1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



249 



Oregon pine. It is sufficiently 

 durable, and, besides, has great 

 strength, of which the average 

 frame made of Eastern pine is 

 lacking. 



MARBLE-TOP HIVES 



This hive I have been men- 

 tioning is much out of the or- 

 dinary, as may be noticed by 

 reference to the cut. It is a 

 sort of " drawing-room hive " — 

 a marble-top-taiole sort of affair, 

 to put it that way. Having 

 quite a nice large piece of mar- 

 ble that had been used in a 

 printing-office that fell into my 

 hands twenty or more years 

 ago, and not knowing where to 

 store it (the marble) , and have 

 it out of the way, as it was cov- 

 ered with printers' ink on one 

 side, I concluded it would be 

 just the thing for a hive-cover. 

 It would not leak, blow off, nor 

 become hot in summer. This 

 cover has done service many 

 years, and I have not found it 

 too heavy to lift on and off. 



FUEL-STARTERS FOR BEE-SMO- 

 KERS. 



And I am not yet done with 

 the aforesaid hive. I have 

 made this particular marble- 

 covered home of the honey-bee 

 serve another purpose. It is 

 this: Often I like to have my 

 smoker start off with a good 

 "healthy " smoke. To get up 

 a good fire in a short lime I 

 hit upon starting a fire in an 



FIG. 4.— MANZANITA BUSHES GROWING ON A HILLSIDE, NEAR NEW 

 ALMADBN, CAL. 



FIG. 1. — rilYALS HIVE WITH A MARBLE ROOF. 



old frying pan 

 that had sev- 

 eral holes 

 punched in the 

 bottom. Some 

 shavings or 

 other light ma- 

 terial is first 

 thrown in, 

 then comes 

 some harder 

 material, and, 

 last, some sol- 

 id small-sized 

 blocks of oak 

 or eucalyptus. 

 When this ma- 

 terial has well 

 ignited it is 

 poured into the 

 smoker, and 

 the bee-keeper 

 is ready to at- 

 tack any colo- 

 ny of bees. 

 Such prepara- 

 tion gives him 

 a fire that will 

 last, to say 



