20 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



done at a fair price, and, at the same time 

 help two young men just starting in business. 

 Send it to Date & York, Room 1,110, 334 

 Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. Mr. York, with 

 whom I am well acquiinted, was. for several 

 years, compo.-^itor and proof reader on the 

 A. B. J., which is sufficient guarantee that 

 the work will not be " botched." This firm 

 has all new material, and the specimens of 

 work that I have seen are very neat. 



THE DOVETAILED HIVE, OE THE HIVE WITH 

 LOCK JOINTED COBNEB8. 



Dr. Miller takes " W. Z." to task in Glean- 

 ings because he objected to the use of ♦he 

 word "dovetailed" as a name for hives 

 having lock-jointed corners. He says : 

 "Why didn't you lift up your voice years 

 ago against the * so-called dovetailed ' sec- 

 tions?" There would have been just as 

 much sense in it. Doctor, and I presume I 

 should had I thought of it. The name, 

 " dovetailed " has been given to sections and 

 hives having lock-jointed corners, and, al- 

 though not entirely correct, it will probably 

 hang to them. 



Dr. Miller aho asks if there is any law to 

 prevent Bro. Hill and myself from making 

 onr hives with corners like store boxes ? No, 

 there isn't, but the point is just this : No one 

 should be led to believe (unless it is true) 

 that this method of putting together the 

 corners is of so much importance that hives 

 will be ordered from a distance when those 

 with simple square corners might be ob- 

 tained cheaper at home. 



I have a long, kind letter, from Ernest 

 Root upon this subject, also one from Mr. 

 John G. Kuudinger ; and I had hoped and 

 expected to give them both in this issue, but 

 the finishing uj) of the discussion upon 

 foundation has taken up so much room, that 

 I hope these two friends will excuse me if I 

 give the gist of their letters instead of pub- 

 lisliing thetn in full. 



Bro. Root says that the dovetailing really 

 cheapens the hive, because it can be crated 

 for shipment in the flat, at less expense, and 

 that the peculiar manner in wliich it is 

 crated allows it to be shipped at lower rates. 

 Closed end frames accompanied by com- 

 pression are coming to the front, hence an 

 extra strong corner is desirable. 



Mr. Kuudinger says there is no trouble 

 from shrinkage, as all the wood shrinks and 



swells alike. Experienced mill men, car- 

 penters and joiners, and the like, have told 

 him that this joint is the strongest that can 

 be made, and with proper machinery it need 

 noL be a " botch job." A No. 1, ten-inch ma- 

 chine costs only $195.00, and, when once set 

 up and adjusted, it can be run by cheap help 

 and turns out about forty hives an hour. At 

 the recent meeting of beekeepers at Detroit, 

 Mr. Kuudinger had with him a sample cor- 

 ner, simply driven together, the ends pro- 

 jecting about four inches, and no one could 

 "budge " it with the hands. If I remember 

 right, Mr. Kuudinger sold about 7,000 of 

 these hives last season. 



Now, I have no interest, one way or the 

 other, in this method of making hive corners. 

 I have no doubt that it is a stronger corner, 

 but the question in my mind is, is it a needed 

 strength ? Ever since I have kept bees I 

 have u-ed hives with the simple, old fash- 

 ioned, square joint, and I have never seen 

 the necessity for a stronger joint. When the 

 hives were nailed up with the heart side of 

 the lumber out, I have seen no trouble from 

 warping. For five years I have used the 

 Heddon hive made in this manner, and the 

 compression has never even started the cor- 

 ners. 



SEPAKATOES. 



This is to be the subject of our special dis- 

 cussion for next month. Is it always best to 

 use them ? If not, when shall they be used ? 

 Shall they be of wood or tin ? How shall 

 they be adjusted ? etc., etc. 



If the honey flow comes on with a rush, 

 rushes while it lasts and stops suddenly, 

 there is little need of separators, if the col- 

 onies are strong in numbers. Quite a num- 

 ber of ifs, isn't there ? The point is just 

 here. If the combs are all started at once, 

 and continued and completed at about the 

 same time, there is almost no bulging, par- 

 ticularly if llie sections are not wider than 

 seveu-to-the-foot. Eight-to-the-foot sec- 

 tions furnish combs a trifle straighter. but it 

 is only a trifle. 



I have used very few separators, and have 

 been rather inclined to argue against their 

 use ; but, even if I don't use them myself, I 

 now believe that, as a rule, it would be bet- 

 ter if they were generally used. That little 

 item that J. A. Green gave us a few months 

 ago about crating sections that went together 

 like one of those sawed out puzzles, hit me 



