1878. 



GLEANENGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



157 



I would first cut all the, boards in two, in 

 the middle, using a measure, to prevent cut- 

 ting in such a way as to spoil a . cover, and 

 then rip off a strip so as to reduce all to 161 

 inches. This gives us one straight edge, 

 and, shortens the boards so we can handle 

 them. If you have no assistant, you can 

 cut them in tw;o once more, and this will 

 enable you to handle .them very readily. 

 With the straight edge against the cut ofi 

 bar, cut your boards up carefully , to 20i 

 inches long, or just so as to slip in the iron 

 frame. If your lumber is seasoned as well 

 as you can get it, you may now bring it to 16 

 inches width, or so it will just squeeze into 

 the iron frame sideways. After this, it is 

 only to be rabbet-ed. That you may under- 

 stand perfectly the purpose of rabbeting and 

 cross nailing I will give you some cuts. You 

 remember that we had 2 inch strips from 

 both sides and ends, when we made the bev- 

 els on the hive. Well, four of these strips 

 phiced in the iron frame, and. nailed, will 

 look about like Fig. 2. 



HOW TO MAKE THE COVER. 



Eig. 1 shows the cover board all rabbeted, 

 ready to be pushed into Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is a 

 cross section of the cover, and shows how 

 the nails are to be driven. If the covers are 

 I, you will have a half inch of wood to leave, 

 as shown, after taking out |, to get the 

 shoulder ; but, as much of the lumber will 

 dress more than |, and some of it a full inch, 

 I would plane it just enough to get a smooth 

 surface, and no more. 



Now supposing you cannot get perfectly 

 seasoned lumber (and, in fact, according to 

 my ideas, the lumber as it comes from the 

 lumber yards is never seasoned as it should 

 be for covers) what shall we doV I will tell 

 you ; get out your covers just as I have men- 

 tioned, except you will omit rabbeting one 

 edge. Pile the boards up, placing between 

 them the sticks that came out of the hives 

 when we cut the rabbet ; or, if more con- 

 venient, use pieces of lath, or any strips 

 of an even thickness. Put the sticks close 

 to the ends of the covers, and pile them up 

 clear to the ceiling of your room ; the higher 

 the better. ISTow, when you wish to use 

 some cover stuff, or fill an order, take down 

 •AS. many as you want, and rabbet the re- 

 maining edge until the cover justs slips into 

 the frame. 



NAILING HIVES. 



We use 6 penny finishing nails, and put 

 four nails in each side all around tlie hive. 

 iSTail the corners securely, first, and drive 

 yom- nails as close to the corner as you can, 

 without having the nails split out. Never 

 let the point of a nail show itself, under any 

 circumstances, and do not have any split- 

 ting or botch work, if it takes you a whole 

 forenoon to nail up a single hive. 



To work to good advantage, a pair of iron 

 frames are needed, although you can get 

 along with but one. In your first attempts, 

 it is hardly to be. expected that you have 

 been able to get the hive stuff" so it will just 

 drive into these frames, and I hope you have 

 been on the safe side, and made your boards 

 a little larger, if anything. , If such is the 

 case, you are to have one of the neat, little, 

 iron, smooth planes to be had so cheaply 

 now a days, and plane off the ends, until 

 they are just a tight fit. The iron frames 

 will draw them up, so that you can hardly 

 see where the joint is. Now nail them as 

 directed, and cross nail. The cross nails 

 should come so near each other, that they 

 almost touch. We nail down through the 

 cover with 4 penny nails, and cross nail into 

 the end with 6 penny's, as before. 



You cannot very well get lumber that vnll 

 make all the covers so as to be weather 

 proof; therefore we sort out the poorest, 

 and use them for bottom boards. By thjs 

 means, we have the covers all good, and no 

 lumber Avasted. It is for this reason, and 

 that we may have as few separate pieces in 

 our hive as possible, tliat I advise making the 

 cover and bottom boards all one and the 

 same thing. If you are out of the one, you 

 can use the other, and vice versa. There- 

 fore, the simplicity hive is nothing but this 

 plain simple body, and the plain simple 

 cover ; and, if we make these two pieces 

 just right, we are all right. 



HOW TO MAKE THE CHAFF HIVE. 



This is all, except the corner posts, made 

 of cull lumber, which can be purchased at 

 any lumber yard ; we get it for $10. per M. 

 Get it long enough before hand to have it 

 piled up and seasoned, if you i>ossibly can ; 

 if you cannot, you must manage to have the 

 stuff piled up so as to season after it is got 

 out ; it will season very quickly in these thin 

 narrow strips, and so we often cut it up, im- 

 seasoned, when we are behind on orders. 

 Fix your table, as before directed, and cut 

 your whole pile of boards, before being 

 planed, into pieces two feet long. If yon 



