THE HONEY BEE. 169 



Greek Islands, and is sometimes called the Candiote 

 Hive. It is in the form of a flower-pot, open at the 

 top, and provided with a flat cover in the same man- 

 ner as the hive last described. As in this last, also, 

 a certain number of bars are fastened to the upper- 

 most roll of straw, each designed for the foundation 

 of a comb ; and when prepared for use, the cover is 

 laid above these bars, fixed at the edges by wooden 

 pins, or sewed with pack-thread, and having the 

 joining carefully plastered with clay. (See Plate 

 X., fig. 4.) This hive affords considerable faci- 

 lities for forcing the bees to work in wax. It is only 

 necessary to remove one or two of the combs, and 

 the bees will immediately commence filling up the 

 vacancies. In this way, a portion of their honied 

 stores may be abstracted without difficulty, and with- 

 out having recourse to the barbarous practice of suf- 

 focation. It affords also the means of making arti- 

 ficial swarms. It will be observed that in conse- 

 quence of the diameter of the hive gradually dimin- 

 ishing towards the bottom, rods inserted through the 

 body of the hive are rendered unnecessary, the 

 wedge-like form of the combs serving sufficiently to 

 support them. " The hives," says Wheeler in his 

 Journey into Greece, " are made of willows or osiers, 

 fashioned like our common dust-baskets, wide at top, 

 and narrow at the bottom, and plastered with clay or 

 loam within and without. The tops are covered with 

 broad flat sticks, winch are also plastered over with 

 tiny ; and, to secure them from the weather, they 

 cover them with a tuft of straw as we do. 



