1874 
GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 
As we have had our “ say,” we will now try 
and tell what hive we would advise, were a 
beginner to tell us as many have done, “ Nov- 
ice^ I am just commencing and wish to com- 
mence right. What shall I nse for a Bee Hive ; 
all things taken into consideration up to the 
present time, what won - 1 you advise?” 
Now it is with very much hesitation we an- 
swer in favor of the Adair frame in place of 
our time honored Langstroth standard, and 
one great reason we have for so doing, is that 
die hive for it can all be made of boards of a 
single and moderate width, also considering 
that the hive will never be used two story. 
In practice ’tis found that we do not need 
quite, ljo inches to the frame but that 20 
frames work very conveniently in a hive 28> 4 
inches long inside, or 30 inches outside meas- 
ure, as described on pages 23, 28 and 35, pres- 
ent Vol. With a permanent bottom board, we 
believe we would prefer the Langstroth blocks 
lor closing the entrance, to any thing we have 
yet used ; and one principal reason is, that 
they always guide the bees quickly and surely 
home; whether they are laden with pollen or 
honey and in eager haste to unload and get 
more, whether they are tumbling in pell-mell 
at the approach of a thunder shower, or wheth- 
er ’tis only the juvenile Italians wanting to 
get home after having tried and approved their 
wings for the first time. 
Really, how slowly we get along to-night ; 
if we don’t come down to business we shall 
not get our Standard hive done at all. Well, 
we would prolong the bottom board in front 
about 3 inches, and would have the outer end 
beveled off on an inclined plain, that bees 
might crawl up readily from the ground when 
heavily laden. We make the front end-board 
narrow enough to leave a space the width of 
the hive, % inch wide for entrance. This en- 
trance when open full width, will afford all the 
ventilation ever needed, for in our opinion the 
wire cloth arrangements for ventilation are 
next in uselessness to patent moth traps. The 
entrance blocks we would make triangular, 
'2)4 x 7*4 x 8; they are pushed into the entrance. 
Before' the hive is used we would have the 
bottom board thoroughly painted, and then 
would keep it from the ground only by % strips 
clear around underneath ; bottom is “let in” the 
sides to exclude wet. We do this because ’tis 
warmer near the earth, and less manure will 
be needed to cover them in winter. 
Now in regard to hinging on the cover; 
with a length of 30 inches, three hinges are 
really needed, one in the middle and one near 
each end, and as Simplicity hinges can only be 
used at the ends we fear we had better drop 
them entirely for the long hives, as there is no 
occasion for removing the covers at all. To 
those who would remonstrate at so many 
changes in our teachings, we have only to say 
that all real progress must be a series of tear- 
ing down and building up again, and if we 
give you on these pages, real life , it must come 
combined with inperfections, and error. Those 
who have L. frames or in fact any other, can 
make a hive on this plan to try it, and use the 
combs they have. Where the width of the 
frame necessitates using a cover greater in 
width than 1(1 inches, we would make it of two 
boards, and to make the joint water tight, 
39 
sure , we simply saw in to the edge of both 
boards to the deptli of about % of an inch, 
thus leaving, when the boards are placed close 
together, a groove in which we may slide a 
tongue, made by folding a strip of tin one inch 
wide, thus : r— ~ • — s if water gets in as far 
as the tin, it can go no farther and if the crack 
is filled with paint, it — well, it’s very good. 
A similar tongue made of wood is apt to check 
in time by shrinkage of the boards, which the 
tin cannot do. We have just made an L. hive 
to hold 30 frames with two joints in the cover 
and bottom made in this way ; use the thinnest 
tin unless your saw cuts a very wide groove. 
So many questions are asked about the met- 
al rabbet, -a place for it, bevel etc., that we 
give the following rude cut, explanatory. The 
rabbet A, is printed from a section of the tin 
rabbet itself, and in fact the whole diagram is 
printed from strips of tin bent up hastily. [We 
respectfully tender the idea to the craft free of 
charge.] 
B, is the supporting arm of the frame lesting 
on the edge of thin metal of A. For nailed 
frames, this arm should be dressed out very 
exact, for unless it is, the frame cannot hang 
true. We would also have the end sawed off 
to a sharp V shaped point where it strikes the 
back part of A, that the bees may have as lit- 
tle chance as possible to wax it fast. For this 
latter idea wc are indebted to W. II. Shane, of 
Chatham Center, this Co. Our reason in fact 
for having a back part to the rabbet, is to get 
a smooth surface for the frame to strike on, 
and to avoid gumming; they are much less 
liable to attach it to tin than to wood. 
The space under the arm at A, we have en- 
deavored to have just large enough for a bee 
to “ promenade” easily through ; if they can't, 
they fill it with propolis. The tin is cut in 
strips 134 inches wide for the rabbets, the 
places where bent, and angles, can be taken 
from the drawing. C, represents a section of 
the % board with the place cut for the rabbet, 
% x ljg ; we prefer this extra depth to give 
plenty of room to tuck down the quilt; the 
wood remaining, being just J4 inch in thick- 
ness. The bevel on which the cover shuts is 
just about what we prefer ; for directions for 
cutting it exact, see March No. of Vol. 1. 
It will be seen that we cut rabbet in C, 
square in, both ways, but the back of A, is 
slanted ; this is to be sure to have the top edge 
of A, come tight against the wood, that noth- 
ing may get behind it, and to have the frames 
glide smoothly into their places when handled 
rapidly. We would give each frame about 1-lli 
end shake, having space D, between hive and 
frame, never less than ] 4 nor more than ].< inch. 
