302 



THE AMERICAN APICULTUEIST. 



page of the British Bee Journal 

 or the cover of Gleanings. In these 

 days beer was unknown, sugar there 

 was none, except nature's pure 

 sugar "Mel," whicli was used for 

 all sweetening purposes as well as 

 for making the popular beverages 

 "mead" and "methylin" (the drink 

 of the gods (?). A bonnie people 

 were those old Saxons ; they wore 

 short garments and short hair, close 

 shaved their beards, were as strong 

 as giants and nearl}'^ as big in com- 

 parison to the Britons whom they 

 conquered ; they were brave, chiv- 

 alrous and generous ; they loved 

 war but hated diplomacy, preferring 

 to settle matters by their strength 

 of arm to the more civilized (?) 

 methods of palaver. They were 

 somewhat vain, as they practised 

 tattooing and wore ornaments ; 

 their greatest foe was their stom- 

 achs, for they fell victims at last 

 to strong drink " which biteth like 

 a serpent and stingeth like an 

 adder." 



There are many thousands of 

 these straw-skep hives in use in 

 this conntrj' yet ; I have some my- 

 self for "auld lang syne," hackles 

 and all complete, but it is seldom 

 yon see a hackle nowadays. These 

 straw hives are evidently a copy 

 fro-m the bees' natural lodging 

 place — the crown of a hollow tree 

 — and were the only kind of hive 

 in use for some hundreds of years. 



In 1609 Dr. Chas. Butler wrote a 

 book about bees and hives entitled 

 the "Feminine Monarch," and these 

 straw hives are the only kinds he 

 mentions. He is called the "father 

 of British beekeepers." He prac- 

 tised "inverting," as he gives direc- 

 tions how to invert the old stock 

 and place another on it and so get 

 the top one filled with hone}^ ; and 

 he also gives instructions how to 

 remove it when filled. Later he 

 omitted this from his book, so prob- 

 ably he found it did not answer. 



In the year 1652, octagon-shaped 



boxes made of wood were used as 

 bee-hives by the Rev. Wm. INIewe, 

 minister of Eastlington, in Glouc- 

 estershire. They were also used in 

 Scotland. In April, 1675, king 

 Charles II granted John Geddie 

 letters patent for his octagonal- 

 shaped wooden beehives. This was 

 the oidy patent granted for beehives 

 in England, until very recently ; 

 and in the matter of patents in bee 

 gear, we haul down the flag to the 

 U. S. beekeepers. This was the 

 step from straw to wood and with 

 it came "storifying." 



Geddie's boxes. Fig. 2. 



Geddie's boxes (fig. 2) were sim- 

 ply octagon in shape with a crown 

 board, in the centre of which was 

 cut a five-inch square liole ; the 

 boxes were Also fitted with handles 

 and had doors in front lined with 



