3 8 THE BLESSED BEES. 



placed, into good order for receiving material, and 

 making hives. Saturday morning we drove to 

 Howard with the sleigh. The articles had come in 

 good condition. The frames had been somewhat 

 bulky to box, yet the freight on the whole was but 

 $4 6o. I took my sample hive and drove to one 

 after another of the sash factories and planing mills, 

 explaining to the proprietors just what I wanted, 

 and asking them to give me their lowest terms for 

 furnishing first quality pine lumber for one hundred 

 and fifty hives, and cutting it out after the pattern. 

 The hives were not large, and would take but a 

 small amount of lumber per hive. They were so 

 simple in construction that the labor would not be 

 great, but I made it distinctly understood that 

 every piece must be exactly right. The largest 

 mill, and the one having the best machineiy, offered 

 to do the job at 38 cents each, — $57 00 for the 

 hundred and fifty hives. In most places it could 

 not be done for so small a sum, but Howard is in 

 the midst of the great pine regions, hence lumber is 

 low. And the last of February is a season when 

 little work is to be had, and as I offered to pay 

 cash, the job was a good one for the manufacturer. 

 He promised to have them cut out by the follow- 

 ing Friday,, when Will would drive over and get 

 them, before the sleighing was gone. 



Having attended to the hives I went to various 

 stores and made the following purchases : 



