436 MATERIALS FOR HIVES. 



that the frames at least should be cut out by a circular saw, 

 driven by steam, water or horse power. In buildings where 

 such saws are used, these frames may be made from small 

 pieces of lumber, which would seldom be of any use, except 

 for fuel. They may be packed almost solid in a box, or in 

 a hive which will afterwards serve for a pattern or a swarm. 

 One frame in such a box, properly nailed together, will serve 

 as a guide for the rest. The other parts of the hive can 

 easily and cheaply be made by any one who can handle 

 tools at all, and can never be profitably manufactured to be 

 sent to any considerable distance, unless a large number are 

 made at once where lumber is cheap, and the parts closely 

 packed, to be put together after reaching their destination. 

 Complete working drawings, with clear and full directions, 

 will be furnished to purchasers, for making to the best ad- 

 vantage, by hand or machinery, every part of the hive. 



The following recipe for a cheap and durable paint, is 

 taken from the Bienenzeitung ; it is said to be preferable on 

 every account to ordinary oil paint : " Two parts, by meas- 

 ure, of fine sand, well sifted : one of best English cement :* 

 one of curd from which the whey has been well expressed : 

 one of buttermilk. These are to be thoroHghly mixed. The 

 paint is to be applied, amid repeated stirring, to the hives, by 

 means of a common paint-brush. A second coat is to be 

 given after the lapse of half an hour. When this has 

 become thoroughly dry, which will be in two or three days, 

 it is to be brushed over lightly with a thin coat of boiled lin- 

 seed oil, to which any desirable color may be given. The 

 boards to which the paint is to be applied should not be 

 planed, but remain rough as the saw leaves them. No more 

 of the paint should be prepared at any one time, than can be 



* Roman, or common Hydraulie cement, I presume is meant, o? 

 would answer. 



