i'^E BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



^ 



into the wood. A damp cellar, or wet straw 

 thrown over the hives, will do. 



I also have my honey house painted with 

 lime and ocher, and just enough oil to form 

 a film over the work to keep the water from 

 evaporating. The work was done two years 

 ago, and looks better than oil paint. 



Savanna, 111. 



Jan. 24, 1891. 



Building Cellar and Honey-House Walls of 

 Concrete. 



8. A. SHUCK. 



IDITOR REVIEW.— At the time of 

 building ail the honey house I have, I 

 did not own the premises and did not 

 know that I should ever own them. Then, 

 too, my purse was quite small, and con- 

 sequently the building was made small, 

 10x14 feet. As I had a hundred colonies of 

 bees before I built a houey house, it became 

 necessary to do as I had l)een doing with my 

 empty hives, stack them up out doors. With 

 the past season's crop in this little room 

 there was scarcely standing room for two 

 persons to say nothing about storage for 

 surplus extracting combs. 



So I have just completed the walls of a bee 

 cellar, IGxSO feet, over which I hope to build 

 a shop and storage room next summer. The 

 principal thought I wish to present in this 

 communication is concerning material. But 

 before I enter into this I wish to say that I 

 want my buildings at one side of my apiary, 

 especially the honey house, as in addition to 

 the objections mentioned in your leader, I 

 do not like to have my work all around the 

 house. Then, too, I think there is such a 

 thing as having things too convenient some- 

 times. Especially is this true when there 

 are several hives close to the honey house 

 door. It is so handy to pick up a super, 

 walk to a hive and place it on and go back 

 into the honey house, get another super and 

 go to another hive, itc. ; while, if the hives 

 were a little farther away, we would place 

 several supers on our wheelbarrow, or what- 

 ever we have to carry them on, and thus 

 save time and labor, by making fewer trips 

 to and from the honey house. 



Now about my cellar and the contempla- 

 ted work shop. 



The brick for my cellar walls would have 

 cost me not less than S75.00 laid down on 

 the ground, but the materials used, which are 



lime, cement, and cinders from an old fur- 

 nace, cost me less than .120.00. The work of 

 excavating the cellar, putting in the walls, 

 including cost of material, all combined, 

 except my own lal)or, cost me less than the 

 brick would have cost me. 



While one of our townsmen, who spends 

 considerable time sitting at our village store, 

 has wagered a "forty dollar trotting rooster" 

 with the young man who helped me do the 

 work that my walls will fall down in less 

 than a year, I do not feel uneasy about it. 



The walls were put up with what is known 

 as concrete, using the cinders instead of small 

 stone. Owing to the time of year, I have 

 braced the walls and will not plaster them 

 until next summer. I have put on a set of 

 joist and covered the cellar over so as to 

 prevent freezing, and intend to put my bees 

 in there for the rest of the winter. 



I intend to continue the concrete for the 

 walls of the shop, and accomplish two pur- 

 poses in so doing, that of making them fire- 

 proof and perfectly safe against rats and 

 mice. 



If my man loses his " forty dollar rooster " 

 I will let you know at once. 



LiVEKPOOL, 111. 



Jan. 1, 1891. 



What I Think I Know About Honey Houses. 



ABTHUB O. MILLEK. 



!!HE FIRST consideration is the loca- 

 tion of the building. In what part of 

 the apiary shall it be put ? Put it 

 where Pat put the handle to his jug — on the 

 outside, and on that part of the outside that 

 was nearest to him. 



If it is in the middle of the apiary it is 

 frequently inconvenient and sometimes un- 

 safe to approach it with a horse and wagon, 

 and it is folly to put the building where 

 everything must be lugged or wheeled to and 

 fro by hand power. 



In planning the building, let the first con- 

 cern be the honey room. 



Bro. H. says in his leader, " there must be 

 a shop proper, a storage room for hives and 

 fixtures and perhaps a special room for 

 storing honey." 



Bless my stars I What earthly use is the 

 rest of the building, the hives, or the bees, 

 if I have not a prosier place for caring for 

 my honey, the product of my labor, the ob- 

 ject of all this investment. 



