THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



13 



holes there, for 1 do not remember ever 

 making use of such; and they are only a 

 harbor, for spiders, bees, moths, and more 

 paint. 



Now. in my lake shore, backwoods., 

 opinion, those bottom boards will soon be 

 a thing of the past; at least, mine would, 

 what I have of them, if I could only afford 

 to put them on the kindling wood pile. 

 For instance, in the spring when some- 

 t'mes it is necessary to put a stop in 

 front long enough to let only one or two 

 bees out at a time, then, the next day the 

 weather or temperature goes up 15 or 20 

 degrees, and the bees want to clean house, 

 what happens with your part? You 

 cannot slide your stops back. You have 

 to get shorter ones, and then change back 

 to your long ones in the evening again. 

 What I have like that. I have the bump- 

 ers sawn off with a fine saw. You would 

 have to have your screen stops cut and 

 fitted to a nicety also to go betv/een 

 them. 



In reversing, do you adopt the deep 

 spaces in the busiest and most crowded 

 time, say July, the shallow one in the fall, 

 then the deep one again in the cellar, 

 and shallow again in spring? 



The hardwood triangular block system, 

 illustrated on page 49, fig. 18 of Langs- 

 troth's work, published in London in 1865, 

 would work on these projections. 1 use 

 them with the portico hive, for which they 

 were originally intended by the inventor. 

 I think the portice is worth a little extra 

 trouble and work, as I consider it a com- 

 fort and shelter on rainy and windy days, 

 also a little protection from cold. 



There is one more objection to the bot- 

 tom board before 1 forget it. It is the 

 projectin,? strips along on the bottom side 

 which make it unsteady in piling them up 

 in the cellar, or on wagons or sleighs, 

 (a smooth bottom is always steady on a 

 flat surface) and they require more 

 lumber and machinery in their manu- 

 facture. 



As you may be wiring frames. 1 will 

 mention one little thing in regard to a little 

 turn in the wire I saw in a previous cut 



of a frame. The wire was turned around 

 the corner and tacked to the edge of the 

 end bar. You will find a slight mistake 

 in this latter one, as the edge of an end 

 bar requires scraping oftener than the 

 outer side of bar, and, in doing this, your 

 sharp instrument stops or jumps over the 

 tack and wire, making an incomplete job 

 and taking up more time. 



Now, dear sir. if you can get a good 

 idea out of all this jumble of a scribble I 

 shall bs well repaid for my time, as you 

 contemplate handling about 600 colonies, 

 you will need about the best you can get, 

 short cuts and all, and then you know 

 you are taki.ig us with you by means of 

 the Review, and, taking a suggestion from 

 the man at the cross-cut saw, who said 

 he did not so much "mind his partner 

 riding on the saw but he didn't like to 

 have him drag his feet," I don't want to 

 drag my feet. Yours truly, 



W. Harmer. 



[1 wish there were more like Bro. 

 Harmer, ready to criticise and suggest 

 in his free but kind manner. Now, about 

 the cover, there is a way of cleating the 

 cover at the ends that suits me just as 

 well as a grooved cleat, and it would be 

 of a style that would please Bro. Harmer. 

 It is that of simply nailing the cleat on top 

 of the cover, flush with the end of the 

 cover, driving the nails through and 

 clinching them. With this style the cover 

 may be a trifle shorter, only as long as 

 the hive, and it can be slid on as Bro. 

 Harmar suggests; but, let me say that I 

 don't slide on covers. After a cover has 

 been in use awhile there is sure to be an 

 occasional brace comb attached to its 

 surface, and the top bars will also have 

 brace combs. With such a condition the 

 sliding act is not very agreeable. Yes. 

 the brace combs might be scraped off: 

 but that is something I very seldom do — 

 certainly not in the busy season. How- 

 ever, I know of no objection to making 

 covers in thL way, and, if we are to wrap 

 up our hives ii the spring, in tarred felt, 

 a cover -inly <\s long as the hive is desir- 

 able. 



