344 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



A Paper Winter Case 



By A. F. Bouncy 



I HAVE evolved a plan of winter- 

 ing which will, I believe, prove 

 as good as any other, and at a 

 cost, for material, of not more than 

 25 cents to the colony. As to time, 

 two hours should be enough to make 

 a case, ten or fifteen minutes to 

 prepare the bees for winter. 



I shall use a material of which 

 hundreds of thousands of pounds go 

 te in this country annually. I 

 allude to the corrugated paper used 

 in making boxes and packing cases, 

 between fifteen and twenty thousand 

 tons of which are made daily in the 

 United States. All that a man can 

 ever use may be had for the asking, 

 and any sized pieces can be utilized, 

 but the larger the sheets are the bet- 

 ter. 



Begin by making a box one-half 

 inch larger than a standard Lang- 

 stroth, in width and length, and as 

 much deeper as required. If no 

 cushion or packing material is to be 

 used above, the form may be 12 

 inches high, but if the absorbent 

 cushion is wanted make the form 

 14H inches high, which will allow 3 

 inches for the cushion. Nail this 

 box, open side down, to a board which 

 must extend four inches beyond all 

 sides of the form. Then across one 

 end, which will be the front of the 

 form, nail a board three-fourths of 

 an inch thick and four inches wide. 

 The ends of this must come flush 

 with the sides of the form, and make 

 the opening in the case for the en- 

 trance. Finally, give the form a coat 

 of boiled linseed oil, so that acciden- 

 tal glue will not adhere to it. 



The next step is to cut up paper 

 boxes, getting -s large sheets as pos- 

 sible; trim them, using a steel square 

 and a sharp knife, then proceed to 

 cover the form. This done, cover all 

 cracks with strips of cloth put on 

 with glue. In my experimenting I 

 have found it better to cover the 



form with newspaper a couple of 

 inches, which insured ready removal 

 of the finished case, and the sep- 

 arate pieces of paper board must be 

 held in place with nails until dry. 

 Treat the other corners in the same 

 way. Fill in between these pieces 

 with corrugated paper, and now spots 

 of glue will be all that is needed; 

 then cover the sides, using nails, and 

 let dry. You now have two layers 

 finished. 



In building subsequent layers put 

 the bent corners first on the ends of 

 the top, then on the sides of the top, 

 then on the sides again, building up 

 between pieces as at first, which will 

 strengthen the case and make it 

 warmer. 



I do not know how thick this outer 

 case should be, but as it rests on cleats 

 nailed to the edge of the bottom- 

 board, sides and back, enclosing the 

 rim of the bottom-board, and is im- 

 pervious to heat and cold, as well as 

 air tight, one inch might be enough, 

 while three would do no harm. 



Finally, bind the bottom edges of 

 the case with cloth, and coat the 

 whole case with liquid asphaltum, 

 such as is used in painting roofs. 

 This will penetrate one or more 

 thicknesses of the paper and make 

 it impervious to air and water and 

 inside heat. This paint retails at 

 about 25 cents a gallon, and that 

 will probably cover several cases. 



The case being ready, nail J^xJ^ 

 inch strips around the bottom-board, 

 sides and back. I mean by this, on 

 the edge of the bottom, not on the 

 rail, on which the brood-chamber 

 stands, then make a board of the 

 corrugated paper one-half inch thick, 

 bind the edges with cloth and coat 

 with asphaltum. This must be 19^2 

 inches long and scant 14J4 inches 

 wide and is to lie on the bottom- 

 board inside the rails. This allows 

 a clear half inch between the inside 

 of the front wall of the brood-cham- 

 ber and the edge of the insulating 

 board, which added to the quarter- 

 inch between the board and the bot- 



tom of the hive gives a good, large 

 entrance, and one that opens down- 

 ward, thus reducing the danger of 

 clogging with dead bees or sleet. 



The 34-inch opening under the 

 front edge of the case, at the en- 

 trance may be reduced by inserting a 

 ^xj^-inch block. My choice is for a 

 3x54-inch opening, protected from 

 mice, which would call for a block 

 about 11 inches long. Moreover, I 

 want the entrance of one corner of 

 the hive, as it tends to protect the 

 interior from direct effect of wind. 



The cost of such a case should be 

 small. The form, which could be 

 made of cheap lumber, would last a 

 long time, and need not cost more 

 than sixty (60) cents for lumber and 

 nails, while the glue and paint for 

 the cases should not cost more than 

 ten cents. If but ten cases were 

 made the total cost should not be 

 more than $1.60, or 16 cents per case. 

 One hundred cases would cost about 

 10.06 cents each. This, of course, 

 for material alone, against $5 to $7 

 for a quadruple case. 



It would not be impossible to raise 

 the rail of the bottom-board and use 

 a thicker insulating board under the 

 brood-chamber, but as heat goes up, 

 and none escapes in this case, the 

 half-inch insulating board may be 

 enough. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



Curl. 



A, form; li. block Hxi; C, platfor 



A Letter From Italy 



Friend Dadant : We have had a 

 very late season here, the bees 

 swarming as late as July 14. I have 

 adopted your advice to spread the 

 combs. I now place 11 where I form- 

 erly used 12. 



The hives of my apiary, which you 

 have once shown in the American 

 Bee Journal, of which I again send 

 you photos, have been painted with 

 paint and oil of light yellow color, 

 with double slope covers and look 

 very elegant. But I have noticed 

 that: 



1. Unpainted hives are more 

 healthful for the bees than painted 

 hives. N 



2. However greater the cost, it is 

 better to keep hives of bees under a 

 shed than in the open air; they suf- 

 fer less from the cold or the heat 

 and work much better. 



The past winter the snow has 

 crushed the "pergola" which covered 

 my hives, as you may see in the 

 snow picture; so the past spring I 

 rebuilt it with the help of Austrian 

 prisoners. They made everything ex- 

 cept the tiles of the roof. 



I send my best wishes to yourself 

 and your lady, to whom I wish to be 

 remembered. 



ENGINEER CAPPONI, 

 San Remo, Italy. 



Our good friend, Engineer Cap- 

 poni, is of the same opinion as Dr. 

 Miller in his preference for unpaint- 

 ed hives. This preference is prob- 

 ably still more important in the 

 mountains near the "Riviera" than 

 in our dry climate. The advisability 

 of a bee-shed or "pergola" is also 



