1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



259 



our legislature to improve our foul brood law, and we thank 

 and congratulate them on the success thus far obtained 

 through their efforts. Salt Lake Co., Utah. 



[The following is a copy of the law referred to by Mr. 

 Lovesy : — Editor.] 



LAW OF UTAH FOR THE TROTECTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF 

 THE BEE-INDU.STRY. 



1. The board of county commissioners of the several 

 counties shall, when petitioned by a majority of the bee-keep- 

 ers thereof, appoint one or more qualified persons inspectors 

 of bees for their respective counties. 



2. Such inspectors shall hold their office for two years, 

 and until their successors are appointed and qualified. They 

 shall qualify by taking and subscribing their otificial oath, and 

 by giving bonds to be approved by their respective boards of 

 county commissioners, whichoath and bonds shall be filed with 

 the county clerk. 



S. Inspectors shall be paid out of the county treasury for 

 services actually rendered at such rate per day as the board of 

 county commissioners may fix. The assessor of each county 

 is hereby required to assess each colony of bees in this county 

 in the same manner as other assessments are made. All taxes 

 shall be assest and collected thereon in the manner provided 

 by law for the collection and payment of county taxes. 



4. All hives of bees in each county shall be carefully in- 

 spected at least once each year by a county or district inspec- 

 tor, where such inspector has been appointed, and at any time 

 upon complaint that disease exists among bees of any person, 

 the inspector to whom complaint is made shall immediately 

 inspect the bees said to be infected. The inspector shall have 

 authority to take charge and control of diseased bees and their 

 hives, and the tools and implements used in connection there- 

 with for treatment; or destroy such bees, brood or hives and 

 their contents or implements as may be infected; provided 

 that if any owner questions a decision of the inspector he may 

 appeal to three arbitrators selected from among the bee-keep- 

 ers of the county, one of whom shall be chosen by the owner, 

 the second by the inspector, and the third by the two so chosen, 

 whose decision, concurred in by at least two of their number, 

 shall be conclusive as to the condition of the bees at the time 

 of such examination. 



5. Any person who shall hinder or obstruct, or attempt 

 to hinder or obstruct, a duly appointed inspector from the 

 performance of any duty required by this title shall, on con- 

 viction thereof before a justice of peace having jurisdiction, 

 be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined for the 

 first offence not less than five nor more than twenty-five dol- 

 lars, and for any additional oflences, any sum not exceeding 

 fifty dollars. 



Approved, March 11, 1897. To take effect Jan. 1. 1898. 



How to Make Hives and Winter-Cases. 



BY EDWIN BEVINS. 



I have neither the ability, the inclination, nor the desire 

 to invade Dr. Miller's province, but at the risk of being deemed 

 meddlesome by him, and of being shot by the "Brothers" 

 who dwell in central Minnesota (see page 215), I am going to 

 tell how to make a bee-hive. 



If it is the intention to make hives of the capacity of the 

 8-frame dovetailed hive, you should get some thoroughly dry 

 pine-boards planed on one or both sides, 93.J inches in width. 

 I generally get boards 10 inches wide, and plane down to the 

 right width after they have been sawed into pieces of the 

 right lengths. The right lengths are 20 Inches for the sides, 

 and 12J^ inches for the ends of the hives. 



You are probably a little curious to know how I rabbet 

 these hive-ends without the use of any machinery or power 

 except a common hand-saw and my good right arm, aided a 

 little now and then by the left one. Well, I lay the hive-ends 

 on a work-bench and measure from the upper edge down 

 3 It) of an inch, and_make a mark with a lead-pencil. Then 

 with a jack-knife held perpendicularly I cut along the mark as 

 deep as I can. Then turning the knife towards the top of 

 the board I cut out a sliver of wood so as to make a groove to 

 start the saw in. Then I put the board in a vise, measure 

 7 16 of an inch from its inner edge, make another mark, 

 and cut another groove as before. With the saw in good order 

 one can quickly saw to the proper depth. Then lay the board 

 on the bench, fasten at both ends, and you can quickly com- 

 plete the job. 



Having made the rabbets for 150 hives in this way, I 

 think I may be believed when I say that the work Is not so 



formidable as it may seem before trial. Some of my hives are 

 two-story hives, and besides rabbeting the hives I have made 

 and rabbeted the supers for nearly all of them. 



