1876 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



137 



youi- past No's uway for a rc-pci'usal. I am now the 

 pupil of an oMer teacher — M. Quinby's "Mysteries of 

 Bee-Keeping/' lie is more explicit on the manage- 

 cientof box hives than any other author I have met 

 with. Tliankfal for past favors, I remain. 



Wash. Lkwis. 



P. s.— Tin; BEST :.:oTir trap. 



I have found placing open-bottomed box hives on 

 bricks instead of boards, in the summer, and during 

 the time they are most likely to be infested, the best 

 moth trap. The coldness and liardness of the l)ricks, 

 completely preventing the formation of the cocoons 

 on the lower edges of the hive. In winter use the 

 Quinby bottom board. W. L. 



Kappa, Wis., May 7th, '76. 



Now friend L you doubtless have done a 

 very wise thing in dropping our company, but 

 you certainly have put your foot in it badly in 

 some other respects. Make your patent moth 

 trap hives into kindling wood by all means, and 

 then, if you will CO back to box hives, please 

 do not accuse Mr. Quinby of advising any 

 such course. A short time ago we were talk- 

 ing with a neighbor who used box hives ; dur- 

 ing the conversation he remarked that he took 

 Mr. Q. as his guide. But said we, "Do you not 

 know that he uses and advises frame hives, 

 Italians, etc." ? Hp knew nothing of the kind, 

 but supposed of course that he kept bees in 

 just the same way as he advised in his book 

 that was published a little more than 25 years 

 ago. Perhaps no writer has more vehemently 

 insisted on having bees where the queen could 

 be got at and seen, than]\[r.Quinby. But per- 

 haps this is the wrong way to conduct such a 

 department ;so we will only remark that in our 

 experience those holes covered with wire cloth 

 have always been waxed over tight, the very 

 first work the bees did. It is very true we do 

 want some very simple and easy method of 

 keeping bees that will enable almost any one, 

 with little expense, to at least undertake rais- 

 ing the honey they wish for their own table. 

 If we are to use box hives, they may just as 

 well be made one shape as another, and as the 

 L. hive will give more box honey than any- 

 thing taller — -we believe all are agreed on this 

 point — we would urge the importance of mak- 

 ing the boxes of about the shape and capacity 

 of the comb chamber of this hive. Besi des, the 

 combs can then be very readily transferred into 

 L frames when you or your children get ready 

 to do it; and we do believe the L. frame is 

 very soon to be the one of all others. Our or- 

 ders for hives and frames, this season, are 9-10 

 of them for this size, and while we are about it 

 why not allow the bees to build their combs 

 in such a way as to favor such transferring? 

 Now we will tell you how to make a hive that 

 is about as cheap as any box hive, though it 

 will admit of beirjg used for all purposes as a 

 movable comb hive, if we take a little more 

 time in handling, and yet it is a box hive and 

 may always be nsed as such. 



irOW TO MAKE A BOX HIVE. 



Get a bundle of lath, cost, lo cents. Gut off 10 

 pieces lOV^, 20 pieces 10, and 5 pieces 11% 

 inches long. Stand the short pieces on end, 

 and nail the long ones into the ends of them so 

 that the uprights are just 179-8 inches apart, | 

 iiiHide measure. Use slim finishing nails if; 

 you cm as well as not, and put two nails in j 

 each joint. Now saw the 5 pieces in two i 



lengthwise, and use one of the halves for a 

 bottom bar. nailing it between the uprights so 

 it will be 9 ig inches from the top bar. Ten 

 such frames can easily be made for 20 cents, 

 and when they are set together and a board 

 made to close the two outside ones, we have a 

 box hive that can readily be taken apart after 

 the bees are dead, if it cannot before ; and al- 

 most any bee-keeper will give 2o cents each 

 for the empty combs, even after the bees starve, 

 if we can manage to have them build them 

 true in the frames. To do this, we tack in a 

 comb guide made by sawing ig inch strips 

 from the aforesaid lath. If yon cannot saw 

 them as thin as this, make them a little heav- 

 ier ; or if it is too much trouble, just get yonr 

 wife's ball of wax and draw a— not chalk mark , 

 but wax mark clearly in the middle of every 

 top bar. The side boards are to be just the 

 size of the frames, and they are kept in place 

 by a lath across each end of the hive, with a 

 screw that goes through them and into the 

 centre of the end of each side board. If the 

 boards are put on with the heart side of the 

 lumber outward, the more they try to warp, 

 the tighter will be the hive. This hive like 

 all box hives, is to be set on some kind of a 

 bottom board, and is to have a cover laid over 

 the top. As we are to adopt nothing compli- 

 cated, perhaps the simplest way to keep this 

 cover on, will be to lay a stone over it in the 

 good old way ; but we confess to having a par- 

 ticular antipathy to the plan, even if it is quite 

 common. For an entrance, raise up one of the 

 side boards slightly, this is even easier than 

 sticking a wedge under one side. Now to lay 

 aside jokes, this rude hive will admit of using 

 the extractor, introducing Italian queens, us- 

 ing the comb foundations, and in short will 

 answer all purposes of modern bee-keeping if 

 we except speed and convenience in manipula- 

 ting. If you cannot make them for 50 cents, 

 we will furnish them for that price with a doz- 

 en universal section boxes to put on top. If 

 you get any swarms before our next visit t'lat 

 you are tempted to put into box hives, please 

 put them into this kind, and we will tell you 

 next month how to manage them farther. 



It will be observed that we have made the 

 inside of these frames just equal to the outside 

 of the L. frames, that we may by trimming, 

 get a nice full comb. Also, as our new frames 

 will hold together without any corners, they 

 may be slipped inside these lath frames if we 

 choose, thus having the combs all built in L. 

 frames and so no need transferring, and metal 

 corners can at any time be put on them very 

 easily ; yet the expense is only 20e. extra, or 70 

 cents for our box hives, with L. frames for the 

 bees to build the combs in. Such hives might 

 prove convenient in any ai)iary for hiving bees 

 that conic out unexpectedly, and late swarms 

 that cannot winter. We will i>ay 25 cents for 

 combs built in such frames ; or in other words 

 we will sell yon the hive for 70 cents, and pay 

 you $2.50 for the same when tilled with comb, 

 even after the bees have all died. If the combs 

 are clean and new, you can probably get more 

 than that in your own neighborhood. You can 

 see when they are bL'ing built straight in snch a 

 shallow liive, by simply raising it on end. Who 

 will in this way at a small expense, undertake 

 to supply the growing demand for empty combs? 



