496 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



one's feet may be shoved under the hive ; 

 besides, they hold the hive up from the 

 ground avpay from moisture, toads, rats, 

 etc., as well as at a convenient working 

 distance, thereby doing- away with so much 

 back-breaking toil. 



This stand puts one's second stories and 

 supers up just right so any one can do al- 

 most all the day's work in an upright posi- 

 tion. It's just the right height fjr a double- 

 decker queen-nursery. I have been read- 

 ing the different articles in Gleanings on 

 hive-stands, and thought this might be new 

 to some of your readers, and might be of 

 some benefit to some one as a hive- stand, 

 as they are coming to be more and more 

 adopted by apiarists. 



Almost any one can pick up bottles enough 

 for a small apiary, free of cost, and can 

 make the stand very cheaply. 



Levita, Texas. 



STAKES FOR HIVE=STANDS. 



Some of their Advantages Set Forth. 



BY C. C. PARSONS. 



I find on page 392, 1903, that you were 

 favorably impressed with the idea of plac- 

 ing hives on stakes driven into the ground. 

 I notice also, p. 224, 225, Dr. Miller's warn- 

 ing, and his suggestion that clipped queens 

 would not be able to get back, and that it 

 would be inconvenient for loaded bees to en- 

 ter hives thus arranged. 



Before reading these articles I supposed 

 many bee-keepers used stakes to support 

 the hives, and that bee-keepers generally 

 were acquainted with the plan. For more 

 than fifteen years we have used stakes only 

 for hive- stands. I do not know where I got 

 the idea. It may be from some generous 

 apiarist, or it may be that I stumbled over 

 it as I groped in the dark. 



We use pitch pine for stakes, and we are 

 careful to have it very pitchy, so that the 

 stakes may not rot. We split them out 

 about I'iXl/iXlS in., and drive them into 

 the ground so that the rectangle formed by 

 them as corners is 11X18 inches. The 

 stakes for the front of the hive, when driven 

 and leveled, are 10 inches above ground, 

 and those for the rear are Yz in. higher. 

 Let those who fear that they will not hold 

 up the weight of a hive plant one stake as 

 above, place 200 lbs. on it, and note the re- 

 sult. 



I will now give a few reasons for prefer- 

 ring this style of hive-stand. It is cheap. 

 It is applicable to all kinds of surfaces. It 

 is adjustable to any height, to meet the de- 

 mands of the apiarist. It admits of keep- 

 ing the yard clean, and a free circulation 

 of air under the hives, thereby preventing 

 early decay, and adding to the comfort of 

 the bees. They stay where you put them. 



Now a word about the queens and loaded 

 bees. A runway from the ground to the 

 alighting- board is provided. It may be 

 made of any odd pieces of plank or other 



material that may be at hand. We use old 

 iron roofing. Two small nails are driven 

 into the end of the bottom-board, eight inch- 

 es apart, leaving the ends projecting yi. 

 These are turned up. Two small holes are 

 made in the iron near the edge, and it is 

 hung upon these nails, and the lower end 

 is allowed to rest upon the ground till 

 swarming time. At swarming time a small 

 stick is stuck into the ground near the post 

 or lower end of this runway-board, so as to 

 hold it an inch or two from the ground. 

 The edge of the run way- board should not 

 rest upon the siick, but should project an 

 inch or two. When a swarm issues, the 

 chances for her to enter another hive are 

 few. Dirt has collected upon these stakes 

 near the ground, and it is very hard for the 

 queen to get over it; so when the bees re- 

 turn to their hive the queen is attracted to 

 them, and, very many times, not finding 

 her way into the hive she will climb up one 

 of the stakes which the bees have cleared of 

 its loose dirt, and will be found by the 

 apiarist, when he returns, clustered with 

 the bees on the bottom of the hive, while the 

 toad that would have been blinking at it 

 through a hole in the old box-hive stand is 

 in the garden sitting under a cabbage, look- 

 ing for cut- worms. Don't be afraid to tell 

 the children to use stakes. 

 Bluff Springs, P^la., Mar. 7. 



[If the hives do not stand too high from 

 the ground, and the alighting-board reach- 

 es from the ground up to the bottom- board, 

 every objection will have been removed. 

 My present belief is that four stakes (or old 

 bottles) are cheaper than any other hive- 

 stand for single hives; and, what is of 

 considerable importance, one can run his 

 toes under the hives when he reaches over 

 to the opposite side to lift out a heavy 

 comb. When one has to stand toe length 

 away from the hives to lift combs he puts 

 that much more strain on the back — a strain 

 which, while not excessive, is very wearing 

 when coTttimted all day. A good deal of the 

 work in a bee-yard is stooping, and to some 

 extent " backbreaking,'' if I may be per- 

 mitted to use a common hyperbole that is 

 readily understood.— Ed.] 



ADVANTAGES OF THE FENCE SYSTEM. 



The Value of (he Outside Fence for Outside Row of 

 Sections. 



I am a boy of 200 lbs., and am just pass- 

 ing my 53d winter. I have kept bees for 24 

 years, though I never counted them by the 

 thousands, nor even by the hundreds; yet 

 I have been a close observer, and tried many 

 different appliances pertaining to bees and 

 honey. 



On page 184 C. H. Dibbern gives some 

 objections to fences, which are contrary and 

 misleading, according to what my experi- 

 ence has taught me. In a footnote to the 



