THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



41 



board being ash, and oiled, without paint. 

 As we enter this building the stairway is im- 

 mediately in front of us, just far enough 

 back so that the stair door will not clash 

 with the outside door if the two are swung 

 open at the same time. At the right is a 

 room 12x10 feet, which is wainscoted from 

 the floor up about four feet, above which it 

 is lathed and plastered. This room is used 

 for general purposes, such as folding sec- 

 tions, setting foundation, filling supers, 

 emptying supers, scraping sections, extract- 

 ing honey, etc., etc. It is provided with a 

 section press, a honey extractor, a machine 

 for removing sections from supers and wide 

 frames, and a work table. Near the outside 

 door is a wash-bowl and towel-rack ready 

 for use when the hands become smeared 

 with honey or anything that needs washing 

 ofif. Back of the door on some three cor- 

 nered shelves that just fill the space behind 

 the door when it stands open, is a place for 

 smoker and other tools used in the manipu- 

 lation of hives, frames and supers. 



In one corner of the room arrangements 

 are made so that, if desirable, seven colonies 

 of bees can be placed upon shelves with 

 passage-ways through the end wall of the 

 house for the bees to go out and in. These 

 colonies can be employed when necessary to 

 complete partly filled and unfinished sec- 

 tions, and if found necessary to " feed back " 

 for that purpose, it can be done more con- 

 veniently than to go out into the open yard 

 to do it. If the feeding is done inside, the 

 suspicions of the inquisitive passer-by will 

 not be aroused by catching a glimpse of the 

 (to him) mysterious operation. 



This room is well lighted by three win- 

 dows, each containing twelve panes of 9x14 

 inch glass, and all are covered with wire- 

 cloth screens nailed on to the casings out- 

 side, with bee escapes at the top. If the 

 windows were set open, and a whole swarm 

 of bees let loose inside, they could all find 

 exit in a very short time. Back of the stair- 

 case is a dark closet, or sulphur pit, large 

 enough to contain 400 or 500 brood combs, 

 where they can be smoked with sulphur 

 when necessary for the destruction of moth 

 worms. A ventilator allows the smoke to 

 escape when it has done its work, without 

 letting it into other parts of the building. 



In the other end of the building, at the 

 left hand as we enter the outside door, is a 

 room 10x20 feet. This part is sheeted uij on 

 the inside of the studding with % inch 



boards, then lathed and plastered over the 

 boards. If at any time it is found desirable 

 to make it warmer, the walls can be packed 

 with sawdust or other material by pouring it 

 down between the studding from the cham- 

 ber above. This room has two windows, one 

 in the front and one in the back end. These 

 are also covered with wire-cloth, same as the 

 other windows. This is my store room 

 where I keep my honey until it is sold. A 

 part of my plan (not yet carried into execu- 

 tion) is to arrange shelves crosswise in the 

 center of this room on which to place sec- 

 tions which may need further ripening, and 

 by opening the windows on both sides ex- 

 pose them to a free and rapid circulation of 

 air when the weather is warm and dry. 



The chamber to the honey house is all in 

 one room, and is not finished ofif any further 

 than that it has a good matched floor laid 

 down. I use it for a miscellaneous storage 

 •oom for supplies of whatever kind ; and in 

 winter for empty hives, supers, honey boards, 

 etc., etc., where all are kept dry and free 

 from vermin, all ready for use when needed. 

 The whole building is made impregnable 

 against mice and rats, unless they happen to 

 slip in at the outside door when it is open. 



I do not claim that these buildings are 

 models for others to imitate, but have simply 

 described them just as they are as near as I 

 can ; and would say that I have found them 

 quite satisfactory so far as I have used them. 

 The honey-house was not completed until 

 last spring, and, therefore, has been in use 

 only one season. I have not yet proved the 

 utility of having hives of bees right in the 

 honey-room, on which to get partly filled 

 sections finished up ; but I now have a num- 

 ber of colonies packed therein for wintering, 

 and, if all goes well, expect to give the mat- 

 ter a practical test next summer. 



Building No. 3 is a bee-house, or house- 

 apiary, built in form of a half hexagon, 

 being twenty feet long on the north side, 

 the other three sides measuring ten feet each, 

 and facing the south-east, south, and south- 

 west. It is arranged inside to accommodate 

 ten colonies, with entrance to hive through 

 side wall of the building. (No colonies are 

 placed on the north side). The platform 

 upon which the hives stand is about twenty- 

 four inches above the ground, (there is no 

 floor). The bottom boards upon which the 

 hives rest are made six inches longer than 

 the hives in order to admit of moving the 

 hive backward and forward thereon, and are 



