880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



Mr. Hutchinson kindly consented to accom- 

 pany me on the visit. 



A ride of 20 miles on the cars brought us to 

 Lapeer, the home of Mr. Taylor — a home of 

 beauty and loveliness. We were royally en- 

 tertained at the dinner hour, then taken to 

 the apiary, the garden, vineyard, and farm. 

 Mr. Taylor takes just pride in his fine fruit as 

 well as in his apiary. He reports a fair crop 

 of comb honey of good quality. 



A vigorous three cornered conversation fill- 

 ed up all the time for an hour, when we took 

 leave of the Taylor home and hastened to 

 catch the returning train at the depot, not 

 without some regrets that the time had been 

 so short; yet many were the crumbs of wis- 

 dom that I had been able to pick up from Bro. 

 Taylor's experiences. The events of the day 

 furnished interesting topics for a busy conver- 

 sation on our return trip, and, with much 

 regret, I parted company with Mr. Hutchin- 

 son at Flint, and continued my journey to 

 Owosso via Durand. My most ardent antici- 

 pations have been realized in this visit to these 

 two prominent bee men. 



MAKING HIVES BY HAND, FALSE ECONOMY. 



An Interesting and Laughable Experience. 



BY GEO. L. VINAL. 



Another season has rolled from off the cal- 

 endar of life and bee-keeping, and we are 

 again to think of supplies for next season. 

 R. L. Taylor, the critic, thinks one can not 

 afford to keep many bees unless he builds his 

 own hives. I for one do not or can not agree 

 with him. 



Last fall I thought I should want about 20 

 two-story chaff hives, and, looking over your 

 catalog, I found they would cost me about .?35, 

 and I should have them to put together. As 

 A. I. advises to be always economical, I prac- 

 ticed it and constructed hives myself, as on 

 paper I could do it for about $15. I first pur- 

 chased about 1000 feet of boards for $12, at 

 the lot where they were sawed. I gave $2 to 

 have them carted to my place. I had to pur- 

 chase saws, planes, hammers, squares, bench, 

 vise, and other tools, to the amount of 818 

 (but that is an indirect expense). I told the 

 man who carted the boards from the lot to 

 take them to the mill and have them planed. 

 As he did not, I had to have them carted to 

 the mill and back again at an expense of $.3. 50 

 more. I told the head man at the mill to 

 plane them just ^4 of an inch thick". When I 

 got them ■ they were ^ ; cost of planing both 

 sides, $2.00. 



After I had piled them up nicely I com- 

 menced business. I got out material for one 

 hive and put it together. It took me two 

 days and a half to finish it; and when I got it 

 done it was a " beaut — ." I came to the con- 

 clusion that the winter was too short to finish 

 the rest, and I would use machinery. 



Going to the mill I found I could get the 

 use of a saw and table for 40 cents an hour; so, 

 cutting the boards into lengths according to 

 the ABC book, I went to the mill ; and as 



it was the first time I had ever used a circular 

 saw you can imagine the progress I made; but 

 with the help of the foreman I got started, 

 and had worked about an hour when, some- 

 how, as I was sawing off a strip, the board 

 caught and came back " zip ! " hitting me a 

 crack on the nose. I thought my head was 

 gone. The men in the mill had a good laugh, 

 and I had a good pair of black eyes. I 

 got at work again, and eventually finished 

 sawing out the bodies. From the pieces left, 

 I got out some material for frames and some 

 division-boards ; in fact, I worked the boards 

 all up. When I got through I went to settle, 

 and the following is the bill presented. Use 

 of saw 21^ hours, $8.60; time of foreman 

 changing saws and gauging the same seven 

 times, $3.50; cartage to and from the mill, $2; 

 ten pounds of nails, 50 cents. I got the hives 

 put together before spring. The total cost 

 was $.34. 10, leaving a balance in my favor of 

 90 cents. 



I think I have a fair amount of intelligence, 

 and some mechanical skill; and as I sit under 

 the shade of a large maple-tree and look at 

 those hives with their open joints, lop-sided 

 wapper-jawed covers, I view them as memen- 

 tos of my economy and industry, and rejoice 

 that I have saved 90 cents. If putty is not 

 very high I think I shall come out about even 

 with what I should have done had I purchased 

 of some reliable dealer. 



Charlton City, Mass. 



[I suppose I ought to keep still, because to 

 some, at least, it will appear, in spite of any 

 thing I may say, that I have an ax to grind. 

 Well, I do not care ; I am going to tell what I 

 honestly believe to be the actual truth. Mr. 

 Taylor has stated his position, and Mr. \'inal 

 his, so here is mine from the standpoint of a 

 supply-manufacturer — not because I am inter- 

 ested in the dollars and cents, but because I 

 have read over just such experiences as these 

 so many times, and traveled much. 



If I have read one such letter as this, I be- 

 lieve I have read hundreds. Why ? After one 

 has tried his hand at making his own hives, 

 spoiled a lot of good lumber, perhaps sawed 

 off a thumb, or done something worse, he con- 

 cludes to buy the stuff already made, of those 

 who make it their business, and usually he is 

 good and kind enough to tell his supply-man 

 his experience, and that he has had all he 

 wants of making his own supplies. 



Now, here is what I regard as a fair state^ 

 ment. A natural mechanic can, many times, 

 buy his own lumber, make his own hives and 

 other supplies, and save money ; but in order 

 to do so he must keep quite a complement of 

 nice machinery ; for I assume that no one can 

 afford to fuss with a handsaw — that is, provid- 

 ing he regards his time as worth ten cents an 

 hour. But where there is one handy at tools 

 there are fifty bunglers. There are a few 

 men, perhaps, like R. L. Taylor, Dr. G. L. 

 Tinker, the late Miles Morton, Capt. Hether- 

 ington, G. M. Doolittle, and others I might 

 name, who can make a success of making 

 their own hives ; but even Mr. Doolittle, who 

 is a nice mechanic, and still does a good deal 



