CHAPTER VIII.. Hives.

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.