1874. 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
1? 
tlon to our whole circle of customers. If we 
have been remiss don’t be backward in letting 
us know. 
The plan of making single hives double 
width is ingenious, but how about the covers ? 
We have often thought of it but could not get 
over the top and bottom difficulty. As screws 
would be much more expensive and the trouble 
of taking a hive down after it has been once 
properly set up is such we hardly think we 
would use screws ; besides the cross nailing 
holds them "forever” especially if the boards 
are put the proper side outward as we have 
directed. We feel sure you will not like hives 
made on a mitre, we have tried such, they are 
not as strong at the corners and are unwieldy 
to nail. 
So many have applied to us for bees that we 
dare not promise any at any price. Pour 
small colonies can be put in a Simplicity hive 
without trouble; we have reared four queens 
thus, and had them all laying nicely with an 
entrance on each of the four sides. [Don’t you 
see how handy the knotJioles come again ? ] 
Mr. IC. we shall have to thank you many 
times for your suggestions. In regard to cut- 
ting the leaves of Gleanings we think by far 
the greater number of our readers would pre- 
fer them so ; and we regret that the margin is 
not as great as we had intended to have it. 
As our paper is all purchased for this year we 
shall have to wait until another season. 
[For Uleanings.] 
KliSTIC BEE HOUSES. 
v W OYICK Thanks for Gleanings. 
IjlM I have constructed a lice-house on 1)ils plan, 
J. J I lirst dug an excavation two feet deep and 10 
by 20 feet square, built a lFame In It lathed It over and 
covered it with straw two feet deep over the whole of 
the building, I then covered It With a tight board roof. 
The ground which I shoveled out of the cellar I pack- 
ed against the side ol the bidding, starting with a 
base of 5 l'cet, and tapering to 2 feet at the eaves, I 
made a floor of dry saw-dust four incites thick and 
pat in 40 colonies of bees at a little elevation above 
the floor. I now have a house that will never get 
damp lrom the perspiration of the bees, the straw 
roof being a perfect ventilator. 
Bees arc wintering well up to this time, shut In the 
hives securely at the bottom, but not air tight, and 
with wire cloth over the frames to keep them from 
crawling out when the temperature gets too high. 
In cold weather I leave the cloth quilts on the frames, 
and in warm weather I remove lit cm. How is that 
for high, Novice ? 
E. J. WottsT, New Pittsburgh. O. 
Tip top for high, especially if you do succeed 
in wintering this time. We are the more oblig- 
ed as you have assisted us in replying to the 
following, which was in type, with our reply 
when yours was received. 
Bee-keeping in tills section lins about played out. 
More than hall' of those who have been in the liablt of 
keeping a few stocks have become discouraged, hav- 
ing lost from one Ihird to all of their bees. I have 
been considerably disappointed for the last two sea- 
sons in not having any surplus honey, although f have 
lost but a few blocks. I winter on their summer 
stands and the bees get so weak by spring that the 
honey season is over before the bees arc strong 
enough to improve It. As I am not able to build a bee 
house such as you describe, X would like your opinion 
of a house made of wild hay, of which X have quite a 
quantity. 
8ay, set; stakes to form a room ten feet square, board 
up the outside (not tight) with fence hoards, then set 
another row of stakes about three feet outside of the 
tlrst row. ami till in between with hay. Lay poles on 
, P* then stack hay on them making a regular hay 
slack with a ret m inside shelved off for holding hives, 
of course make an entrance three ft. by six with double 
doors. Would It need a floor? and would the spaces 
between the fence boards on the sides, and the pofes on 
top he ventilation enough '! or ought tlicre to be ven- 
tilators put In top and bottom ? 
I could build such a house with hut very little ex- 
pense. An opinion from Novice would lie regard- 
ed with great favor by 
Samuel. C. Wake, Towanda, Ilk 
Such a house will answer every purpose wo 
feel sure aud we think no ventilators will h« 
needed. Hay enough should be used to make 
it perfectly frost proof aud we think ’twould be 
longer in warming through, late in the spring 
than houses of sawdust walls. Such plans 
have been in use in our vicinity for several sea- 
sons and seem to answer every purpose, aud wo 
know of no objection unless it be a general un- 
tidiness, however this might be remedied to a 
great extent. We would advise throwing up 
the earth in the centre and making a ditch all 
around to keep off surface water and having 
about six inches of saw dust on the ground fox' 
a floor. 
Perhaps a window or windows could be added 
and the whole made so as to answer very well 
for a honey house in summer also; ’twould be 
nice and cool, the odor of the glass would be 
quite agreeable,, and as almost every one can 
get swaxnp grass for cutting, perhaps this rus- 
tic Bee House in conjunction with friends But- 
ler’s and Muth’s straw hives may be the thing 
after all. 
Who will build the nicest one, i. e. to be all 
“home made” ? 
P. S. — Mrs. N. says, “but the hay seed Will he 
rattling down into your honey, aud then sup- 
pose you should spill a barrel frill or so on your 
saw dust floor what would that do, and would 
not rats aud mice work in the straw etc. ‘i ” 
And that reminds us of a little incident to 
Wit: We think ’twas during, a hot Sabbath 
in August that Novice looked into the Bee 
House and found a brilliant mirror of clover 
honey covering the paiuted floor. 
Now P. G. did scold because he said it made 
no dift’erence if the bungs of the barrels were 
not lelt uppermost, and also that there Was no 
need of driving them in so “awful” tight, hut 
better still she insisted on having the floor ail 
carefully washed up nice, the Saturday previ- 
ous. 
Well, as Wc said, there was the honey; the 
hot weather had so expanded it that it had 
pushed the bung out and nearly of a barrel 
was on the floor, if the barrel had been rolled 
over more, more would have got out. Novice 
of course “sang out” for Mrs. N. and as all the 
rest were at church or somewhere, “Blue Eyes” 
had to go too ; with honey knives and spoons a 
terrible dipping was kept up which “baby” en- 
joyed hugely until the close hot l'oom (bees 
would “help” if the doors were opened) began 
to seem monotonous, but tunnels, spoons and 
ladles and a series of chirrups from “papa” 
leugthened out her baby patience until the last 
bit was scraped up and then didn’t We straiten 
up our tired bucks ; that is, Mrs. N. did, aflter 
the floor was washed clean once more, Novice 
amusing “Blue Eyes” With some honey and a 
feather meanwhile. 
Well, We got it all, except about a pound 
which was scraped into our “coffee pot” that 
we keep to hold “bad honey for feeding” and 
