1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13 



good-natured, tell us right at the start how 

 much this 3o-cent chaff hive will cost, when you 

 have figured in all that will be required to make 

 it a complete one-story chaff hive. Let us see. 

 There will be one dovetailed body; one Irottom- 

 board; one piece of duck to cover the franu's; 

 one cushion to cover tiie duck, and one long 

 cushion, over five feet, to surround the dove- 

 tailed body. 



If, after thoroughly discussing the matter, 

 the committee find sufficient advantages to 

 overbalance the disadvantages, why not com- 

 promise the matter a little and construct it so 

 that it can be used either in the way mentioned, 

 or converted into the permanent outside shell of 

 a one-stoi-y chaff hiv(>? Make it of 9^-inch 

 lumber, dovetailed at the corners, as proposed, 

 but somewhat larger, so that it will take thick- 

 er cushion's. Instead of a complete cover, put 

 on a rim-piece somewhat similar to those used 

 on the other chaff hiv(>s. When the rim-pieces 

 are in place, th(( shoulder should be just like 

 the upper edge of a dovetailed body— flat— („ 

 inch wide on the side, and i.j' inch on the ends, 

 and should stand sufficiently above the rest of 

 the rim to admit of the use of the regular dove- 

 tailed cover. To use as a removable winter 

 protection, adjust the case and side cushions, 

 nist as you would the one proposed by Ernest. 

 Now you have access to the top, and can tuck 

 in the top cushion so tiiat you are positive 

 every thing is snug. Then just slide on the 

 regular hive-cover, and make it useful winter 

 as well as summer. You may not wish to ex- 

 amine your bees at all from the time they are 

 prepared for winter until the next season; but 

 it is worth something to know that you can do 

 so if you wish, without tearing your hive all 

 apart. 



Fig. 1. 



To make a chaff hive with permanent pack- 

 ing, there will be needed an inside shell made 

 of ^-inch lumber, and dovetailed at the corners, 

 and bottom-boards similar to those used in the 

 other chaff' hives, if it is thought advisable to 

 have packing under the brood-nest. 



a 



FIG. 3. KING S PKOPOSEIl OUTSIDE PROTECTIXG- 

 CASE FOK THE DOVETAILED HIVE. 



Since it has been decided to use sucli a large 

 entrance, winter as well as summer, what is the, 

 use of extra protection at the bottom ? Why 



not use only one bottom-board, leaving simply 

 a dead-air space beneath ? 



Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section of a 

 Dovetailed hive, with the protection and cush- 

 ions, a. (I, a, in place. 



Figure 2 shows the case made into a chaff 

 hive, in which a. is the chaff' cushion; b. />, chaff 

 packing, and c a dead-air space. 



Marysville, O., Dec. 15. W. A. King. 



[Criticisms are always in order, friend King, 

 and I am free to acknowledge that you make 

 some good points. Let us consider some of them 

 seridthii. Allowing me to be the judge (for I 

 have tried them), the adjusting of the outside 

 cases, as you supijose. will not take nearly as 

 much time as the same number of colonies in 

 regular chaff hives, and there is going to be. I 

 think, nothing to lug back and forth. These 

 outside cases will be needed in summer for comb 

 honey, as a jn'otection from the hot sun. El- 

 wood, with his thousand colonies, uses just such 

 an outside case for shade, and he did not con- 

 sider it a superfluous affair, if I remember cor- 

 rectly. Of course, the cushions would have to 

 be put away; but then, we have to do that with 

 our regular chaff' hives. We can not aff'ord to 

 have great lumbering cushions on the hives 

 during the entire summer; and in the produc- 

 tion of honey tiiey must necessarily be removed 

 to make room for the supers. You say, a little 

 extra cost of the hive, when used for a number 

 of years, is a small thing. Very true; but the 

 smaller this extra cost, the smaller this thing 

 becomes. A regular chaff hive is not ada|)ted 

 for moving, but a single-walled hive is. Toward 

 winter the outside cases can be hauled to the 

 yard and set over the hives. 



The committee had already in mind such an 

 outside protecting-case as you outline in your 

 diagram above; and there is no getting around 

 it, there are some good things about it. But 

 such a case would assuredly have to be stored 

 away in the summer, and, besides, it could not 

 be niade to answer for shade. It would not do 

 to leave it on during summer, because that 

 would destroy the liee-space; that is. the space 

 (I, in Fig. 1 above, would be anywhere from two 

 to three inches— hardly enough to allow room 

 for a super, and too much room without a thing 

 in which tlie bees can store honey. It is true, 

 in Fig. 2, that you can put on a super; but then, 

 there is about a two-inch bee-space under it. 

 For extracting, this can be remedied by using 

 frames a little deeper. But you would then 

 have two sizes of frames in the apiary, the one 

 so near the depth of the other as to make it a 

 nuisance. I do not see any practical way of 

 making a water-table to be used in a regular 

 hive, so that it will not destroy bee-spaces. Of 

 the two arrangenuMits, I think the outside pro- 

 tecting-case, such as I outlined in Gleanings 

 some time ago, is much preferable. Reports 

 now coming in show that it has already been in 

 use, and is giving good satisfaction.] E. R. 



MRS. AXTELL'S EXPERIENCE AT THE KEO- 

 KUK CONVENTION. 



CONTINUED FKOM LAST ISSUE. 



I felt amply repaid for my trip to Keokuk, if 

 for no other reason than to meet so many of 

 our editors and bee-keepers themselves, and 

 exchange the friendly greeting, some of whom 

 I have known for many years, and been greatly 

 benefited by reading their articles, but have 

 never been permitted to meet before. Why, it 

 would have almost paid me for going, just to 

 hear Dr. Miller, who is the very embodiment of 

 music, render his sacred and comic music. If 



