1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



235 



long; then I made the framework of old rail- 

 road ties by setting one in each corner of the 

 cellar and two on each side, about in the center, 

 letting them all into the ground about six inch- 

 es at the bottom. I then laid ties lengthwise on 

 top of the posts and spiked them on them. 

 Next, ties were laid crosswise close together, 

 forming the roof. As the ties are 8 feet long, 

 the top is 2 feet higher than the surface of the 

 ground. This space was sided up with ties ex- 

 cept at front end. The inustration will show 

 about how it is finished. All is then covered 

 with dirt, except the doorway. Those ties were 

 not much decayed. They were taken from 

 bridges where the railroad company was put- 

 ting in new work. I wintered a part of my bees 

 in this cave last winter quite successfully, and 

 have about 70 colonies in it this winter. The 

 remainder, 120, are under my dwelling-house in 

 the cellar. 



Now I will tell you how I put my bees down 

 cellar by the help of the wire hive-carrier. See 

 description in Gleanings, page 425, 1896; also 

 illustrated here, showing front of cave, but 

 somewhat changed and much improved. 



at the same time the one end is resting on a 

 bench about knee-high. This opens it up nice- 

 ly to receive the hive; then set on the hivo at 

 the forward end; raise the hind end; place pul- 

 ley on wire; unhook from post; then all you 

 have to do is to walk behind and hold back; 

 and when you get down where you want to 

 stop, let one end down on a box, or something 

 convenient, and then take off the hive. 



This contrivance has worked first rate with 

 me; and as I have to handle my bees all alone 

 I think it a big help. I expect to take them out 

 of the cellar in the spring in the same way. It 

 will save all that lugging up the steps. 



Ackley, Iowa. 



.t^r—^-^. 



First get a post about 8 feet long. Set it about 

 10 or 12 feet from the first steps of cellarway. 

 Now drive a stake about 12 or 15 feet further 

 back, which we will call the anchor stake. 

 Then put on wire or cable chain to hold the 

 main post in place. Now you must provide 

 some way to fasten the end of the wire to the 

 farther side of the cellar wall below. This I did 

 by setting a post in the bottom of the cellar and 

 nailing it to a joist overhead, and in range with 

 the center of the doorway and post above. Then 

 I put one end of the wire around the post in the 

 cellar about half way up, and about 6 feet high 

 on the post above on the outside, stretching it 

 tight with a wire - stretcher. The stretcher 

 should remain in place to tighten up when the 

 wire becomes a little slack. 



The hive carrier I made for this work is made 

 as follows: I first got a board 5 feet long and 

 14 inches wide; then two pieces of 2x4 scantling, 

 10 inches long; set one at each end of the board 

 on top; nailed them fast; then next a board 6 

 inches wide and 14 long nailed to inside of post 

 and to bottom-board. Next put on the barn- 

 door pulleys; hang one end on wire as you see 

 in illustration; hook the other end to the post 

 by means of a wire hook— see illustration— and 



VALUE OF DRAWN COMBS. 



WILL THE BEES GNAW DOWN THE NEW DKAWN 

 FOUNDATION? 



By Wm. Slaubaugli. 



As soon as honey comes in I give from one 

 to two L. supers filled with as much drawn 

 comb as will reach around; that is, I fill up 

 a super partly filled with drawn comb and 

 foundation. As bees do not gnaw down drawn 

 comb for me, I put on supers with sections 

 before much honey is coming in; and to 

 give plenty of sections in time, is preventing a 

 good deal of swarming. As soon as a super of 

 sections is partly tilled I lift it up and put an 

 empty one in and the partly filled on top. If 

 the bees seem to be crowded I give them from 

 two to four supers of sections to prevent them 

 from swarming all I can. 



But perhaps you ask, " How at the end of the 

 honey season, with so many unfinished sec- 

 tions'?" Giving the bees all the room they can 

 possibly occupy, if the honey season is not an 

 extra one, will result in a great many unfin- 

 ished sections, and also a great many drawn 

 combs not filled with honey. Will the drawn 

 comb balance the unfinished sections? Yes, 

 more than double, for me. I sort out all sections 

 less than two-thirds filled, and keep them for 

 bait sections. I do not want to put on a single 

 super of sections without one or two bait sec- 

 tions. These bait sections, in a poor season, 

 will sometimes be filled when the other sections 

 are left untouched. If I have drawn comb to 

 fill my supers, say half of the sections or more 

 with drawn comb, it is no trouble for bees to oc- 

 cupy sections at once. But how much more sn, 

 if The A. I. Root Co. could furnish us with 

 drawn comb for all the sections in the supers! 



How about my sections that are filled more 

 than two-thirds? Well, I put my honey in sec- 

 tions into three grades. The sections two-thirds 

 filled I sell in my home market here for lOcents; 

 the sections more than two-thirds filled I sell at 

 123^ cents. These partly filled sections sell here 



