VOL. LVIII— NO. 4 



HAMILTON, ILL., APRIL, 1918 



MONTHLY, $1.00 A YFAR 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEEHIVE 



The First of a Series of Articles Showing the Development of Hive Construc- 

 tion Since 1780 



ALTHOUGH nothing is so impor- 

 tant in beekeeping as the 'bee 

 itself, the beehive and its ease 

 of manipulation are next. 



Bee economy was a closed book 

 and the most important facts of bee 

 physiology were unknown until a lit- 

 tle over a century ago. The trunks 

 of trees and hollow caves were the 

 abodes of the bees. Swarms were 

 hived in "skeps" made of rushes, 

 osier, straw, clay, earthen ware and 

 logs split and hollowed out. The 

 Caucasian views of apiaries so kindly 

 sent to us by the Caucasian Beekeep- 

 ers' Association, of which we have 

 already published several, are very 

 good illustrations of the various re- 

 ceptacles used for bees. 



As observers noticed that the bees 

 built their combs side by side, the 

 idea was evolved to have them built 

 on separate racks or frames for the 

 easier removal of a part of the con- 

 tents. 



If we tried to tell our readers just 

 when the first progressive changes 

 Were made in beehives we would 

 probably deceive them unwittingly, 

 for improvements were made, from 

 time to time, and abandoned, to be 

 again resumed later in better and 

 more practical form. 



We can probably best interest our 

 readers by giving them copies of 

 actual improvements made about 130 

 years ago. We have in our posses- 

 sion a three-volume "Complete 

 Treatise on Bees" by L' Abbe Delia 

 Rocca, Vicar-general at Syra, one of 

 the Cyclades, an island in the Medit- 

 erranean. His book bears the date 

 of 1790. 



Plate 1 shows a house apiary, built 

 of stone, with straw roof. The hives, 

 6 of clay and 2 of wood, are inserted 

 into the structure and project 



BY THE EDITOR 



through to the other side. The clay 

 hives show their posterior end, closed 

 by an earthen disk. The wooden 

 show their front, with entrances of 

 metallic plates perforated for the 

 egress of the bees. In order to har- 



vest the honey from these hives com- 

 modiously, it was necessary that the 

 combs be built crosswise. Then by 

 the removal of the disks or of the 

 rear plank, the combs containing 

 honey could be cut out with the knife 

 shown at fig. 10, plate 2. This knife 

 or chisel is made with a curve on one 

 end and a straight edge on the other. 

 In order not to crush the bees, when 

 drawing out the combs, a rounded 

 frame, fig. 11, was used on which to 

 drop the combs of honey. The bees 

 could then be brushed off both sides 

 before putting the comb into a jar. 



Figs. 4 and 5 show methods of 

 supporting pieces of combs within 

 the hives in the proper position to 

 form a guide for the bees to start 

 their building. The little fork was 

 fastened upright and removed as 

 soon as the guide was sufficiently 

 built in by the wax-workers. The 

 author very judiciously remarks that 

 the rounded foot of the other sup- 

 port, fig. 5, was not well adapted to 

 use in a circular earthen hive, and 

 advises the making of square sup- 

 ports. Later he manufactured a 

 support for three "bait combs" an 

 inch and a half apart from center to 

 center. 



Fig. 1 will be recognized by our 

 readers as intended to exhibit worker, 

 drone and queen brood. If this cut 

 is quite crude, we must remember that 

 it was made over 120 years ago, 

 when printing and engraving were 

 far from their present artistic con- 

 dition. However, if we could now 

 teach those artists some valuable im- 

 provements, they could still show us 

 how to bind books properly. This 

 edition, bound in calf, is still prettier 

 and more lasting than books bound 

 at great expense forty years ago._ 



Fig. 6 represents a small tree limb 



