THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



777 



them IS inches above the sill {fencing 

 will do for this)-, but be sure to have 

 them true or in line, as the ceiling is 

 to be put on this. Xow, do not put 

 on the roof yet, for you are to work 

 from the inside to the outside. Ceil 

 this in the inside with shiplap (as I 

 prefer this to plastering), and when 

 the ceiling is on, to get an inch air 

 space, nail inch strips to the edge of 

 the rafters, and cut inch-boards just so 

 they will go in between the rafters 

 ami rest on this inch strip, which will 

 make an inch of dead air space. Put 

 heavy paper on this. Procure saw- 

 dust and lime and make a mortar; 

 this lime will preserve the sawdust. 

 Take 3 parts of sawdust to one part 

 of lime, slake the lime, put in 4 

 buckets of water to one of lime, mix 

 the sawdust in and get it as stiff as 

 you can ; raise the mortar- box higher 

 at one end, scrape the mortar to the 

 higher end, and let the water drain 

 oft'. Make a stamper and spread the 

 mortar on between the rafters 3 

 inches thick; when stamped down 

 well, here you get another dead-air 

 space of an inch. 



Xow put the sheeting on like a 

 floor, and heavy roofing paper over 

 the sheeting. It is then ready for the 

 shingles, every layer of which is to 

 be painted, and on the roof two coats 

 of paint after shingling. 



I omitted telling about the ventila- 

 tion. Put a ventilator 5x6 inches in 

 size in the inside, made of boards. 

 Nail it to the rafters before you put on 

 the ceiling, letting it project 6 inches 

 in the inside, and let it stick out 

 above the roof 18 inches. To anchor 

 the sills to keep them from spreading, 

 put a %-inch iron rod in the wall 

 at each end. If you have brick walled 

 in around the sills it is ready for flag- 

 ging-stone and cement. Cement the 

 sides first, and then the floor and en- 

 trance-way. Put on the inside door 

 and double outside door. Paint the 

 ceiling, doors and all the wood-work 

 with two coats of paint. Put in the 

 stairway, bank the ground up to the 

 top sills, paint them well, put conduc- 

 tors on the roof, lay brick around the 

 door-frame to keep the ground away, 

 and you will have a cave that you can 

 control the temperature in, and one 

 that will last a lifetime. 



The cost of the stone-work and 

 cementing was $70 ; roof, shingles, 

 sawdust, ceiling, nails and paint, 

 $30 30 ; for excavating, ventilator, 

 tiling and tile, S7.90 ; and doors, 

 hinges and paint, $4,6.5, making a 

 total cost of $112.85, 



When the cave is completed it will 

 be 8x20 feet in the clear, and 7 feet 

 high in the inside, with an entrance- 

 way 3x6 feet. Use for all the best 

 material. Perhaps others can get 

 material cheaper than I did, as all my 

 material was imported and bought of 

 retailers. 1 have done all the carpen- 

 ter work, and did not count anything 

 for my labor— it was worth about $10. 

 My friend's cave was not affected 

 when the temperature was 26<^ below 

 zero. The temperature in my cave 

 now is 450, with the outside door 

 open, all the ventilators open, and 

 with 115 colonies of bees in it. 



Knoxville,? Iowa. 



Uural New Yorker. 



Invertim tlie Brood-Nest 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



One of the late innovations in bee- 

 keeping which has gained favor so 

 rapidly that we must think it has come 

 to stay, is that of inverting tlie frames 

 or hives. In either case the brood- 

 nest is turned upside down. This was 

 first accomplished by so arranging the 

 frames that they could be readily in- 

 verted. Instead of the old Lang- 

 stroth frame with its single top-bar, 

 which had projecting ends, a perfect 

 rectangular frame, with no projecting 

 bars, was made to swing in a larger 

 frame with projecting top-bar and 

 end-bars which reached a little below 

 the middle point of the end-bars of 

 the inner rectangular frame. By use 

 of wire nails the inner frame is piv- 

 oted to the outer half-frame, so it can 

 swing in and be inverted in a moment 

 at any time. I have used these frames 

 now for two years, and like them so 

 well that I am changing all my combs 

 into these reversible frames. 



