520 GARDEN MANAGEJCENT. 



SO deep as the others, and has a solid top. The light loose bars, which 

 are fitted in the loose under-surface of the top, are the parallel foun- 

 dations on which the combs are to be worked, the underside of the 

 bars being prepared by spreading wax over them, clean worker-comb 

 being reserved for the purpose. The manner in which this is done is thus 

 described by Mr. Golding : — "Having heated a flat-iron, and inverted it 

 on a table between two bricks, quite level, he melts a bit of beeswax 

 upon it, and then draws the centre of his bar, which should be warm, across 

 the liquid wax, to acquire a thin layer of that substance on its surface, and 

 instantly taking the piece of cane, dipping the edge in the same liquid wax, 

 presses it gently on the surface of the bar. Some pieces of clean worker-comb 

 should be annually preserved for this purpose, and kept entirely free from dust 

 or moths. When used, they must be nicely cut and their original dependence 

 preserved, that the cells may dip in the right direction : they need not be more 

 than two inches in diameter. Bars, which have been used, should not be cleared 

 of propolis or sound wax, if it has been the foundation of a comb correctly 

 attached." Propolis in particular is highly agreeable to bees. The easy 

 removal of loaded side-combs for obtaining occasionally whatever honey the 

 bees can spare, is one advantage of hives surmounted with loose bars ; they 

 have also another and an important one, especially to the storified or collateral 

 hives. *'Mr. Harman," says Dr. Bevan, ''noticed, some years ago, to Mr. 

 Golding, the occasional superabundance of large-celled combs in those hives or 

 boxes which have been storified late in the season. I have myself several times 

 observed this, sometimes early in the season, — as early as April; sometimes 

 even in single hiving. This state of the beehive, in the case of doubled 

 stocks, is probably owing to the doubling having taken place when the queen 

 is about to lay drone eggs, and when there is an instinctive disposition 

 in the bees to provide against such laying. It may also arise, especially in 

 single hiving, from the combs being built when there is a j)lentiful honey 

 harvest, the cells being made to hold the greatest quantity in a given space, 

 and cause the least expenditure of work and materials. In such a season, 

 where there is ample room provided, the proportion of drone-camps will 

 amount to one-half or more. Indeed, these honej'-cells, whatever their 

 diameter, have sometimes a gi-eat depth. I have often had combs 2^ inches 

 thick, and sometimes find the cells on one side 1^ deep, whilst those on the 

 converse side are of the usual depth. It is remarkable, whatever be the 

 depth of the honey-cells, their diameter is always the same as the drones or 

 workers, except in particular cases, such as the forming of transition-cells. 

 However advantageous the large cells may be for storing honey, they would, 

 if left in stock-hives, prove very prejudicial to the apiary's success. For want 

 -of attention to this subject, bee-masters must. sometimes have found the pro- 

 'ducts of their apiaries perplexingly uncertain, and will at once seethe import- 

 ance of the remedy proposed, i.e., the removal of as many bars as are 

 necessary, and the substitution of others furnished with worker-comb." 

 1627. This is the season when honey should be taken from the hive ; but it 



