BEES. 01 



of tlie Lox, hut out of thejioor hoard, and should not be less 

 than four inches in length, and abouu half an inch in depth, 

 «o as to make a clear half-inch way under the edge of the 

 box for the bee-passage. I recommend this as preferable to 

 ix cut in the edge of the box, because, being- upon an incHned 

 plane, if at any time the wet should be driven into the 

 ])avilion by a stormy wind, it would soon drain out, and the 

 tloor become dry; whereas, if the entrance passage be cut 

 out of the box, the rain that may, and at times will, be 

 <hirred in, will be kept in, and the floor be wet for days, and 

 ])erlinps for weeks, and be very detrimental to the bees. In 

 depth the floor -box, measured from outside to outside, 

 '.should be four inches, so that, if made of three-fourth inch 

 ileal, there may be left for the depth of the box part two 

 inches and a half. Internal^ it is divided into three 

 €qual compartments, being one for each bee-box. Ad- 

 mission to these compartments, or under-boxes, is by the 

 <:lrawer, or drawer fronts, or blocks, which will be described 

 presentl}'. 



" The bottom or open edge of each of these boxes, should 

 be well planed; and made so even and square, that they 

 will sit closely and firmly on the aforesaid floor, and be as 

 air-tight as a good workman can make them, or technically 

 •expressed, be a dead fit all round. In the floor board are 

 made three small openings, i. e., one near the back of each box. 

 These openings are of a semilunar shape (though any other 

 shape would do as well), the straight side of which should not 

 exceed three inches in length, and will be most convenient 

 if made parallel with the back edge of the box, and about 

 an inch from it. ' They are covered by perforated or by 

 ■close tin slides, as the circumstances of the apiary may 

 require. The drawer, the front of which appears under the 

 middle box, is of great importance, because it affords one of 

 the greatest accommodations to the bees in the boxes. In 

 this drawer is placed, if necessity requires it, a tin made to 

 fit it, and in that tin another thin frame, covered with book 

 muslin, or other fine strainer, which floats on the liquid 

 <Ieposited for the sustenance of the bees. Here, then, you 

 have a feeder containing the prepared sweets in the imme- 

 <liate vicinity of the mother hive, and without admitting the 

 cold or the robbers to annoy the bees. When 3'ou close the 