Within the last two years an at- 

 tempt has been made to improve 

 upon this plan by inverting the entire 

 hive, which is about the size of the 

 common Langstroth hive, and con- 

 sists of two horizontal sections, which 

 can be used either independently or 

 together. Thus it will be seen that 

 the frames in this hive are only about 

 half as deep as those of the usual 

 Langstroth. These frames have close- 

 fitting end-bars, and when put into 

 the hives, rest on tin projections, 

 which are tacked to the bottom of 

 the end-boards of the hive. When 

 all the frames are put into the hives, 

 a wooden thumb-screw which is set 

 in the side-board of the hive opposite 

 the end-bars of the frames, is screwed 

 up. This holds all the frames firmly, 

 and so when these screws are thus 

 turned the frames are all held securely, 

 and the entire hive can be turned 

 bottom up in a moment. 



The advantages of inverting are : 

 1. Combs are built and fastened to 

 the frames on all sides. Every bee- 

 keeper knows that bees always fasten 

 combs firmly at the top and along the 

 upper half of the edges. When this 

 is once done we have only to remove 

 the frames, when the union is made 

 complete about the whole margin of 

 the comb. The advantages of such 

 entire union are, that the combs are 

 held securely, and are in no danger of 

 falling out when extracting or ship- 

 ping bees. 



2. The spaces between comb and 

 frame which serve as hiding-places 

 for queens are removed. This last is 

 a great gain, as any one who has 

 sought for queens is aware. 



3. Reversing frames places the 

 honey below the brood, which is un- 

 natural. Hence, it just as the season 

 opens, when we place the sections on 

 the hive, we reverse the frames, the 

 bees at once carry the honey above 

 the brood, or into the sections where 

 we wish it, and once employed in fill- 

 ing the sections they make no halt till 

 the season closes. If, when we re- 



verse we uncap some of the honey, 

 we will hasten this rush to the sec- 

 tions. Many who have been annoyed 

 at the persistent refusal of their bees 

 to work in sections, will appreciate 

 this argument in favor of reversible 

 frames, though to the expert apiarist 

 this is the weakest argument. 



4, When a bee-keeper has all the 

 bees he wishes he can preclude swarm- 

 ing by this simple work of inversion, 

 which, incase the hive is reversible, 

 is but the work of a moment. Curious 

 as it may seem, the bees at once cut 

 away or remove all queen-cells as soon 

 as the combs are turned upside down. 

 Thus by inverting the hives each 

 week swarming is prevented, and all 

 but the work of a moment. 



Of course this last, and indeed all 

 the points, argue loudly in favor of 

 the reversible hive. To invert a hive 

 takes a moment ; to reverse all the 

 frames is the work of several minutes. 



Agricultural College,? Mich. 



Fi)r tn© American Bee JoumaU 



Selling Honey in Home Marl^ets. 



CHAS. WALIvER. 



On March 20 I took 48 strong colo- 

 nies from their winter repository, 

 leaving the packing on them until 

 about May 8, when I cleaned out all 

 the chaff. I then examined them and 

 found all in the finest condition pos- 

 sible, not even losing one queen. On 

 May 18 I was surprised at seeing the 

 first swarm issue, as it was about 3 

 weeks earlier than usual. I increased 

 the 48 colonies to only 75, as their 

 whole aim seemed to be the storing 

 of honey. I have secured 4,080 pounds 

 of comb honey, and 500 pounds of ex- 

 tracted. No account was kept of the 

 amount sold at the honey house, so 

 my total crop must have been some 

 over 5,000 pounds. I am satisfied 

 with the season 's work, even if the 

 prices obtained for honey are very low. 



Our markets are mainly governed 

 by supply and demand, but our home 

 markets are chiefly influenced by our- 

 selves, and I am sorry to say they are 

 indeed poorly controlled. For in- 

 stance : I procured a honey-extrac- 

 tor, intending to produce and sell ex- 

 tracted honey at 8 cents per pound ; 

 but I found to ray surprise that one 

 of my neighbors was selling the same 

 kind of honey at 4 cents per pound. 

 I sold a little for 5 cents per pound, 

 and then raised the price to 8 cents, 

 and I am now selling as much for that 

 price as I did for 5 cents. It was an 

 imposition on our grocers, for they 

 cannot sell a gallon of syrup when 

 honey sells so cheap. Honey cannot 

 be produced in this State for 4 cents 

 per pound. I can retail all I have at 

 8 cents before next spring. 



My bees are in the cellar, with a 

 good fire over them, and they are 

 perfectly quiet. The cellar has two 

 ventilators, so at any time a current 

 of fresh air can circulate through it, 

 being so arranged that it can be gov- 

 erned by a slide from the inside of the 



Bravo, ? Mich., Xov. 29, 1886. 



