1S7S. 



GLEAXEN'GS IN' BEE CULTURE. 



151 



m Vi J TVrATTTIffG. Although it is 

 ven" iiufKjitant to have good, nicely fitting, 

 well made hives for the bees. I would, by no 

 means, encourage the idea, that the hive is 

 going to insure the crc)p of honey. I think. 

 as Mr. Quinby used to say. that a good 

 swarm of bees would store almc»st as much 

 honey in a half barrel or nail keg. as in the 

 most elaborate and expensive hive made, 

 other things being equal. This is. suppos- 

 ing we had a good swarm, in the height of 

 the honey season. If the colony was small, 

 it would do much better, if put into a hive so 

 small that the bees could nearly or quite fill 

 it. thus economising the animal heat, that 

 they might keep up the temperature for 

 brood rearing, and the working of wax. 

 Also, should the bees get their nail keg full 

 of honey, unless more room were given 

 them, at just the right mo^Jlent. a consider- 

 able loss of honey would be the result. The 

 thin walls of the nail keg would hardly be 

 the l>est economy, for a wintering hive, nor 

 for a summer hive either, vmless it was well 

 shaded from the direct rays of the sun. 



Hives with thick walls, made of some po- 

 rous material that is a good non-conductor 

 of heat, as well as an absorbent of moisture, 

 have been well proven to have decided ad- 

 vantages over hives made of a single thick- 

 ness of boards, especially for wintering: 

 bnt. a* they are hea^-y to move aroimd. and 

 rather more expensive in the start. I think 

 it well to have both winter and summer 

 hives in the same apiary. The single walled 

 hive which we call the .Simplicity, on ac- 

 count of the simpleness of its construction 

 and management, answers almost as well as 

 the winter hives for summer use. and can al- 

 so be so arranged as to do very well for win- 

 ter; the winter hive which we call the chaff 

 hive, because the walls are made about four 

 inches thick, and packed with chaff, are 

 much the safest for winter and spring, and 

 are also very convenient for summer use. ex- 

 cept that they are not easily carried al>out. 

 These chaff hives are permanently a two sto- 

 ry hive : that is. the upi:>er story is not re- 

 movable, as is the case with the Simplicity 

 hive. On this account, the latter is much 

 the cheapest hive in an apiary, for a single 

 story can t>e used for small swarms or nu- 

 clei, and answers every purix^se of a full 

 hive, until more room is needed, and then 

 an extra story can be added or even a third, 

 as the ease may require. For these reasons, 

 the Simplicity hive is the one most used. 

 and is always needed, no matter how many 

 chaff hives vou mav have. 



HOW TO XAKE A SIMPUCITT HIVZ. 



If I were going off on a journey, and 

 should desire a lot of new hands to make 

 some hives in my absence. I should talk to 

 them about as follows. 



Boys. I want these hives good and nice, 

 and. to have them so. you mugt be c«refuL 

 The first thing you are to do is to get some 

 lumber, and. if you can. you would tetter 

 get white pine. If you cannot get this, you 

 would better use whitewood. If you cannot 

 get that either, get the best lumt«er that they 

 have for house building, in your loc-ality. 

 For the body of the hive, you want boards 

 just one foot wide. For the cover and bot- 

 tom boards, which are one and the same 

 thing, you want l:>oards not less than 16* 

 inches "wide. For the narrow boards, we 

 get best bam boards, and we pay for them, 

 at this date. S21. per M.: for the wide boards, 

 we have to pay about $2s. As soon as you 

 get your lumber home, have it nicely •"stick- 

 ed up." I say nicely, for I do not t»elieve I 

 ever had a boy that would put up limibex 

 safely. Tinless he was told a great manv 

 times. Yoiu: lumber would better t»e 16 feet 

 long, for this length works with less waste 

 than any that is shorter. Xow. before yon 

 stick it up. you are to prepare a level place 

 for the first board : or rather, yuu are to 

 have the first board lay straight and flat. If 

 it is to be left out of d<x>rs. it should have 

 slant enough to cany off the water. If you 

 have shop room, you can put it in dtx>r5. Do 

 not lay. the first board on the floor, but have 

 some sticks under it. These sticks for stick- 

 ing up lumber should be of an exact thick- 

 ness, and I think it will pay to provide some 

 that are just right. If you are making many 

 hives, you will have refuse sticks, thr.t will 

 come very handy for this purp<:»se. The 

 sticks shoiild be about 1? inches wide, exact- 

 ly 4 thick, and 1-5 or iXi inches long. A stick; 

 should be placed at each end of the l-oards, 

 and two more between them, so as to make 

 the spaces about equal. Put the sticks ex- 

 actly over each other, or you will, if you 

 have a large pile, have the boards bent or 

 warped by the weight of those above. "Wlien 

 they are all piled up square and true, you 

 can feel sife in regard to them. Even if the 

 luml-er is to be used within three drys. I 

 would put it up in this way as soon r.s it :s 

 unloaded. 



If you are going to make accurate work, 

 you must have your lumber all of an exact 

 thickness: and hs it is much easier to talk 

 and write about having it exactly * than it 

 is to make it so. I will explain to you a kind 



