THE aMERICJtK Wmm JOURNai.. 



311 



and admired the pretty little tassels on 

 every bough, as tlii^y blossom just as 

 the leaves start. Like the country 

 maid and her milk pail, we calculated 

 how much profit we should reap by our 

 bees gathering hone)- and pollen from 

 them. But alas ! like the milk-maid 

 of old, our pail is upset, for last night 

 (April 18) a hea^'y frost and freeze 

 occurred, which blasted our hopes for 

 honey from this source at least. 



There will be no peach bloom, and 

 very little cherry, for the trees have 

 all been killed by drouth and cold, and 

 we comfort our hearts that we may at 

 least have bloom on crab-apples ; and 

 dandelions are hardy, if they are not 

 all dug up for greens. The catkins on 

 the silver-leaves and cotton-woods are 

 growing, and yield pollen. 



In the meantime, let bee-keepers, 

 one and all, not sit idly on their hives 

 whistling to keep their courage up, but 

 go to work wth a will, and clean up 

 the apiary, and let it at least look 

 prosperous, for honey comes like a 

 thief in the night, at a time when we 

 are not looking for it — so have all 

 things ready. Do not disturb the bees 

 and kick over hives. See to it that 

 every hive stands true and firm, for if 

 the hives lean to one side, crooked 

 honey will be built, just as surely as 

 water runs down hill. Look out for 

 leaky roofs, closing cracks with paint. 



I have never seen bad results follow 

 painting hives with bees in them. You 

 maj' find some dead colonies ; if so, 

 lift out the frames, and clean out the 

 hive. A wide chisel is a good tool to 

 use in scraping out a hive. If the hive 

 is foul, scrub it out with hot suds and 

 rinse with boiling water. Eft'ace every 

 trace of diarrhea, for who knows but 

 it may breed disease. Scrape off the 

 frames, brush off the bees with a whisk- 

 broom, and cut off all queen-cells, for 

 they are never used again, and are 

 unsightly. 



Do not spend time picking dead bees 

 out of the comb with a pin or pinchers, 

 for the bees have better tools to do it 

 with than you, and can work more 

 cheaply. The frames can be put back 

 into the hive, which wll be better for a 

 fresh coat of paint, for a hive should 

 last as long as a house, if kept well 

 painted. A new swarm will be very 

 glad of this hive well furnished, all 

 ready for housekeeping,and not empty. 



The old Scotchman said to his son : 

 " Jock, plant a tree, it will be growing 

 nights while you sleep." If you do 

 not plant a tree in the apiary, plant a 

 grapevine, and in three years you can 

 eat the fruit of it. Then when you are 

 tired in the fall, taking off honey, you 

 can sit in the shade of the vine, and ob- 

 tain fi-om the refreshing fruit renewed 

 courage for the fray. 



Peoria, Ills. 



EXPERIMENTS 



In making Hives Suited to the 

 Art and Times. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY G. M. AlVES. 



I have experimented with many dif- 

 ferent kinds of hives, without finding 

 one which exactl}' suited me. Prob- 

 ably some churlish bee-keeper will 

 add, " and you never wll." Be that 

 as it may, I have recentlj' constructed 

 a few hives, for next season's experi- 

 ment, which, in my humble opinion, 

 contain less objections and more ad- 

 vantages, than any other that I have 

 used or read about. 



A description of my hive is sub- 

 mitted, for the consideration of those 

 unfortunates, who, like myself, are 

 always craving something better. 



The hive consists simply of as many 

 frames as one chooses to use, placed 

 side by side with boards placed on 

 each side of the frames. The upright 

 pieces of the frames are j of an inch 

 thick and 1| inches wide, with holes 

 as shown in the illustration. The top 

 and bottom bars of the frames are } by 



f inch. All of the corners of the 

 frames are alike, and as shown in the 

 figure. The side-boards are the same 

 length and heighth as the frames, and 

 have corresponding holes in the ends. 

 The size of the holes of the side-boards 

 and frames are .j-inch, excepting the 

 centre frames, which have }-inch holes. 



I use |-inch bolts without nuts, but 

 with washers ; hence the bolts screw 

 firmly into the centi'e frame, and at 

 the same time have ample plaj' in the 

 other frames and side-boards to pro- 

 vide for slight inequalities. Of course 

 the bolts are to be manipulated with a 

 ^vrench, and when so done you have 

 the whole held together with a vice- 

 like grip ; in fact, you practically have 

 a solid box which you could throw over 

 the fence without injury. 



Let us now consider the advantages 

 of this hive : 



1. By means of different length of 

 bolts, you can expand or contract the 

 hive to any desired extent. A .3-frame 

 hive will take four 3-inch bolts ; a 5- 



frame hive will take 4 4J-inch bolts; a 7- 

 franie hive will take four 6-inch bolts ; 

 and a 9-framc liive will take four 7i- 

 inoh bolts, and so on. If you desire 

 to divide a hive into 2 nuclei, you 

 have but to introduce a thin division- 

 board in the centre. 



2. There can be no sagging, warp- 

 ing or dislocation of the frames, as is 

 frequently the case with hanging 

 frames. 



3. A very precise accuracj' in con- 

 struction is not necessary. 



4. The hive is easy of construction, 

 and not expensive ; | by 6 inch bolts 

 may be had at about 3 cents each. 



5. It has all of the advantages of a 

 box-hive (and U has advantages) and 

 a movable-frame hive. 



6. Last but not least, it is a reversi- 

 ble hive. This feature is tabooed by 

 some, but when practiced at the proper 

 time, it will nevertheless give excel- 

 lent results. It affords all of the ad- 

 vantages of spreading the brood, with- 

 out its serious risks. 



Should the bee-keeper at the time 

 when he finds the first clover blossom 

 in some warm and protected fence- 

 corner, reverse the hives or frames of 

 thrifty colonies, take my word for it, 

 he will have more gatherers for the 

 harvest. 



Henderson, Kj'. 



KENTUCKY. 



Successful Wintering — Bee-Cul- 

 ture in Kentucky. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY JAMES M. TYLER. 



Having given, on page 821 of the 

 American Bee Journal for 1887, the 

 manner of wintering bees in Kentucky 

 in the Langstroth hives, I will report 

 the results. 



The 24 of the 25 colonies packed, 

 wintered in fine condition, and on 

 March 26 each one had more or less 

 brood, and were bringing in pollen 

 from the elm and maple bloom with a 

 vim. The one that perished was 1 of 

 the 7 colonies made by division, about 

 July 1, 1887. But for an oversight in 

 allowing them all the frames, and fail- • 

 ing to put them between division- 

 boards, as I did with the other small 

 colonies, I am sure that there would 

 have been no loss. 



These nuclei colonies did not build 

 up much, owing to the severe drouth. 

 They covered only from 2 to 3 frames. 

 I would have doubled them up, but I 

 desii-ed to save my queens that I reared 

 from mj' best stock. I gave them only 

 about 10 or 12 pounds of honey to the 

 colony, mostly uncapped and mixed 

 largely with pollen, stored too late in 



