AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



575 



as but few have to stay at home to keep 

 it up, most of them get out and rustle. 



Their bowels have been emptied as 

 often as practical during the Winter, 

 they have been dry and warm, they feel 

 good, and if there is anything to be had in 

 their line they get it. Result : Brood- 

 rearing commences and goes on apace. 

 I can hear the peculiar hum that indi- 

 cates that they are all right. 



When the honey harvest begins in 

 earnest, they are ready — the hives are 

 full of brood and bees. Then I raise the 

 outside boxes, sweep the sawdust over 

 the sides of the bottom, and leave it 

 there, as it prevents weeds and mud 

 about the hives, any surplus being scat- 

 tered by the wind, and where sawdust 

 can be had conveniently, for the hauling, 

 it is cheaper to get a fresh supply in the 

 Fall than to gather this up and save it. 



I now tier up, expand, etc., as neces- 

 sary. Those who wish to, can leave the 

 outside boxes off ; I do not. I put them 

 back, and as I tier up the hive, I tier up 

 the outside box correspondingly, so that 

 my hive is enveloped in a pretty good 

 dead-air space, and has ventilation 

 through the holes in the gables. In 

 handling the frames, the outside box is 

 frequently not disturbed, and if the bees 

 get out of the hive into it, I do not mind 

 it, as they soon get out through the bee- 

 escapes in the gables. 



Mr. Heddon wants light-colored hives 

 in the Summer to throw off the heat, I 

 do not ; I can use all the heat available, 

 as all the nectar brought in must be 

 evaporated, more or less, according to 

 circumstances, to make it into good 

 honey, and the quicker this is done the 

 better the product. The warmer the 

 hive will average, the quicker this will 

 be accomplished. During the greater 

 part of the twenty-four hours, the aver- 

 age temperature is lower outside the hive 

 than inside, and the few hours during 

 which the direct rays of the sun would 

 warm it above the normal, are more than 

 offset by the many hours in which the 

 cooler outside air would bring it below 

 their normal temperature, every degree 

 of which must be made up by more bees 

 remaining in the hive and consuming 

 honey to generate the heat needed, thus 

 entailing a double loss. 



Bees consume less honey during the 

 Winter, when in the cellar or in packed 

 hives, because they have to generate less 

 heat than when more exposed, so in the 

 Summer, they use less honey for the 

 same reason, consequently have more for 

 surplus. 



The dark-brown outside box, double 

 bottom, and roof, absorbs the heat — get 



hot clean through— the dead air inside, 

 and the inner, or hive case, acts as a 

 cushion to keep it from the bees, and my 

 bees never get too hot to work. As the 

 heat of the day declines, the heat ab- 

 sorbed is slowly given off, but protected 

 by the double walls and dead air, it goes 

 slowly, while the bees in single-walled, 

 unprotected hives will have begun gen- 

 erating heat, and consuming honey 

 therefor which otherwise would be sur- 

 plus, many hours before mine will ; or, if 

 they do not use honey to keep up the 

 heat, they cluster to economize it, and 

 the part of the business most interesting 

 to me stops for the time. Evaporation 

 is facilitated in proportion to the extra 

 number of hours the temperature is kept 

 up. If wax is to be made, less artificial 

 heat is needed, less honey is used, and 

 more bees go to the fields. 



Such a hive costs more than the dove- 

 tailed, for instance ! Yes, it does. How- 

 ever, the inside parts I use correspond 

 to the outside, and lessen the cost, and 

 if made in large quantities, with im- 

 proved machinery, the hive complete, 

 would cost but little more than the dove- 

 tailed, and much less than the chaff, but 

 I have no hives to sell, neither have my 

 friends. 



This " protection for single-walled 

 hives " pays 4n proportion to the skill 

 with which the bees are handled ; and 

 skill does not mean everlasting fussing ; 

 neither does it mean always the most 

 hard work. The average surplus, per 

 hive. Is often increased by the work, 

 sometimes by the fussing, but in either 

 case the extra pounds cost more than 

 they will bring in market. Skill with 

 any hive will beat the best protection 

 without it, but the best skill with it, will 

 beat the same skill without it 20 per 

 cent., one year with another. The best 

 tools skillfully used will pay when in- 

 ferior tools in the same hands fail, in 

 any of the trades, in the professions, on 

 the farm, and in the apiary. 



This question of cost is dwelt on more 

 in bee-literature than in that devoted to 

 any other pursuit, for in other industries 

 the fact is generally recognized that the 

 best tools and process will win in the 

 long run, and the poor men are not all 

 in the bee-business. 



Let it be thoroughly understood that 

 none but the rich can afford to buy poor 

 goods; it is wrong to teach anything 

 else, as it causes want, and consequent 

 suffering. If I cannot get 10 good 

 hives, I will get 5 ; if I cannot get 5, I 

 will take 1 ; if I cannot afford the one, 

 I will do the best possible for the time, 

 and get the best as soon as I can. 



