40 



JOTTRNAL OP HOETICULTtlRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. [ January lo, iscs. 



A Is a sunk passage lined by brick walls, the floor is I 

 formed of coBcrete with a provision for drainage. Along the I 

 ■whole length of 

 the passage hot- 

 water pipes should 

 be filed immedi- 

 ately under the 

 roosting place. A 

 door communi- 

 cates with the co- 

 vered run i>, and 

 wire-netting c, is 

 fixed over thedoor 

 for ventilation. 

 The roof of this 

 passage can either 

 be glazed or form- 

 ed of boards co- 

 vered with asphalt 

 or felt, but, if 

 glazed, it can be 

 used as a forcing- 

 house. However, 

 provision must be 

 made for efficient 

 ventilation. This 



Fip. IG — Artificial Rearlng-home 



B Is the glass-covered run. It differs from the portable 

 hen only in this, that here the sides are formed of galvanised- 



iron wire-netting, 

 and only the front 

 is made of boards. 

 The floor is made 

 of concrete co- 

 vered with gritty 

 dust. This run 

 can also with ad- 

 vantage be made 

 a little larger — 

 say, 4 feet long, 

 13 inches wide, 

 and 2 feet 6 inches 

 high. 



c Is the open 

 run. The floor can 

 be made of con- 

 crete or gi-avel, 

 with an incline to- 

 wards a gutter for 

 quick drainage. 

 The sides and top 

 can be made of 

 galvanised-iron 



passage should be about 5 feet wide between the walls, nud I wii-e-netting, on the same plan as shown in Jigs. 9, 10, 11. — 

 6 feet 6 inches high. | G. K. Getelin, Civil Engineer, London. 



(To be continued.) 



AN ACCIDENT CLEVERLY AND COMPLETELY REPAIRED, 



Eablt on the morning of Nov. 30th the central portion 

 of the county of Dumfries was visited by a severe gale, 

 which blew in gusts and whirlblasts, doing considerable 

 damage in places naturally sheltered and little if at aU ex- 

 posed to the direct action of the current. Knowing that 

 my bee-houses were protected n-om the storm by the inter- 

 vention of elevated buildings. I felt quite comfortable as to 

 their safety, and slept tranquilly tOl di,ybreak, paying little 

 attention to the wind, which one moment would, somewhat 

 lulled, be wildly wailing through the trees, and the nest 

 expending itself in a roar, which threatened to sweep every- 

 thing before it. So little anxiety did I feel about the welfare 

 of my bees, that it was not till about ten or eleven o'clock, 

 when the wind had fallen and the rain ceased, that the 

 thought came into my head to go into the garden and see 

 how they fared. Imagine, then, my mortification when, on 

 nearing the apiary, I found that a shed containing a fa- 

 vourite Ligurian hive had been overturned by the wind, and, 

 as I imagined, rocked to perdition, seeing its upper end had 

 caught and rested in its fall on the stem of a Gooseberi'y 

 bush. 



What was to be done to remedy the evil ? The thermo- 

 meter did not reach 40°, and I knew that if I caused any 

 bees to go abroad they would immediately be thrown into a 

 state of asphyxia and perish ; besides, the weather was by 

 no means favourable to any out-door operations, for though 

 the wind liad fallen the skies were still lowering. By 

 merely looking at the outside of the hive, which was a 

 Woodbury frame box of the usual dimensions, I could not 

 tell what internal damage had been sustained ; and I was 

 afraid to elevate it from the floor-board for the purpose of 

 inspection, lest the combs, being detached, should fall down 

 through the disarranged frames and thus occasion more 

 death and destruction. 



It was necessary, however, to do something, and accord- 

 ingly I began by inverting and replacing gently and gradu- 

 ally, and with tlio least disturbance possible, the overturned 

 box in its former horizontal position. I then can-ied it to a 

 room raised by a small fire to a temperature of oftiout G0°, 

 and placed it on a cliair close to the window, allowing afay 

 bees that chose to come out and fly against it. 



My next act was to unscrew the crown-board, slightly 

 raise it, and with a puff from my cigar send the bees helter- 

 skelter down amongst the frames. But what a sight for a 

 compassionate bee-master X'rcaonted itself when the crown- 

 board was removed and the interior of the hive exposed to 

 view ! The floor-board was swimming with honey — hundreds 



of the poor bees were drowned in it, and many of them also 

 were crushed between the combs, which lay broken and 

 piled against each other like the tUted strata of geologists. 

 Every comb had parted from its fi'ame, and altogether the 

 pounded-looking mass was a piteous spectacle. 



Furnishing myself with a goose feather and a spare Wood- 

 bury hive containing only one frame and comb, I commenced 

 operations by putting into it a small piece of comb covered 

 with bees, gently lifted from the ruins. I then removed 

 the frames and pieces of comb in succession, brushing off 

 the bees with a feather into the spare Woodbury-box. The 

 combs and frames, when cleared of the adhering bees, were 

 set aside, and in a short time the operation of transferring- 

 all the bees from their original domicile to the spare box 

 was completed. The emptied stock -box with its floor-board 

 was then washed and dried. My next step was to nail slips 

 of wood one-eighth of an inch in thickness by half an inch 

 in breadth along one side of each frame from top to bottom, 

 placing the slips about 2 inches apart. I then laid the 

 frames on a newspaper, the slips being under, and placed 

 the broklen combs upon the slips, making the junctions as 

 neat as possible, and keeping the comb close to the top bar. 

 These broken combs I secured by slips laid over them and 

 naUed to the top and Ijottom bars nearly oi)j)osite the other 

 sliijs. The combs thus encased, though broken into many 

 pieces, could not get out of position, and might readily be 

 handled by the frame. As soon as I managed to got the 

 frames refitted with comb in this manner I returned thorn 

 to the original box; then, taking the spare box containing 

 the bees, I placed it over the frames, and swept the bees 

 down between them, and afterwards replaced the crown- 

 board. 



During the operations many bees flew against the window 

 and fell down benumbed ; these I now carefully gathered 

 into a wide-mouthed bottle, and revived by the application 

 of gentle heat, pouring them, as soon as animation re- 

 turned, amongst their fellows thi-ough the central hole in 

 the crown-board. I did the same -with those which had 

 been bedaubed or drowned in the escaped honey; and I 

 believe I do not go beyond the truth when I say that the 

 wliolo remedial process did not entail the loss of a dozen 

 lives, and it was accomplished without either hands or faco 

 being in any way protected. An occasional whifV from a 

 pipe or cigar was all that was needed to subdue their resent- 

 ment wlienever any bees showed a disposition to revenge 

 what they could not but regard as insulting. 



The reason why the combs were so much broken in this 



1 



