and part of the board. In that way 

 you will likely get those two parts of 

 the cleat so that they will not both want 

 to go in the same direction if the cover 

 wants to warp. If you use that thickness 

 of board, Sg, and cleat them in that way 

 (I can't give the size now of the cleats 

 I use, but not very heavy), there will 

 be very few of them that will warp to 

 do any damage. 



Mr. Wheeler — I have one idea on this 

 subject. It is not my idea; it is the idea 

 of James Heddon. The first cover he 

 put out gave a space all around and 

 under the cover. We tack a strip on 

 the outside edge of the cover on the 

 side and a cleat on the edge — I presume 

 you have seen them described in the 



American Bee Journal so that the 



cover sits on the rim and does not 

 crush any bees; and if the board in the 

 center warps, the outside rim sits square 



