174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. is 



fact that a special kind of paper that we 

 have been expecting-, for the printing of 

 such plates, has not arrived, we are put- 

 ting- in a larger number of pen drawings 

 and a larger amount of other matter which 

 we have no doubt will prove to be fully as 

 interesting. In our next issue we hope to 

 begin again the regular series of half tones. 



POSSIBLE SEVERE WINTER LOSSFS. 



The reports in regard to losses frcm out- 

 door-wintered bees are decidedly unfavor- 

 able. In seme localities it is stated that 

 the bees have all died off. In others, there 

 are strong indications of dysenter3^ This 

 may be one of the very severe winters. It 

 is impossible at this date to state just what 

 the actual results will be. The failure of 

 the honey crop in California and in Cuba, 

 and possible heavy losses in the northern 

 part of the United States, will put a seri- 

 ous damper on the honey business for 1904. 



SLATE V. IRON ROOFINGS FOR HIVE-COVERS, 

 AGAIN. 



We have just been talking with a sheet- 

 metal man regarding the matter cf roofings. 

 He admits that the new tin roofings are 

 very short-lived; that any of the roofings 

 using sheet steel covered with either zinc 

 or lead are very much inferior to the roof- 

 ings m ide of old process iro7i coated with 

 the sdme metals. Genuine galvanized iron 

 — that is, iron covered with zinc— costs over 

 one and a half times as much as sheet steel 

 covered with the same metal. The same is 

 nearly tiue of the lead coated plates. But 

 our sheet metal man urged that sheet steel 

 covered with lead was as good as or bet- 

 ter than the same metal covered with zinc; 

 that ordinary terne (lead- covered) steel 

 plates are very good. 



Contractors and builders are beginning 

 to demand the iron plates, even at the fear- 

 ful advance in price; for it begins to appear 

 that the sheet steels are dear at any price. 

 Some of them will rust cut in one year's 

 time. Old iron roofings that have been 

 down for twenty years are often as gCKDd as 

 new steel roofings that have been down for 

 only two or three years. 



It is apparent that we can buy iron roof- 

 ings if we pay enough money. But how is 

 any one going to be sure he is getting what 

 he pays for? I claim to be a fair judge of 

 metals; but I confess I can not see or feel 

 any difference between an iron and a steel 

 plate when covered with tin or zinc. 



COST OF ISSUING THE LAST REPORT OF THE 

 NATIONAL. 



In the detailed expense account of the 

 last report of the National Bee-keepers' 

 Association there was one item that was 

 conspicuous by its absence; namely, the ex- 

 pense of printing the report itself. That 

 was, no doubt, due to the fact that the bill 

 for the printing had not been received by 

 General Manager France at the time he 



prepared his copy. I have since obtained 

 from him a statement cf the entire cost of 

 printing the report, and the amount he re- 

 ceived from advertising in the same. Mr. 

 Hutchinson's bill fur the printing was $141. 

 There were 11 pages of advertising at $6.00 

 per page, or $66.00 in all, making a net cost 

 of $75.00 for the entire report, or 3 cents 

 per copy. 



As a general thing, advertising in pam- 

 phlets, reports, and books, is not as profit- 

 able as the same amount of space in peried- 

 icals. It is a difficult matter to secure fr>.m 

 manufacturers and dealers very much ad- 

 vertising in pamphlets; but Mr. France 

 succeeded in getting nearly half the cost of 

 the report in advertising; and by so doing 

 he deserves the thanks of the members. 



HOME-MADE VERSUS FACTORY HIVES ; WHY 

 THE FACTORY HIVE IS AS CHEAP AS THE 

 HOME-MADE ONE; A REPLY TO EDI- 

 TOR HUTCHINSON. 



It will be remembered that the editor of 

 the Bee-keepers'' Review and I have been 

 holding a friendly controversy on this sub- 

 ject, he taking the ground that the recent 

 advance in the price of hives is a sufficient 

 warrant for bee-keepers to make their own, 

 or get them made at the local planing-mill. 

 I took the ground that the average clear 

 white-pine lumber, without knots, such as 

 factory hives are made of, costs from $:0 to 

 $60 per 1000 feet in the open market ; that 

 the eight-frame story and-a-half L. hive 

 with Hoffman frames had about 20 feet of 

 lumber, including frames and necessary 

 waste. This would make the bare cost of 

 the lumber, without any work on it, come to 

 anywhere from $1.00 to $1.20 per hive. Fac- 

 tory hives in hundred lots list at $1.25. I 

 admitted, among other things, that some 

 bee-keepers in some localities could make 

 their own hives cheaper th^n they could 

 buy them ; but I did not think that the aver- 

 age person, in an average locality, could 

 save money by making his own. 



In the last Bee-keepers^ Review the edi- 

 tor in his rejoinder states that he can buy, 

 in his market, lumber with knots in it for 

 $28 per 1000 feet; that he estimates only 10 

 feet in a hive, not including frames or 

 waste. But he was figuring on a o«^ story 

 hive narrower than the standard, while I 

 was figuring on a story- and- a- half hive in- 

 cluding Hoffman frames, wider, and in- 

 cluding division- board. And he believes, 

 further, that the knotty lumber is good 

 enough; that "the man who buys his own 

 lumber, and has it cut up at the planing- 

 mill, lets these knots go right in; . 

 most of these knots are sound; . . while 

 a loose knot does no harm in the side or 

 bottom of a hive. One or two wire nails 

 driven through the surrounding wood into 

 the knot will hold it in place. Even a 

 knot-hole may be covered, if on each side 

 of the board, by tacking on a piece of tin." 



I can readily see that some people who 

 make their hives might tolerate this sort of 



