HIVES, 'AND APPLIANCES. 31 



be used for the part which covers the neck, as 

 being cooler during the heat of the summer. 



The smoker should preferably be of the " Bing- 

 ham " pattern, and of a good size and quality. 

 The best articles are made of sheet steel, and 

 these are to be preferred, for a poor smoker may 

 be worn out in a season's working. Gloves should 

 not be worn. Their use makes the bees mere irri- 

 table than they would otherwise be. This is mainly 

 on account of the clumsy way in which their owner 

 handles the frames; clumsy he perforce must be 

 with gloves on, for no skilful bee-work can be 

 done except with the naked hands. 



Other articles which will be needed are feeders 

 (one for each colony), excluder zinc (one sheet 

 for each hive), an extractor if extracted honey is 

 to be worked for, sections and section racks if 

 comb honey is desired. In the case of extracted 

 honey a supply of supers and shallow frames will 

 be needed, as well as spare standard frames for the 

 brood-boxes. 



One or two queen-cages are also necessary, in 

 fact indispensable at times. As will be seen, a 

 certain number of the articles in this list may be 

 eliminated if the bee-keeper decides to work for 

 honey in one form or other only, and it may be 

 said at once that it will be found in nine cases 

 out of ten that extracted honey will be the best 

 form in which to turn out the produce. The ex- 

 planation of this will be given later. 



With regard to this list it should be noted that 



