THE HAWKESBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE APIARY. 157 



and well gravelled, running parallel with sides of the enclosure, 

 and others at right angles thereto. 



Among the most useful and novel additions to this new 

 apiary are the concrete floors for the hives; they are the author's 

 improvement upon the old wooden floor. These serve a double 

 purpose, being at one and the same time both stand and bottom- 

 board for the hives. Those shown in the illustration are made from 

 the mould A shown on page 152; those made from mould C are on 

 the other side of the apiary, and do not come into focus; the 

 mesurements will also be found on page 152. The advantages 

 of these concrete hive-stands will be at once apparent to every 

 bee-keeper. Being slightly let into the ground, the sloping .por- 

 tion of the stands are on the same plane as the lawn ; and the 

 hive, when placed on the stand, is 3 in. higher. There is no wood 

 in connection with the stand or hive bottom, therefore no decay. 

 The stands are solid, having no interstices of any description, and 

 being bedded in sand, there is no harbour for vermin. Being 

 solid, and the superficial area greater than that of the hives, grass 

 and other weeds cannot grow so close to the hives, and so inter- 

 rupt the ingi-ess or egress of the bees. They are cool and dry, 

 and by moving the hives fore and aft they are easily washed and 

 dried. To accommodate the hives to these stands, it is necessary 

 to add a three-eighth inch depth to the brood-chamber, so as to 

 permit bee-space beneath the frames ; thus the brood-chamber is 

 not interchangeable with the supers. By removing the hive to- 

 wards and over the slope in the stand, any amount of space can 

 be given for ventilating purposes. 



The hives in the apiary are of almost every description that 

 is, and has liecn, in use; the original Langstroth, the Langstroth 

 Simplicity, the Long-Idea, the Heddon, the Berlepsch, the Obser- 

 vation, the Munday, the old straw skip, and oven the old box or 

 gin-case hive, are to be seen. But why so many types of hives? 

 And why so many varieties of fowls in the poultry-yard? Simply, 

 to use a vulgarism, "you pay your cash and take your choice." 

 Every variety of poultry has its advocate, either as profitable or 

 ornamental. So with the bee hives. But why go back so far as 

 the old gin-cases ; why not go back further to the cave days when 

 bees were kept in clay jDots ? The main reason for the variety 

 of hives is that in the country districts of this State apiculture 

 is in a transitional state, especially so in the backblocks, and gin- 

 case hives will serve as object lessons in transferring and demon- 

 strating the advantages of modern methods. 



