482 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



August 4. 



making a good tiering hive of the style used most generally in 

 England, and in America whore bee-keeping on a large scale 

 is carried on. 



The hive consists of floor-board, brood-chamber, supers, 

 lift and roof. The floor-board, with a slanting board in front, 

 must be made to fit the brood-chamber, whose width will be 

 determined by the thickness of the wood. The brood-chamber 

 should be made of %-inch wood, the outer walls 8% inche- 

 deep, and the inner front and back wall S^^ inches. The in- 

 ner dimensions are as follows : Wide to side 15 inches to take 

 10 frames, 14J-2 tetween the inner front and back walls, and 

 17 inches between the outer front walls, so that the 17-inch 

 top-bar of the frame may rest on the inner walls and just fit 

 in between the outer walls. When the frames are in the hive 

 they will be level with the tops of the outer walls. 



The supers may either contain frames or sections ; if the 

 former, they should be exactly like the brood-chamber except 

 being 3 inches shorter, bocause sui)er frames should be 5X 

 instead of S% inches in deptli. 



A '■ lift ■■ is simply four walls with outer dimensions the 

 same as the brood-chamber, and around the bottom to keep it 

 in position are what are termed plinths. These plinths are 

 also placed around the frame supers and around the brood- 

 chamber except in front. The "lift" is for use upon the 

 brood-chamber so that the frames may be better covered with 

 quilts, but as supers are given the " lift" is raised so that it is 

 always at the top. Over the " lift" is placed the roof, which 

 should at all times te waterproof, and have a half or three- 

 quarter inch hole in the middle of front and back for ventila- 

 tion, and as a means of egress for bees through a cone escape. 



FBAMES. 



The size of the frame used is a very important matter ; 

 and as the sale of colonies may be one means of making the 

 apiary a source of ]irofit, it is absolutely necessary that the 

 frame adopted should be of the British standard size, and 

 therefore interchangeaMe with any hive in the same apiary, 

 or in any part of the country, built to accommodate standard 

 frames. [Of course in America the Langstroth frame, outside 

 measure 9 JsX 17?^ inches, has practically become the stan- 

 dard. — Editor.] This frame in outward dimensions is l-t 

 inches wide and 8>^ inches deep, but the top-bar, which is 

 ?^-inch thick, projects on each side \]4 inches. The side- 

 walls are % inch, and the bottom-bar % inch. The width of 

 the frame is % inch. If frames are made at home (which is 

 not advisable), the ontside dimensions and the thickness of 

 the top-bar are imperative. This frame is intended to be used 

 only in the brood-chamber where the production of bees is 

 being carried on. 



Shallow supers are at all times to be preferred to deep 

 ones. As they are more readily entered by the bees, they are 

 easier to handle when full, and shallow frames are more 

 convenient than standard frames for extracting. 



The shallow frame for extracting-supers is 3 inches shal- 

 lower than the standard frame, and like it in every other re- 

 spect. 



SECTIONAL SUPERS. 



JIany people who eat honey prefer it in the comb, there- 

 fore it must be produced in a marketable form so as to be 

 packt for transit. Big straw or wooden supers are altogether 

 too bulky and too unsafe for traveling; consequently square 

 or oblong boxes of thin wood have been devised to hold a cer- 

 tain weiglit of honey These boxes are generally 2 pound 

 and 1-pound sizes, but the latter are now almost universally 

 used. The 1-ponnd section is imported, in the flat, from 

 America, where suitable wood for its manufacture, soft and 

 while, is grown. The section is grooved so th'at when bent at 

 the grooves a square of -IK inches and 1% wide is obtained. 

 The ends of the section are rabettcd so that when folded and 

 tapt at the joint they become fairly rigid. 



Before teing used in crates or oblong boxes that hold l21, 

 standing in 7 rows of 3 each, end to end, each section must 

 have fitted in the center a piece or a full sheet of foundation. 

 If only a piece called a "starter" is given, it should he fast- 

 ened by heat or pr<>ssure to the middle of the top of the sec- 

 tion to afford the bees a guide in building their comb, other- 

 wise they might, and probably would, build it in any but 

 what the bee-keeper considers the right way. The sections 

 put in the crates without starters or foundation cannot be re- 

 moved from the crate without much trouble and mess, as in 

 liberating the section the comb is broken and the honey made 

 to run. • 



After the sections have Veen properly prepared and placed 

 in the crate, a thin piece of wood known as the "separator" 

 is placed between the rows of sections. The bees are thus 

 compelled to keep their work confined to the space affoi-ded 

 by the section, and they usually finish oft' each side with a 



nice, even surface, so that they may te packt without fear of 

 damage. 



