THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



169 



tions smaller, than to have them come 

 apart at the corners, and the roof in two 

 parts, as they are. The description is 

 something as follows: 



The fioor is in two sections, each 8x12 

 feet in size; and the foundation is of 2x6 

 inch material, placed 1 6 inches apart, 

 with a 2x6 inch spiked on the ends. The 

 floor is of planed and matched lumber. 

 The siding is planed lumber, put on up 

 and down, then lined inside with felt roof- 

 ing. This roofing is simply a good grade 

 of tarred paper, and costs, here at our 

 hardware, S2.00 per 100 pounds. This 

 paper is what we depend on to keep out 

 the bees, and is fastened on with lath, 

 being careful to get it on nice and sm.ooth. 



The sides and ends of the house are 

 built separate, and bolted together at the 

 corners. The posts are 5 feet 10 inches. 

 The roof is one-third pitch and each half 

 is built separate. The frame work, ex- 

 C3pt the foundation, is of 2x4 scantling 

 planed down to 3>^xl '2 inches, as this is 

 heavy enough for this size of building, and 

 makes it lighter to handle. We use seven 

 rafters on each side of the roof, and this 

 leaves the space between the rafters such 

 that one width of tarred felt will paper 

 between each pair of rafters: for we 

 paper both overhead and sides. Houses 

 papered during April lose nearly all the 

 smell of tarred paper, by extracting time. 

 The roof is covered either with shingles 

 or tarred felt. 



USE WIRE SCREENS AT THE WINDOWS BUT 

 NOT AT THE DOOR. 



With the white building paper on some 

 of our honey houses, the mice make these 

 houses headquarters. One of the most 

 m:ce-ridden houses was at our Isabella 

 yard. A year ago this house was pa- 

 pered with tarred felt paper, and we have 

 never seen a mouse in that house since; 

 neither have there been any ants there 

 either. Then, we are quite sure that the 

 robber bees are not nearly as bad around 

 a tar-lined house: at any rate, they have 

 never troubled us in these houses yet. 

 While I do not suppose that this paper 



would keep out robbers if one were care- 

 less and let them get started, still, I am 

 satisfied that tarred paper is distasteful 

 to the bees, as it is to mice and ants. If 

 this proves so, there may be more in this 

 tar paper than we realized at first There 

 is one objection to this dark colored paper, 

 and that is, the honey house is not so 

 light as if it were papered with white 

 paper. 



But to return: The frame for the sides 

 is of three 16-ft., and two 5-ft. 10 inches 

 pieces of 2x4. When nailed up, the three 

 long 2x4"s furnish a plate, a sill and a 

 girt. Now this girt is placed at exactly 

 the right distance from the plate so that 

 the window will exactly fit in between it 

 and the plate, and slide on the shop- 

 window plan. A storm window is made 

 of the same material as the siding and 

 slides in as mentioned above. A screen 

 of wire cloth is nailed on the outside to 

 keep the bees out. As all our work in 

 these houses is done during warm weather, 

 we need no glass, but work with the 

 storm-window open. One reason for dis- 

 continuing using glass, was the danger of 

 breaking it in moving. 



USE WIRE SCREENS AT THE WINDOWS RUT 

 NOT AT THE DOOR. 



A window of this description is built in 

 each side, a little in front of the center, 

 which brings them in that part of the 

 building where most of the work is done. 

 This makes a light, airy room, where it is 

 a pleasure to work, compared to some of 

 the small, dark dungeons I have seen 

 some bee-keepers use. 



A 2-foot 8 inch, by 6-foot 6 inch pan- 

 eled door is placed in the center of the 

 front end. 



We have no wire screen in our doors. 

 When 1 began bee-keeping, in the ZO's, it 

 was fashionable to have a screen. All 

 the honey house doors, where 1 can re- 

 member of visiting, were provided with a 

 wire screen. So, of course, I fell in line. 

 It did not take long to learn that robber 

 bees were attracted to that part of the 

 building covered with wire screen; these 



