HIVES.
+Bee-hives+ have been formed with various materials, the selection of
which has depended partly upon the country or district in which they
have been used, and partly upon the fancy of the apiarian. _Osiers_,
_rushes_, _segs_ and _straw_ have all been in requisition for forming
hives, and Bonner, an eminent bee-master in Scotland, proposes to have
them made of _earthenware_. In North America, according to Brookes, they
are formed out of _the hollow trunks of the liquidambar tree_, cut to a
proper length and covered with a board to keep out the rain: for the same
purpose the people in Apulia use _the trunk of the giant fennel_, after
clearing away its fungous pith. In Egypt, says Hasselquist, bee-keepers
make their hives of _coal dust and clay_, which being well blended
together, is formed into hollow cylinders, of a span diameter, and from
six to twelve feet long; these being dried in the sun, become so hard
as to be handled at will. "I saw some thousands of these hives," says
our author, "at a village between Damietta and Mansora; they composed a
wall round a house, after having become unserviceable in the use they
were first made for."--Voyages and Travels in the Levant, &c. By Fred.
Hasselquist, B.D.
Under the head of Storifying, I have given a history of the discovery
and progressive improvement of boxes and storifying hives, and shall
chiefly confine myself, in this chapter, to the form and dimensions of
hives. The common bell-shaped straw-hives used by the cottagers are too
well known to need remark. Premising, therefore, that the _Chelmsford_
and _Hertford hives_ are considered as the handsomest shaped and best
formed, I shall limit my observations to the _straw_ hives which may be
employed for storifying, as some persons may prefer straw to wood. These
have been called _Moreton-hives_, on account of their form _only_, the
material of which they were made being reeds and not straw. The _best
straw_ for constructing hives is that of _unblighted rye, and unthrashed_
is preferable to thrashed straw; for being smooth and entire, the bees
will be spared a good deal of trouble, as they invariably nibble away the
rough sharp spiculæ that they find on the inner surface of a new hive.
The ears of corn may be dissevered from the straw by a chaff-cutter,
and thrashed with other corn. The most approved size for a storifying
straw-hive is nine inches high by twelve inches wide, _in the clear_,
the diameter being the same from top to bottom. The importance of having
all bee-boxes made of the same dimensions has been already dwelt upon,
and it is of course of equal importance with respect to straw-hives. The
upper and lower edges should be made as smooth as possible; which effect
will be greatly promoted, by placing them, soon after making, between
two flat boards with a 56lb. weight upon the uppermost, and leaving them
in that position for a day or two. Within the upper row of straw, a
small hoop should be worked, for the purpose of nailing a board or some
wooden bars to it, and within the bottom row a piece of wood should also
be worked over the part where the bees are to pass in and out, to allow
of a more easy movement of the slide in the floor board. It would be an
improvement if the hoop were perforated through its whole course with
a wimble bit, that it might be stitched with willow or bramble splits,
to the upper round of straw, instead of being worked in with it; and
if a hoop were also stitched in a similar manner to the lower round of
straw, the lower edge of it could be planed, sufficiently smooth, to lie
on the middle or floor boards, as closely as a box, which would render
the use of mortar or other luting unnecessary. The stitch holes in the
hoop should be filled with putty, after the hive has been finished. If
bars be made use of, they should be of the same width, and placed at the
same distances from each other, as recommended for the boxes, and the
vacancies, that would otherwise be left between the ends of the bars,
should be made quite level, with bits of wood, cow-dung, or any other
convenient substance. If a single board be used, that, of course, must
be cut into bars of the proper widths. The direction of the bars should
always be from front to back.
Middle boards and floors will be equally required for storifying hives
as for boxes; but the outside covers should be made of straw, like round
mats, and be wide enough to extend an inch beyond the edges of the
hives, if used in an out-door apiary. The whole story should be covered
with a good _hackel_ or _cap_, secured in its place by an iron hoop or
a properly weighted wooden one, to prevent it from being blown down. As
clean fresh rye straw is most suitable for constructing the hive itself,
so it will be the best for forming the hackel with: the latter should be
changed before it begins to decay, that it may not become offensive to
the bees from its odour, nor be selected by insects as a nidus for their
eggs.
The apiarian, if he be desirous of having glass windows in his
straw-hives, may accomplish this object by cutting with a sharp knife
through two of the bands of straw, in two places, about three inches
asunder. The windows are generally cut opposite the entrance, and about
the centre, but may be made at any part of the hive. The ends of the cut
straw-bands may be secured by stitches of packthread, or, what is better,
with softened mole snap wire, and the panes of glass may be fastened with
putty.
Out-door hives should have a protection not only of straw caps, but of
a _shed_ also, which if made open in _front only_, would afford much
shelter against driving rains and high winds; but the most complete shed
is made with folding or sliding doors _at the back_, and is closed at
the sides, and in front, with the exception of such openings as may be
necessary for the entrance of the bees and for their accommodation in bad
weather. This shed renders hackels unnecessary, and is adapted either to
storifying or single-hiving. In the annexed plate is a back view of it,
with hives arranged in different ways.
[Illustration]