44 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 



WINDOWS. 



I have already referred to the house being made bee 

 proof, but at extracting time it is impossible to avoid 

 bees being taken into the extracting room with the 

 combs, when it becomes a question of adopting the best 

 means of getting them out again quickly. The bees 

 themselves, in trying to escape, fly to the windows, 

 attracted by the light, and in some bee books it is 

 recommended to fit up wire screens and small " Porter " 

 escapes to the windows, which in my experience are of 

 little or no use. In 1883 I adopted a plan of hanging 

 the windows centrally, so that they could be swung 

 half round, in which case, any bees clustering on the 

 windows inside can be ejected instantly by giving the 

 latter a half turn. 



COMB ROOM. 



A comb room for storage of spare combs is an abso- 

 lute necessity in a large apiary. It should be smoke 

 tight, so that the combs may be fumigated to kill any 

 wax moths that attack them. Upright studs of 3 in. 

 by 2 in., put up on each side of the centre so as to 

 leave a passage between, and battens running from 

 them to the sides of the room, will afford convenience 

 for the storage of some thousands of combs in a room 

 of the dimensions suggested. 



I have found it best to have the building on the East 

 side of the apiary, about the middle of the rows — that 

 is, supposing there are to be ten rows ; then the centre 

 of the end of the building should be opposite the fifth 

 and sixth rows. 



It should face the same way as the hives, and be as 

 near the latter as possible. The extracting room should 

 be in the end nearest the hives, and the honey store 

 room at the other end (having a wide door), so that a 

 horse and cart or waggon can be brought up to the 

 building without being too close to the bees in their 

 flight, ^ 



