Seo. 10.] BEES, AXD TUE PROFITABLE PKODUCTIOX OF HONEY. 1^1 



lator. Eore inch holes through into both of the upper boxes, and cover in 

 the same way. 



Mr. Quinbj says that he regards proper ventilation as very important, 

 and yet proper ventilation is very iniperlectly understood, lie also says : 

 " Any way to get rid of the moisture." Tlie presumption is, that he would 

 not freeze the bees at the outset as one of the ways, for that would surely 

 prevent moisture ; and it' the moclux operandi of some who give directions 

 how to ventilate should bo put in practice in very cold situations, the bees 

 are just as surely frozen. 



Moisture accumulating on the inside walls of the hive has caused the de- 

 struction of more strong colonies of bees than any one other casualty, except 

 the fatal way of some bee-keepers to get rid of the moisture by opening wide 

 the apertures in the top and also in the bottom of the hive, and thus causing 

 a current of external air to pass up through the interior — precisely the 

 method to cool a hive in hot weather — and also thus rendering the bees more 

 exposed and liable to be frozen than they would be situated on the exterior 

 of the hive. Proper ventilation is simply to give free vent for the air at the 

 top of the hive, and not admitting any or but very little air through the 

 bottom. Under all circumstances it is requisite to reguhite the openings in 

 the bottom with those in the top, which amounts to about the same thing 

 without the drawbacks of inverting the hive. 



There is a new form of bee-hives, used by J. L. Scribner, of Montpelier, 

 Vt., a successful producer of honey, so much so that he carries off all prizes 

 at the county fair. 



This hive, being made of straw, serves admirably for ventilation. It is 

 made of a frame of square sticks, say one incli diameter, and in capacity 12 by 

 13 inches, and 13 inches in bight, with a flat board roof projecting two inches 

 each way. The frame is nailed together ; the lower girts are placed { inch 

 above the bottom of the posts. The frame is covered with straw sewed 

 together, just as it is in straw hives, with a hoop at the bottom, made of 

 strips of boards one inch thick and two inches wide nailed together. In this 

 hoop a notch 2i inches long, i incth deep, is cut for the bees. Plane all the 

 wood, and use none but clean rye straw. On the roof, over suitable holes, 

 the boxes for storing honey are placed. It is thus described by Mr. Scribiier: 



"The advantages of this hive over all others that I have used are very 

 material in my view. It is generally conceded that straw hives are the best 

 to winter bees in ; not altogether because they are so much warmer, but 

 beca\ise they will ' l-eej) drij,^ and the frost does not accumulate as in board 

 hives. Every experienced apiarian knows that in wooden hives there is a 

 continual dampness, arising in part from the breath and effluvia of the bees. 

 Not BO in straw hives. Straw being of a dry and absorbing nature, the 

 moisture is taken up. Now, I have learned that straw Iiivcs are as much 

 better in summer as in winter, especially in the season of breeding, when we 

 are subject to fi-ecpient and sudden changes of the weather, such as damp, 

 chilly nights and hot days. The temperature of a straw hive is more even : 