How to get well filled sections and plenty of them will be 

 fully dealt with under the heading of ■■ .Supering," and there- 

 fore it will be only necessary to say here that every hive 

 should have supcring capacity for 75 to 100 pounds of honey. 

 If the hive is being workt for extracted honey, there certainly 

 should be a brood chamber of standard frames, and three 

 shallow-frame supers to form a complete and satisfactory 

 outfit. 



A hive workt for sectional honey will require different 

 super arrangements. There should be in addition to the 

 brood-chamber two lifts 9 inches depth, or one of 11 inches 

 and another of 6 inches. The lifts will be taken off the hive 

 when the section crate is about to be placed upon the frames 

 so that any openings around the crate, through which heat 

 from the brood-chamber might escape, may be stopt with 

 pieces of rag. The lift — only one will be required at first — is 

 then placed again in position, the quilts are put upon the crate 

 and packt around in the space between the crate and the sides 

 of the lift so that when once the bees begin to work in the 

 super they may not be driven down by cold nights lowering 

 the temperature in this chamber. Each super crate should 

 have a sijuare of glass fitted in one end : the progress of the 

 work can then be noticed without disturbing the colony. This 

 is of great advantage, inasmuch as additional supers may be 

 given at the right time which may not only be the means of 

 preventing the issue of a swarm, but of the bee-keeper adding 

 very considerably to the surplus from that hive, which would 

 have been lost to him but for the additional room given. Bees 

 invariably build combs from the brood-frames to the bottoms 

 of the sections in the crate simply because there is a space of 

 yi inch between the top-bars, and an additional )4, inch be- 

 neath the sections, the rule of not giving a space of more than 

 a K iuch is thus violated with the result that crates are 

 moved with difficulty, and many sections spoilt. To obviate 

 this nuisance, either an adapting-board must be used as a 

 stand for the crate, or the frames must be made wider so that 

 while the combs will be lH inches barely from center to cen- 

 ter, the frames will be only U, inch apart. All my hives in 

 the future will be fitted with standard-sized frames made 

 1 1/5 inches wide instead of %. To keep the frames steady 

 and at the correct distance apart, bell-staples will be driven 

 into the shoulder, and a third down alternate ends of the 

 frame. 



[Continued next week ] 



No. 1.— The A B C of Marketing Honey. 



BY HERMAN F. MOORE. 



Twelve years ago the writer began at " A " in the above 

 subject, and, while his advancement has been more or less 

 rapid, he has not yet reacht " Z " by a long shot. 



It is undoubtedly true that the solution of the question of 

 marketing honey, is for every bee-keeper who can to supply 

 families within easy reach of his home. In this way vast 

 amounts of honey can be kept from the city markets, and 

 from overloading them. This matter of glutting the great 

 centers of business with any produce is now well understood 

 to be the cause of ruinous reduction in price, and not only of 

 the particular lots of honey that happen to be sent to them, 

 but in some degree reduces the price of all the honey in the 

 land when offered for sale. Therefore, it should be strongly 

 urged upon every producer of honey, to sell his product as 

 near home as possible in actual miles. 



There will be seen to be several cogent reasons for this, 

 apart from the reason that heads this article. One reason for 

 selling your honey near home is that strangers feel more con- 

 fidence in you If you can say to them, "My county joins 

 yours," or " Come over any day and I will give you a good 

 time ;" or any of the many friendly expressions that rise to 

 the lips when meeting a fellow citizen of the same State, even 

 tho 50 miles may separate your respective homes. 



But you say, " I can't sell honey," " I am not built that 

 way," " I haven't the gift of gab," etc. Now, with all respect 

 to your opinion of your inability to sell honey, or to learn to 

 sell honey, let me suggest that the main trouble with 75 per 

 cent, of you is that you want to pronounce vwxyz the first day 

 at school, forgetting that you started a-b, ab not many years 

 ago. Of course, I mean by that you must learn to sell honey, 

 and be satisfied with small profits at first, and small day's 

 sales. Rome was not built In a d^y, neither can any man 

 learn in one year all there is to learh about approaching the 

 great public and finding the way to'their pockets. 



As we have decided to sell h(jney to our neighbors and 



