HIVES AND FKAME8. 



41 



77. The Skep (Fig. i6) is made of straw, sometimes worked 

 on a frame of hazel-rods or cane. It has its uses : but as a 

 permanent home for bees its defects are too many and serious 

 to admit of its adoption by anyone who desires to keep bees for 

 profit, and ui^on humane principles. It does not permit 

 proper manag-cment. It does not allow that perfect control of 

 the bees and their work which is essential to success. Although 

 its cost may not exceed a couple of shillings, it is expensive, 

 because it precludes the use of foundation (110) which, in the 

 modern hive, effects so large an economy. It is dnngerous, 

 because, not open to examination by the owner, it may harbour 

 disease without his knowledge, and may spread infection far 

 and near (327). And, associated as it is with the hateful 

 sulphur pit, by which our forefathers, for want of a better 

 method, obtained the honey harvest by sacrifice of the bees 

 who gathered it (142), it is noi to be encouraged as an adjunct 

 of modern bee-keeping, except within certain limitations. 



78. Uses of Skeps Bees 



crowded in skeps are likely to 

 give off early swarms, and, 

 with that object in view, 

 stocks in skeps may often be 

 turned to good account. 

 Skeps are useful also for 

 carrying swarms (153), and in 

 the operations of driving (160) 

 and hiving (234). They may be 

 used, to some extent, for the 

 production of surplus honey 

 in supers (271). For this 

 purpose the skep is made with 

 a flat top (Fig. 17) having a 

 hole in the centre of the 

 crown. 



>^^^f>'. 



Fig. 17. 



THE SKEP, FLAT TOP FOR 



SUI'ERIKG. 



79. The Skep giving place to the iVIoveable-Comb Hive — But 



modern bee-keeping encourages more intelligent management, 

 and aims at higher success than can be hoped for by the exclu- 

 sive use of the straw skep — now, happily, giving place to the 

 hive with moveable frames (81), which has effected a revolution 

 in bee-keeping by admitting adequate supervision over the 

 work of the colony; by facilitating the harvesting of larger 

 quantities of honey; and by rendering unnecessary, indeed 

 inexcusable, the destruction of the bees. 



80. Genesis of the Moveabie-Comb Hive. — Towards the close 

 of the eighteenth century. Ruber (142), the blind Naturalist, 

 who was born in Geneva in 1750, constructed a hive in shape 



