AUGUST 15, 1914 



62& 



Harris' concrete hive-stand and bottom-board. 



average thirty quarts of milk per day. My 

 twin boys have been helping during the 

 summers and attending school during win- 

 ter. They with one sister are now attending 

 Stanford University. I lack one milestone 

 of being sixty. I am leading a strenuous 

 life, but a happy one — too busy for the 

 blues. The outdoor life has brought me 

 renewed health, and I hope the bees and the 

 cows will yet save the day. 



Later, July 20. — The twin boys returned 

 from Stanford in May. The season so far 

 has been a busy one, and the most discour- 

 aging one of my experience. I have been 

 obliged to move both of my ai^iaries. To 

 safeguard against further moves I have 

 bought 3y2 acres of land which includes an 

 acre of Elberta peach-trees, 150 in number. 

 I am counting on about 400 bushels of 

 peaches. I have now bought the bees, and 



they are in two yards. I fed them up to July 

 12. Besides a lot of unfinished sections, they 

 have consumed nearly two tons of sugar at 

 a cost of $200. I have fed less than the 

 average, but have kept up the feed longer 

 than some. A neighbor beekeeper has fed 

 $1000 worth to less than 300 more colonies. 

 I have leased 150 more colonies on the 

 owner's land. The boys and I are just now 

 putting on the first supers. They will all 

 be on in a few days. This season may be 

 my Waterloo in beekeeping, but I am not 

 without hope. The alfalfa weevil took the 

 first crop; but the second crop is beginning 

 to bloom, and is in all stages of growth; 

 so, with the help of sweet clover, we may 

 have a continuous flow till the frost puts a 

 period to our labors. 

 Spanish Fork, Utah. 



A REINFORCED CONCRETE HIVE- BOTTOM 



BY E. A. HARRIS 



The accompanying photograph shows a 

 hive-bottom made of concrete reinforced 

 with wire. It is a stand for the man who 

 has a permanent apiary and winters outside. 

 It is simple, cheap, weather-proof, and 

 lasting. Compared with other concrete 

 stands it is light. Unlike others it is a 

 complete bottom as well as a stand. It is a 

 plain two-inch slab of concrete with a slop- 

 ing front for an alighting-board, and a rim 

 on the two sides and back. This stand is 

 made in a wooden mold. The bottom of the 



mold is made by nailing pine boards togeth- 

 er with cleats. The sides are four cleated 

 pieces. The whole is fastened together by 

 putting a strip with a block nailed on each 

 end across the top and over the sides. The 

 drawings show every thing but the clamp 

 much more clearly than a mere description. 

 In making a bottom the box-like mold is 

 put together, and three of the reinforcing 

 wires are laid around the edge in what is to 

 be the rim with just a little bit of cement 

 under them to hold them up just high 



