i>E"VOTEr> TO BEES AiVD iiOK^EY, A]^r> iTo^m t>"t>::tsestw. 



Vol. IX. 



MARCH 1, 1881. 



No. 3. 



A. I. B.OOT, 



Publisher and Proprietor, \ 



9IedLna, O. 



Published Monthly. 



Established in 1873 



r TERMS: $1.00 Per Akkum, in Advaxcb; 



I 2 Copies for Si. 90; 3 for $2.75; .5 for 34.00: 10 



I or more, 75 cts. each. Single Kumber, 10 otii. 



■{ Additions to clubs may be made at club 

 rates. Above are all to be i<ent to OSE POST- 

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NOT£S FROM THE: BANNER APIARY. 



NO. 16. 



SOME HAKDT, OR PERHAPS LAZY " FIXIN'S." 



!ELL. wife, what shall I write about 

 next?" 

 " Why, can't you think of any thing 

 more to write abont? Well, I thought that you would 

 get all ' written out ' after awhile. I guess that you 

 had better write and tell Mr. Root about that stool 

 that you were going to make last summer, and ha^e 

 strapped fast to you." 



"No, I shall not say any thing about that (but it 

 isn't because I am afraid that folks will laugh at me, 

 you needn't think), but I guess that I will write and 

 tell about having nuclei on 'stilts.'" Your plan, 

 friend Root, of fastening the nuclei to the grapevine 

 trellises, and using the hive below as a seat or table, 

 is a good one; but if one has six or seven times as 

 many nuclei as full colonies, some other plan has to 

 be adopted. Last season my 80 nuclei were placed 

 directly upon the ground; and, as I examined each 

 nucleus every third day, besides catching queens 

 and inserting cells between times, I found the stoop- 

 ing very tiresome. To rest my weary back I have 

 frequently gotten down upon my knees, and, in ex- 

 treme cases, I have sat "flat" upon the ground; 

 and, as I n^ared the end of my task, I would count 

 the number of nuclei yet to be visited, much as the 

 schoolboy counts the days just before vacation. 



Now, just look at the inclosed 

 pencil sketch, and you will see 

 how I intend to arrange my nu- 

 clei the coming season. The 

 stakes and seat are made of cull 

 lumber. The stakes are just the 

 right length to bring the hive at 

 a convenient height for working 

 while standing upon my feet. Do 

 you notice those two little strips 

 tacked to the sides of the hive, 

 their ends projecting beyond the 

 end of the hive? Well, these pro- 

 jecting ends are to hang frames upon. Inside the 

 projecting end of the strip, fastened to the back of 

 the hive, is tacked a piece of wood IJi inches wide, 

 otherwise the space between the two projecting ends 

 would be too wide to hansf the frames upon. I said 



QUEEJI-REAHING 

 HIVE. 



both of these strips were tacked to the hive; but it 

 isn't so, as the one on the front of the hive is fas- 

 tened with a screw. It rests upon a nail, and can be 

 turned back out of the way when I wish to close the 

 hive. 



And did you notice how the cover is hinged on? 

 Just two strips of wood tacked to the ends of the 

 cover, letting them run down slanting until they 

 reach the front edge of the hive, where they turn 

 upon screws. The holes in the ends of the hinges 

 are just large enough to slip over the heads of the 

 screws, and, by springing the hinges out a little, I 

 can, if I wish, remove the cover in an instant. 

 When the hive is opened, the cover forms a nice 

 shelf upon which I can set my smoker, box of brood, 

 or lay queen cages or cells, etc. When caging 

 queens I shall hang up the frame, and sit down and 

 take my ease while catching the queen and the 30 or 

 40 bees that I am sometimes obliged to send with the 

 queen late in the season. 



I have just "figured up," and the cost of the ma- 

 terial for these "flxin's" will be about ten cents 

 per hive. Perhaps I shall whitewash the "stilts." 



Perhaps, friend Root, you will think all this too 

 much " machinery," but you will, I think, admit 

 that it will be " handy; " and it was, I believe, from 

 yourself that I obtained my first ideas of having 

 things "handy;" and it has now become such a 

 " hobby " with me that a visitor seldom " does " my 

 establishment without exclaiming, f»om one to a 

 dozen times, " Why, you have got every thing handy, 

 haven't you? " W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich. 



Very good, friend II. There is no danger 

 of getting too many helps of the kind you 

 speak of, if they are really helps, and not 

 hindrances, when we take the whole into 

 consideration, cost of keeping them in re- 

 pair, etc. I have invented a great many 

 helps and new plans ; but somehow, as the 

 years pass, the greater part of them get laid 

 aside, and just now we are bringing our bees 

 out of the house apiary, that we thought 

 was going to be sucn a great help (in just 

 the way you are talking about), and putting 

 them in hives out-doors, because they not 

 only winter better, but every one of the boys 

 declare it is less trouble to handle them. 

 Very likely your arrangement will be liked 



