GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1921 



' ' four three-eightlis iiicli augur holes ' ' 

 when first packed. The bees would cluster 

 out in immense bunches all night and all 

 day, sometimes for several weeks after 

 packing, and work in the fields seemed al- 

 most to be at a standstill under such con- 

 ditions. Again, in spring, when a heavy 

 fruit bloom is on, or even soon after maples 

 and willows ceased blooming, the clustering 

 bees at the entrances of the cases caused 

 much confusion and the loss of hundreds 

 of little pellets of pollen, scrffped off by tlu' 

 bees crowding at the openings. 



Fig. 1. --.Shows the four % -inch entrance holes for 

 flight opening's in early fall and late spring open, 

 and the three %-ineh holes between the larger holes 

 for use during cold weather. The larger holes are 

 plugged during winter. 



After trying a block that turned down at 

 right angles in front of the augur holes, 

 we discarded this form also as inexpedient, 

 because any roughness of the outside wood 

 of the packing case, or any unevenness in its 

 surface would prevent a tight fit, allowing 

 currents of air to draw into the augur holes. 

 Such buttons also draw away from the case 

 by warping, and make larger gaps than 

 should be there. And so finally we tried 

 out a simple plug, or set of plugs, inserted 

 in the larger holes in cold weather. We 

 bored four %-inch holes for the tlight open- 

 ings in early fall and late spring, and be- 

 tween these we made three %-inch holes 

 (Fig. 1), to be used in cold weather. Of 

 course, the small holes do no harm during 

 the time the large holes are operating. The 

 pings we turned out on a stake-sharpening 

 machine very easily and quickly. All the 

 holes are lined up along the lower edge, to 

 connect with the floor of the runway. The 

 large holes are about an inch apart, but 

 the distance apart is not a very material 

 consideration. 



Fastening the Comers. 



A common recommendation for corner 

 fastenings was ordinary screen-door hooks 

 and eyelets. Such often pull out and are 

 not very substantial. We found the eye- 

 lets or hooks themselves got jammed or 

 knocked off in handling, loading, and haul- 

 ing the cases "knocked down." We then 

 tried 2 x 2 's upright along each end and 

 side, with bolts thru both the 2 x 2 's and 

 the boards of the case; on» bolt at the top, 

 and one at the bottom of each corner— 8 



bolts in all, just as there were 8 hooks in 

 all. We object to the boards running hori- 

 zontally, for reasons to be given later; and 

 the use of bolts necessitates this construc- 

 tion. Both bolts and hooks alike necessi- 

 tated digging down inside the packing-case 

 to open; and one trial of unpacking, by 

 standing on my head and burrowing like 

 a rat terrier in the sawdust was enough. 



How simple the remedy for both faults! 

 A simple change of the position of the 

 2x2's from upright to horizontal enabled 

 us to run the boards of the case perpen- 

 dicularly, and brought all four corners 

 of the 2x2 cleats one above the other, 

 so that a single rod can pierce and hold 

 all the corners firmly and effectually, and, 

 best of all, a mere lifting-out of the 

 iron rod at two corners of the same end or 

 side let the end or the side of the case open 

 out and down most easily — no burrowing 

 till one 's face grows red and his fingers 

 black. 



Fig 2. gives an idea of the corner con- 

 struction and the use of a 5/16 iron rod as 

 a pin thru both top and bottom cleats of 

 each corner. The upper end of the rod is 

 bent at right angles for about an inch. The 

 lower end is pointed. Notice that the 

 2x2 cleats are nailed on the side pieces of 

 the case two inches higher than they are on 

 the end pieces — which permits the ends and 

 sides to come together unobstructed and 

 allows each end of every 2x2 cleat to act 

 as a stop against which the boards of the 



Fig. i;. — Corner construction. Note that the 2x2 



inch pieces on the side overlap those on the end 



and are fastened by an iron rod which passes thru 



all four pieces. 



adjoining end or side come flush. Fig. 2 

 also shows, faintly, the one-inch strip nailed 

 on the end piece of the case which comes 

 flush against the side piece to serve as a 

 weather strip against rain or snow. The 

 iron rod inserted iu the holes is far enough 



