1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



23 



storing every thing not in use, or liable to be used 

 for some little time. If I did not wish to build a 

 shop, I should use any old buildin? I had, lining it 

 and fixing as in the case first give i for a room for 

 this general work, for such a room is certainly nec- 

 essary. It would be p)'c/cra?jZe to have this general 

 room mouse and rat proof; but if an old building 

 is used it could hardly be expected, without quite 

 an outlay. The two rooms used for storing honey I 

 would have mouse-proof, let it cost what it would, 

 for the tilth of vermin about honey is not to be tol- 

 erated at all. If mice get into the general room, 

 keep them caught out with traps; and as for the 

 rats, they will not be liable to bother unless you 

 have grain of some kind in your room for them to 

 feed upon, and this, of course, you will not tolerate, 

 for this general room is for bee-fixtures and not for 

 grain. 



Having given a little outline of what I would have 

 for a general work-room, I will next speak of a room 

 for storing comb honej'. This need not be larger 

 than 8x10 for storing all the comb honey from 

 100 stocks in the spring, even should they pro- 

 duce 200 lbs. per swarm on an average. Whether 

 built in with a shop, or at the side of another 

 building, I should have a wall of mason - work 

 for the sills to rest upon, if drainage could be ob- 

 tained so the water would not stand under the wall, 

 as in such a case the freezing of the water about the 

 wall would soon destroy it. If I could not dispose of 

 the water I would use abutments. The wall, or 

 abutments, need not be more than a foot high; and 

 if a wall, two or four six-inch square holes should be 

 left at the sides so the air can freely circulate under 

 the floor. If a wall is used, 6x8 inch would be plenty 

 large for the sills, and 8x10 in any case; for you will 

 see that the abutments, if such are used, are close to- 

 gether, not more than 3 feet apart. For sleepers I 

 should use 2x8 inch, and place them but 8 in. apart 

 from center to center, having them run the shortest 

 way of the room. Now, don't think this too strong, 

 and place these sleepers further apart ; for if you do 

 you will repent when you get from 5 to 10 tons of 

 honey in your room. I would have the room 9 feet 

 high, so the studding (2x6 inches) should be that 

 length less your plates (4x6 inches), if you build this 

 room separate from your shop. If so built I would 

 have a tin roof, and paint it a dark color; but if in 

 a shop, of course no roof will be needed, as the up- 

 per floor will make the roof. 



So far I would use good hemlock for the wood em- 

 ployed, for this holds a nail well, is strong, and does 

 not easily decay. For the floor I would use IJ^ match- 

 ed 8pruce4inche8 wide, andincb pine common ceiling 

 for the sides. If all is put together as it should be, 

 you will not be bothered with mice, providing you 

 keep the door to this room shut when not in use. 

 This door is to be on the side next your general 

 room, of course. I would have a window on one 

 side and one end, which are to be opened in warm 

 dry weather, so as to thoroughly ventilate the room 

 and pile of honey. Over these windows, on the out- 

 side, is to be placed wire cloth so the windows can 

 be left open at pleasure without any fears of robber 

 bees. To let the bees out, which may chance to 

 come in on the honey as it is taken from the hive, 

 let this wire cloth run 8 or 10 inches above the top 

 of the window, nailing on strips of lath, or other 

 strips, ?8 thick, so as to keep the wire cloth out that 

 far from the sides of the building, thus iriving space 

 for the bees to crawl up on the cloth to the top when 



they are on the outside. No robber bee will ever 

 think of trying to get in at this entrance, so your 

 room is kept clean of bees and flies all the while. 

 This completes the building, I believe, except that 

 we want it painted some dark color so that the rays 

 of the sun may keep it as warm as possible. Our 

 door should be in the center of one side, so that on 

 each side of our room a platform can be built, upon 

 which to place our honey. Perhaps all will not agree 

 with me, but I think all box honey should be stored 

 in such a room at least a month before crating, to 

 ripen and sweat out. I know it is a saving of time 

 and labor to crate it at once; but 1 think it pays for 

 all this extra time and labor, in the better quality 

 and appearance of our product. For the platform I 

 take pieces of 3x12 plank, and cut them 3 ft. 9 in, 

 long, and spike two pieces together, thus making a 

 stick 4x12x3 ft. 9, using three of these on a side, set 

 the IJ-way up, which leaves an alley 2'/i ft. through the 

 center of the room. Upon these lay four 3x4 sticks, 8 

 ft. long (4 on each side). Now lay sticks 2x2x3 ft. 9 

 across these so your sections will stand on them the 

 same as they did in the hive, and have the ends of 

 the sections meet in the center of these 2x3 sticks. 

 Also by means of strips keep the honey out two 

 inches from the side of the building, so that the air 

 can circulate all around the pile, otherwise that next 

 the sides of the buildiug will sweat so as to become 

 transparent. Also, piled in this way the fumes of 

 burning sulphur can penetrate the whole pile by 

 placing your burning sulphur under the pile. 



The room for the extracted honey, I would build 

 of the same width, except that I would have it 14 to 

 18 feet long instead of 10, so as to give plenty of 

 room. The reason we have our comb-houey room 

 small, is, that we can sulphur our honey in as small 

 a room as possible. I would build both rooms as 

 one, so as to save material, and separate them by a 

 partition so made that the sulphur smoke could not 

 get through. You can store your extracted honey 

 in tin-lined vats made to suit you, in barrels, kegs, 

 or in the 300-lb. tin cans sold by A. I. Root, as pre- 

 ferred. In fact, fix up the inside of this to suit you, 

 as probably nearly all will have their own way. I 

 prefer the A. I. Root cans for storing honey, and the 

 Novice extractor. By placing a cloth over the top 

 of these cans, the honey ripens nicely in this warm 

 room, even if the combs are not fully sealed when 

 extracted. 



With a description of how I store my combs, which 

 are used for extracting purposes, I will close this al- 

 ready too long article. As you are building your 

 honey-room, have the studding on one side set just 

 as far apart as the top-bar of your frame is long; 

 not from center to center of studding, but leave 

 that space between each. Now nail strips of Ja 

 stuff, 2'/i feet long by 5 inches wide to these stud- 

 ding, letting them stand out into the room in a hori- 

 zontal position. Let the distance between each strip 

 from top to top be 1 inch greater than the depth of 

 your frame, so as to give sufficient room to manipu- 

 late the frames handily. Three inches from the 

 ends of these strips run a partition clear across the 

 room, which is to have close-fitting, narrow doors 

 placed in it, spaced so as to be niost convenient. 

 Now hang in your combs; see that all combs not in 

 use are in their place, and not lying about some- 

 where else. As often as any signs of worms are 

 found, put in a pot of burning sulphur; close the 

 doors, and the work is done. In all this work with 

 burning sulphur, make certain that nothing can by 



