174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



neighbor on one side, and almost bordering 

 the street on the otlier side, are his bees. 

 He has 19 colonies. He made all his frames 

 and hives himself. His hives are built much 

 on the i3rineiple of the Danzenbaker, but 

 have frames one inch deeper. " The bees," 

 said he, " winter much better on these than 

 they do on the standard Danzenbaker size, 

 which is entirely too shallow for good win- 

 tering unless two stories are used. How- 

 ever, if I were starting in again," he con- 

 tinued, " I would use nothing but the stan- 

 dard ten-frame L. hive. Then if I wanted 

 to sell out at any time I could get some- 

 where near the original cost of the hives." 



To the question, whether his bees sting 

 the neighbors, Mr. Mills replied, " I have 

 never had any trouble from their stinging 

 the neighbors, for I manage so as to do no 

 work among them when they are gathering 

 no honey, or when manipulation would be 

 apt to enrage them. I have had, however, 

 some trouble in the spring, because we in- 

 variably have warm days when the bees take 

 their cleansing flights, even on Monday, 

 wash-day. The neighbors at first thought 

 that the spots on their clothes were caused 

 by sparrows; but my mother told them that 

 the bees were responsible, and ever since 

 then I have had more or less trouble." Mor- 

 al. — See that your truth-loving mother does 

 not tell all she knows. 



A product of Mr. Mills' genius, with 

 which he seemed better pleased than he did 

 with his make of hives, was a honey-extract- 

 or. He had made it practically himself, 

 although he had to have a little assistance 

 from a local blacksmith in making the gear- 

 ing. For the tank he used an ash-can which, 

 by reason of corrugated strips extending 

 from the rim to the bottom at regular inter- 

 vals about the outside, has much gi-eater 

 stability than many factory-made extractors. 

 The revolving framework inside was built 

 for service. It Avas made of iron straps 1 



Fig. 2. — Henry MilLs' home-made honey-extractor. 



Fig. 1. — Home of Henry Mills, New Brunswick, N. J. 



inch wide by ^ thick. The photo. Fig. 2, 

 shows the construction of the inside frame- 

 work and comb-baskets. The gearing was 

 also built for hard usage. If our manufac- 

 turers could combine the strength of this 

 built-for-service extractor with the lightness, 

 reversibility, and ease of running features 

 of their extractors, we beekeepers would not 

 have to deduct from 10 to 20 per cent for 

 deterioration every year from our net earn- 

 ings. 



Although we do not have very severe 

 winters here in New Jersey, Mr. Mills be- 

 lieves in giving his bees protection. As will 

 be seen from Fig. 3, Mr. ]\Iills' bees are lo- 

 cated on a knoll overlooking the town. They 

 receive the full force of the cold northwest 

 winds which sweep over the town, so that it 

 is only by packing his bees well that he is 

 able to winter them successfully. He uses 

 an outside winter-case made of unplaned 

 half-inch lumber. This is so constructed 

 that, when set down over the liives, it leaves 

 an inch space all around the outside and 

 extends two inches above the top of the hive. 

 It is prevented from obstructing the en- 

 trance by the extension of the cleats on the 

 bottom-board on which the hive-body rests. 

 To the lower inside front edge of the case 

 an inch strip is nailed 

 the full length of the 

 case. This prevents the 

 sawdust and planer 

 shaving's (which he 

 ]3acks in the space be- 

 tween the hive, and 

 case) from obstructing 

 the entrance. Around 

 the lower edge of tlie 

 other sides he wedges 

 a layer of coarse shav- 

 ings, on top of which 

 he pours sawdust until 

 the space is completely 

 filled. 'Mr. Mills always 

 leaves his excluders on 



