1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



279 



shallow hives years ag'O are still users of 

 them, and believe they are labor and time 

 savers. But there is a conflict of opinion 

 as to how deep the brood-nest should be, 

 and how the frames should be adjusted in 

 the hive — whether with closed ends or open 

 ends; whether with closed ends close-^tting 

 or closed ends loose-htting. — Ed.] 



>f >•>• « ■ 



THE Q. B. LEWIS CO. 



President and Interior Factory Views. 



The following- write-up with the illustra- 

 tions of the G. B. Lewis Co. 's manufactur- 

 ing plant appeared in the American Bee 

 Journal for Feb. 18. We take pleasure in 

 presenting the same in our own columns, 

 not because we are interested in their busi- 

 ness financially (for we are not), but be- 

 cause we are always glad to recognize an 

 honorable and fair competitor who is hus- 

 tling for business everywhere. 



After the traveler, bound for St. Paul, leaves Mil- 

 waukee he sinks back in his comfortable seat bidding 

 farewell to all signs of activity until he shall reach his 

 destination in the morning. As he leaves Watertown 

 Station and cro.sses the Rock River, he sees on its 

 banks a large building lighted up by thousands of 

 electiic lights, with smoke issuing in dense volumes 

 from its chimneys. He hears a mighty rumble of ma- 

 chinery above the rush of the train, and in an instant 

 he is past. This great build ng which the traveler has 

 seen but for a moment, with a large warehouse, office- 

 building, and three immense lumber-yards near by, 

 comprise the bee-hive plant of the G. B I.,ewis Co , 

 one of the two largest in the world, given over to the 



exclusive manufacture of bee-keepers' supplies, known 

 far and wide to the honey-producing population wf 

 this country, Europe, and the entire world, and yet 

 never heard of by many at their own door, who are 

 still strangers to the busy bee. 



Five floors compose the main factory. A miniature 

 railroad runs into the ground floor, transporting the 

 lumber in its early stages from the yards to the plan- 

 ers. In this department the wood is partially pre- 

 pared, being planed for hives, polished for sections. 



GEO. C. LEWIS, PRESIDENT. 



and by means of an electric elevator is carried to the 

 floors above, where operations are completed later on. 

 On the next floor below is found the iron-working 

 department where the boring is done, saws are kept 

 in sliape by help hired for this purpose alone, and 

 where special machines are constructed. 



On the third floor is found the bee hive department, 

 where hundreds of saws sing from earl}? morning till 

 late at night. Here the hive parts are 

 made. 



On the next floor above, the long 

 basswood strips are sawed into correct 

 lengths, and girls seated at benches sort 

 the.se into different giades. The sections 

 are also manufactured, crated, and mark- 

 ed here, and finally sent down a long 

 chute to wagons below, where they are 

 put into storage or loaded on trains. In 

 this portion of the factory are also made 

 the woven wood and wire boxes in which 

 bee-supplies are packed. This method of 

 packing has characterized the I<ewi« 

 shipments for years. 



The fifth and top floor is given up ex- 

 cl isively to the packing department, 

 20 000 square feet of floor being used for 

 this purpose. On this floor is aLso found 

 the library of the G. B. I,ewis Co., where 

 every book known to the bee student is 

 fur sale. Here comb foundation by the 

 ton is packed into neat boxes, ready for 

 shipment, and every other device _ that 

 the beekeepers can possibly want is on 

 hand in large quantities. 



This large industry did not spring up in 

 a night It represents the efforts, the 

 study, the labor, and the persistence of 

 over a quarter of a century. Thirty years 

 ago the late Mr. G. B. I^ewis, then a young 

 man, engaged with his brother, Robert E. 

 Ivewis, in the business of making sash, 

 doors, and blinds. In those days bee- 

 keeping was not a specialty. A farmer 

 here and there kept bees, and made, after 

 a homt^ly fashion, hisown hives and other 

 appliances. Occasionally one would come 

 to the shop of the I<ewis Bros, and have 

 a few hives made, and from this small 

 acorn of crude cat pentry grevsr the mighty 

 oak of p'lfection in the machine-made 

 bee-supplies turned out by the Lewis Com- 

 pany to-day. 



In 1878, Mr. Chas. E. Parks came into 

 the business. Mr. Robert Lewis having 

 retired eight years before. In 1890_the 

 business was incorporated, and ever since 



