114 



THE BEE-KEEPER'S REVIEW 



Yes, a block above a sawed-out-hand- 

 hole is an advantag-e in handling hives 

 heavy with honey, but 1 should certainly 

 wish a hand-hole on the side of a hive, as 

 1 use that ten times as often as the end- 

 holes. When I pick up a hive I step up 

 behind it, reach down and put a hand, or 

 the finger-ends, in a hand-hole on each 

 side, raise the hive, and rest the back end 

 of the hive against the front of my person, 

 and walk off with the hive. The frames 

 are parallel to the motions made in walk- 

 ing, hence, there is no swinging of the 

 frames. If I took the hive up by the end- 

 holes, holding the side of the hive against 

 my person, there would be a swinging of 

 the frames at every step 1 took. I have 

 seen a novice take up a hive in that man- 

 ner, and there was a "clack," "clack," 

 "clack," of the frames at every step he 

 took. 



Very few of my bottom boards have 

 the side-cleats extended out beyond the 

 front of the hive, as shown in the cut last 

 month. Most of the bottom boards were 

 stacked up behind the bees in the cellar, 

 where it was difficult to get at them, and 

 I was obliged to use one that had these 

 side-cleats extending out beyond the front 

 of the hive. These bottom boards were 

 made that way without my ordering them 

 so-made, and 1 never bothered to saw 

 them off. 



Yes, 1 used the triangular blocks years 

 and years ago, and I know of no more 

 simple and practical manner of con- 

 trolling the size of an entrance, but, as 



years went by, I found that they were 

 used less and less; lying on the ground in 

 front of the hive, kicking about, here and 

 there, and, finally, they found their way 

 into the department that goes with every 

 well regulated apiary — the scrap heap. 

 When set out in the spring, the narrow 

 entrance is used. When the heat of the 

 summer comes on, the bottom boards are 

 turned over, and left so the rest of the 

 season. 1 put my bees into winter quar- 

 ters so early that there is no necessity of 

 changing to the shallow entrances. The 

 bottom boards are left off entirely in the 

 cellar. My hives set upon two, square, 

 2 X 2-inch strips of wood as long as the 

 hive is wide. There are always plenty of 

 these strips about the apiary, and, if 1 

 ever find it necessary to contract an 

 entrance, I simply lay one of those long 

 blocks in front of the hive, and shove it 

 along until 1 have an entrance of the de- 

 sired size. 



in wiring frames, I drive the tacks in 

 the edge of the end bar, simply because 

 it is handier to do so. No picking up of 

 the frame and laying it over the corner of 

 ths bench to get something solid to pound 

 upon. As mentioned elsewhere, 1 seldom 

 scrape off burr-combs, and very, very 

 seldom do 1 find any upon an end bar. 

 If 1 did, and wished to scrape them off, 

 the tack and wire would do no harm, as 

 I give them such a whack with the ham- 

 mer when driving them in, that they sink 

 down even with the surface of the frame. 

 — Editor. I 



Use of Smoke When Carrying Bees in 

 or Out of the Cellar. 



E S MILES. 



PaEAR friend :^ln pursuance with 

 -L-^ your invitation in the December Re- 

 view, 1 am going to "talk bees," with you 



awhile today. We had about 140 colo- 

 nies last spring, and got about 5,000 

 pounds of comb, and 2,700 of extracted, 



