[Illustration]
[Illustration: A bell-glass nearly filled with honey.]
But supposing you can afford to buy a straw hive with a hole already
worked at the top--and it will not cost above a shilling more--you are to
place the board with a corresponding hole on the top of this, and, till
the middle of June, a small board over, or bung in the hole of the board.
Then take it out as before, and place over it your bell-glass or small
straw hive, and act thenceforth as already described.
If, however, you can invest a little in apiculture, as people do in
agriculture or market-gardening, only on a very much smaller scale,
I strongly recommend wooden hives or boxes. These, well made, are
necessarily expensive. The objections commonly urged by those I have
talked with are, first, that they split and twist, and get out of gear.
This may occur in the best in a slight degree, but it arises generally
from having unseasoned wood and bad workmanship. Green wood is utterly
worthless. Bad workmanship is dearest, when done at the very lowest
rate. The best workmanship and the most seasoned wood, I have invariably
found in the workshop of Mr. Pettitt, Dover. They never cast, and are
beautifully smooth, and all the fittings play easily. Such wood and
workmanship, no doubt, may be had of any sensible and honest carpenter. My
reference to Pettitt is merely the record of my own experience. In every
case the entrance should be cut, not out of the hive, but out of the board
on which it rests.
The second objection is, that wood is not sufficiently equable in
temperature. I answer, if protected by a bee-shed, which I regard as
an essential part of bee-furniture, this objection, so far as summer is
concerned, is at once disposed of. Neither rain nor the direct rays of the
sun can affect it. But in winter, I am persuaded from thorough experience,
that in all hives under sheds additional shelter is required to keep out
the searching north and east winds, and to keep in the vital warmth of the
bees. For this purpose, I regard good brown paper, or a newspaper after
you have read it, as the cleanest, neatest, and really warmest protection.
Vermin gather less about paper than woollen material, and brown paper is
less palatable to insect pests than any other. Let the back and ends of
your bee-boxes inside the bee-shed be covered over in October--the front
being left uncovered, unless by the bee-shed, and you will find every
objection to wooden hives disposed of by facts.
The first illustration I will present is that of one by Pettitt, made
of the best seasoned deal, unpainted, of course; for paint, however
necessary to the shed, must on no account be suffered to pollute the
hives.
[Illustration]
On the top of this hive, of which I give a back view, are four apertures,
each about three inches by two; zinc dividers, D D, being pushed in before
receiving a swarm, shut off all egress, and on being withdrawn in May,
allow the bees to ascend into the bell-glasses E E, of which there are
four, each, of course, covered with its nightcap.
B is a glass window, with a thermometer inside. By the window you can
examine progress, taking care when you leave to shut the lid.
In very dry, hot weather, when the thermometer rises to ninety-five, draw
out the drawer A about two inches, and open the little door C, withdrawing
at the same time also the zinc plate F, pushing in its place a
perforated zinc plate, precisely the same in size as F, but perforated.
A current of air is thus introduced, and in a short time the thermometer
will fall five degrees.
Though I do not like the square shape as much as the octagonal or
hexagonal, yet I regard this as a very valuable hive-box.
Instead of bell-glasses, Pettitt has substituted boxes for supers, about
ten inches in height and seven inches in breadth; the front having glass
instead of deal board, with a shutter ready to be put on.