Having the rabbets sawed out you may consider the work 

 of making a hive-body as almost done. The nailing should be 

 started on a perfectly flat surface. It is best to have a sort 

 of platform a little larger thau the hive, with a cleat strongly 

 nailed at one edge for a bumper to nail against, and another 

 cleat nailed on another edge at right angles to the first one. 

 The nailing can be flnisht by turning the hive on its sides, and 

 the hive-corners can be kept at right angles by using a square. 



The nails should be cut nails, made so as not to be wedge- 

 shaped crosswise of the grain of the wood. When the hive is 

 nailed, nail in the tin rabbets. You do not have to gouge out 

 any hand-holes to lift the hives by. Make cleats 6, 8 or 10 

 inches long, plane them so that their upper edges shall slant 

 outward and downward ; whittle the ends so that they shall 

 be rounding, and nail one on each side of the hive near the 

 top. My bees have never kickt on the use of these cleats, and 

 I like them better than the holes. 



For covers and bottom-boards I get lumber a strong 14 

 inches in width, using the best of it for covers, and the poorer 

 parts, if not too poor, for bottoms. Sometimes I make the 

 bottoms of two pieces. All of the covers and bottoms are 

 sawed exactly two feet long, and have cleats two inches 

 square nailed under each end. The cleat at the back end of 

 the bottom-board is nailed about Ji-inch from the end for con- 

 venience in lifting, but the cleat in front is nailed just even 

 with the end for the convenience of the bees. The cleats for 

 the cover should be nailed so as to give a play of about }i- 

 inch. 



For all 8 and 10 frame hives of standard depth I use flat 

 covers, and have never had but one to twist. This twist can 

 be taken out by the use of the Dibbern hive-hook, and when 

 once taken out it will stay out. Lath can generally be found 

 of the right thickness to make the 9g-lnch strips for the bot- 

 tom-boards. If too thick it is not much work to reduce them 

 with a plane. 



A word about painting hives : It may be that Mr. Doo- 

 little's idea that an unpainted hive is just as good, if not a 

 little better, than a painted one, is correct, but for myself I 

 prefer to paint. No more expensive paints for me, however, 

 except for covers. For these I use the best of white paint. 

 For the other parts of the hive a paint made of sweet skim- 

 med milk and hydraulic cement looks well, costs nothing, is 

 quite durable, is odorless, and dries quickly so that it can be 

 renewed with the bees in the hive without annoyance to them. 



And DOW having incurred the liability of being run out of 

 the country with some guns in the hands of enraged " Broth- 

 ers," I will proceed to exasperate them some more by telling 

 them how I make winter-cases for my hives. 



For an 8-frame hive, dovetailed size, with super on for 

 chaff cushion, I get two pieces of 2x4 stuff 19 inches long, 

 and two pieces 2x2 the same length. These are posts to which 

 the sides of the case are nailed. The boards for the sides are 

 sawed 30 inches long. The 2x4 pieces come against the sides 

 of the hive just even with its front. The 2x2 pieces serve as 

 cleats to keep the end of the case in the rear of the hive from 

 being prest outward by the packing. The boards for the end 

 of the case are sawed 22 inches long, and held together by 

 cleats so as to slip down between the sides of the case like the 

 end-board of a wagon. 



I prefer to have a bottom-board for the winter-case, and 

 make it two feet wide and three feet long. This bottom is 

 placed under the hive, and then the sides of the case are set 

 up on top of it on each side of the hive, and kept from falling 

 by a piece of wire bent around nails partly driven in the cen- 

 ter of the posts. Then the end-piece of the case back of the 

 hive is put in place and another piece of wire is bent around 

 nails partly driven in the center of the two posts at the rear. 

 These two pieces of wire are all the support ueeded by the 

 case. The case can be quickly and noiselessly set up and as 

 quickly and noiselessly taken down. 



You will see that there are four inches of space on each 

 side of the hive for packing, and a little more than that at the 

 rear. The packing is straw and chaff from the straw-pile. 

 This measure of protection may not be sufficient for the lati- 

 tude of Minnesota, but it is just right here in southern Iowa. 

 I have never had the entrance to one of my hives thus pro- 

 tected clogged with dead bees, and spring dwindling is un- 

 known. Cellar wintering may be better for Minnesota, or, 

 perhaps the winter-case may be modified to answer a good 

 purpose there. 



My cover for the winter-case is 3 feet long and 214 wide. 

 The boards are held together by a 2x4 cleat set up edgewise 

 and nailed near one end, and a cleat about one inch thick 



