94 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



reader will not f oryet that at that time honey 

 was selliny for a price nearly three times as 

 great as at present. That would leave it on 

 a present basis of say, JjtiL'.OO a year for a 

 shade. Now, at that time, he preferred a 

 plain piece of board about two feet wide and 

 three feet long. ( It was no trouble then to 

 get wide lumber here.) About ten years ago 

 he died, still using and preferring that 

 method. I have used it principally, although 

 in connection with some experiments in 

 other ways of shading, during the twenty- 

 one years I have kept bees, and it looks as 

 though I, too, would die using and prefer- 

 ring that method of shading. 



Tlie hive fronts east. The shade board ex- 

 tends over the hive east to west, or from 

 front to rear, lengthwise of the long way of 

 the hive. Not any of the board extends over 

 the north side of the hive, so that some ten 

 inches extends over the south side. The 

 board extends well over the front and rear, 

 so that the hive gets the sun in the morning 

 and late in the afternoon, but at no other 

 time to any considerable extent. 



I paint my hives white, and with that color 

 and this method of shading, (which also 

 shelters the bees in storms) I feel well 

 pleased. 



In some of my apiaries no weight has been 

 needed to keep these boards in place during 

 wind storms, but usually, I use a stone 

 weighing about fifteen pounds: and when I 

 hear a bee-keeper tell about the time and 

 muscle consumed in brandling this stone, and 

 about doing without it, fastening the shade- 

 board with a staple and hook, or something 

 of that sort, I know at once that he has had 

 no experience, or else he is an impractical 

 man. No one is fit for a bee-keeper who 

 dreads handling this stone. It can be hand- 

 led in a careful manner in less than one- 

 fourth the time you can tinker with any 

 other kind of a fastener. 



This kind of a shade is not only valuable 

 as a storm guard, but it can be (piickly ad- 

 justed exactly when and where needed, re- 

 moved when not wanted, and is inexpensive. 

 But some propose double wall hives as 

 a protection from the heat. Now, bees, like 

 any other animal life, not only have the 

 power to i)roduce heat, but continually do so 

 from necetisiti/ ; -dud imless they are so situa- 

 ted that the heat they create can be radiated 

 away, it will pile u|) until they become their 

 own destroyers. ^Vith a colony of bees creat- 

 ing heat within a hive, and the sun outside 

 "pounding" onto it, disaster must result, no 

 matter how thick and non-conducting tlie 

 walls may be. I began this article without 

 reading your introductory, and now, upon 

 looking it over, I see you have preceded me 

 in this very point. I consider unshaded, 

 overheated hives as the great cause for 

 swarming. True, there is not nearly so much 

 necessity for shading a white hive, but it 

 needs it all the same. For years I have made 

 packing boxes of shade boards as you men- 

 tioned in your leader. Mr. Editor, but I have 

 never made sliade boards out of sliingles. 

 Would not be surjirised but tliat this is an 

 economic quirk. I suppose uuicli depends 

 upon the price of the material used in any 

 given locality. 



Ah ha I in your last sentence you speak 

 about weights, I notice. \Vell, I agree with 

 you that, wliere only an occasional board 

 blows ofi', it is better not to weight them. 

 But I want >ou to consider that it is only an 

 occasional apiary, in semi-occasional loca- 

 tions, where a shade board blows otf only 

 occasionally. Am I not riglit? 



Now regarding the discussion of the prac- 

 tical use of cloths vs. wood covers for hives, 

 I can say that I have used several hundred 

 cloth covers, among which I may mention a 

 whole bolt of excellent enameled cloth 

 which I purchased of friend A. 1. Root. I do 

 not like them and do not consider them any- 

 where nearly equal to the plain, straiglit, 

 board cover with a bee space below it. 

 Another thing : I am not afraid of the com- 

 petition of any bee keeper who does prefer 

 the cloth covers. He probably has ugly bees 

 or he is a consumer of time in his work, or 

 what is more likely, both. If a man has 

 well-bred, well-behaved bees and dispatclies 

 his work rapidly, he will not use cloth of any 

 kind any longer than merely to find out that 

 he does not want it. I would expect to go 

 into an apiary and, witli plain board covers 

 with bee spaces, handle about three hives to 

 one similarly handled by a bee keeper who 

 uses cloths. 



DowAGiAc, Mich. 



May 18, 188'J. 



No Sliade Needed With Chaff Hives.— Some 

 Excellent Arguments in Favor of Quilts. 



GEOKGE F. HOBBINS. 



IffC'?!^^ BEES are largely in the shade of 

 M of/lb P^'i'^h trees. I i)lace them tliero 

 (jitlrJ^ more in obedience to instinct 

 '^ than to reason. I frel as though 

 they ought to be in the shade : yet, I believe 

 that, take the years as they come, my bees, 

 as a rule, do better in the sun. If the leaves 

 were not off tlie trees in winter and spring, 

 the difference might be inorc niarked. 

 When thick, or double-wall, or chatt-hives 

 are used, shade is of less coiisetiuence. My 

 hives are large and roomy, and painted 

 white, and dummies used at tlie sides. 

 Under such circumstances, a free circulation 

 of air is more necessary than shade. My 

 bees swarm as little, and make as much 

 honey, when standing in the sun as when 

 shaded. 



It is with Dr. Miller tliat you, Mr. Editor, 

 have picked a quarrel (':") about (juilts and 

 honey-boards, but, in the melee, yon have 

 hit iiic: and 1 i>c'g leave to " kick back." (( Ut 

 Oliver Foster. 



You may have handled quilts more Ihnri I 

 have hantiled honey-bonrds, but not so much, 

 I think, as 1 have tlie former. The ol)jc(- 

 tions you urge against quilts are not wholly 

 imaginary, but, it seems to me that Uiey 

 amount to but little when the riglit material 

 (enameled cloth) is used. Bees are less in- 

 clined to propolize its glossy surface than 

 anything else excei)t glass; and pro|)olis and 

 wax itdhrrr to it eveil in a less degree. My 

 quilts seldom rest upoi the top bars, as 

 tliere are usually brace-combs above Die 

 frames. Wherever honey- boards or super,-? 



