The Townsend Bee Book 63 
The framework above is of 2x4 material, planed on all four 
sides, while that below the floor is 2x 6, not planed. The siding 
is of single boards planed on both sides and nailed up and down; 
the roof-boards are the poorest of the same material. See Glean- 
ings for Oct., 1906, page 1242. 
TAR BUILDING-PAPER TO LINE BEE-PROOF HONEY-HOUSES 
To make our honey-houses bee-tight we have tried several 
kinds of building-paper, but have decided that tar paper is the 
best. We put it on with lap, being sure to have it lap well at the 
joints, and to fit the corners perfectly. Wherever there is likely 
to be a bee-space or opening we are especially careful. We have 
never yet been able to find a carpenter who would do the work 
well enough, and we believe that the beekeeper should attend to 
the papering himself, therefore, whenever possible. 
A honey-house papered April Ist will have lost most of the 
smell of tar by the time much work is done, so those who do not 
like the smell need not hesitate, for it is of short duration. 
Bees, mice, and ants dislike tar paper, and hardly ever go near 
it. The mice never gnaw it and let in bees, as they will do if other 
kinds of paper are used. Some of our honey-houses have not had a 
mouse in since tar paper was used; but they make nests of the 
white building-paper we used to use, and some of the houses had 
to be repapered each year. The worst mistake we ever make was 
to paste on the paper. The mice seemed to follow us and eat the 
paste as fast as we could put it on—of course, tearing the paper 
meanwhile. When the house is lined with tar paper we never see 
any ants. 
THE CHAPMAN HONEY-HOUSES 
At his home yard Mr. Chapman has a fine new honey-house 
and storeroom, with his bee-cellar under it. As this is his head- 
quarters, much of his material is kept there until wanted at the 
outyard. While this house has all of the latest appliances to be 
found in most home-yard houses, I want to talk most about the one 
at his outyard, which is, perhaps, ten feet square. There is room 
only for the operator, extractor, tanks, etc., so the team is hitched 
to the big wagon, and the honey-cans and such things as will be 
needed for extracting are hauled to this yard in the morning. The 
honey is taken off the hives, extracted, strained through cheese- 
cloth, canned up, and set out of doors until the day’s work is done, 
when the bees will have stopped flying. The team may then be 
driven to the house to get the honey, for it is drawn home each 
