Manual of the apiary

by Albert John Cook

Fig. 41.

It is well that the sides of these be of glass. Such ([Fig, 41]) may be made as follows: For top and bottom procure soft-wood boards one-fourth of an inch thick and of the size desired, one for the bottom and the other for the top of the box. Take four pieces half an inch square and as long as the desired height of the honey-box. In two adjacent sides of these saw grooves in which may slip common glass. These are for corner pieces. Now tack with small brads the corners of the bottom-board to the ends of these pieces, then slide in the glass, and in similar way tack the top-board to the other ends. Through the bottom-board holes may be bored so that the bees may enter. A similar box is made by A. H. Russell, of Adrian, Mich., except that tin forms the corners. These may be made to take from one to three combs, and are certainly very attractive. If made small and set in a crate so that all could be removed at once, they would leave little to be desired. The Isham box ([Fig, 42]) is essentially like the Russell; only the tin at the corners is fastened differently. Surely, all great minds do run in the same channel. Another form ([Fig, 43]) which I find very desirable, and which I used in California (where they were introduced by Mr. Harbison) more than ten years ago, is made as follows: Dress off common lath so that they are smooth, cut off two lengths the desired height of the box, and one the desired width; tack this last piece to the ends of the other two, and to the other end tack a similar strip only half as wide. We now have a square frame.

Fig. 42.

Fig. 43.

Place such frames side by side till a box is made of the desired length. To hold these together, we have now only to tack on either side one or two pieces of tin, putting a tack into each section, thus forming a compact box without ends. The end frames should have a whole piece of lath for the bottom, and grooves should be cut in the bottom and top laths, so that a glass may be put in the ends. Of course there is ample chance for the bees to enter from below. Now, by placing small pieces of comb, or artificial comb foundation, which ranks as a discovery with the movable-frame hive and honey-extractor, on the top of each frame ([Fig, 43]), the bees will be led to construct a separate comb in each frame, and each frame may be sold by the retail dealer separately, by simply drawing the tacks from the tins. Barker and Dicer, of Marshall, Michigan, make a very neat sectional honey-box, which is quite like the above, except that paper pasted over the frames takes the place of the tins. These, too, have wood separators as used and sold by the gentlemen named. The honey-boxes may be placed directly on the frames, or in case the queen makes trouble by entering them to deposit eggs—a trouble which I have seldom met, perhaps because I give her enough to do below—we can plaice strips one-fourth of an inch square between the frames and boxes. In case we work extensively for box honey, we should have a rack or crate so made that we can remove all the boxes at once; in which case to examine the bees we would not have to remove all the boxes separately.

SMALL FRAMES OR SECTIONS.

Honey in boxes, unless they consist of sections as just described, cannot compete with honey in small frames, in our present markets, and without doubt they will fall more and more into disfavor. In fact, there is no apparatus for securing comb-honey that promises so well as these sections. That they are just the thing to enable us to tickle the market is shown by their rapid growth in popular favor. Three years ago I predicted, at one of our State Conventions, that they would soon replace boxes, and was laughed at. Nearly all who then laughed, now use these sections. They are cheap, and with their use we can get more honey, and in a form that will make it irresistible.