60 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



Here are two comb-knives, which are useful on many 

 occasions : by using them, we can cut easily and speedily 

 honeycombs from common hives. The one with chisel 

 end is used for cutting the combs from the sides of hives, 

 and splitting them elsewhere. The other is a small rod 

 of steel, not more than, a quarter of an inch thick, 

 with a thin blade at the end 1^ inch long, both edges 

 sharp, for cutting the combs from the crowns of the hives, 



l;<:3 



or crosswise elsewhere. To those who have a preference 

 for bar-frame hives, let us suggest the desirability of 

 having them made of straw, neatly and firmly sewed to 

 the outer frames, and large enough to hold 13 or 14 bars 

 each. It would be no difiB.cult matter to have hives of 

 this kind made, more pleasing to the eye, and much better 

 every way, than any we have yet seen. An accomplished 

 Scotch skep-maker would produce hives that would 

 eclipse those made in the south, the straw of which is 

 simply laid in so thinly, that any one can put his finger 

 through it. 



The latest improvement to the bar-frame hive consists 

 in the substitution of " a quilt " for the wooden top. 

 The inventor is of course a dealer, and till the invention 

 was completed, no one heard of the wooden tops being at 

 fault. In the language of the inventor, we shall now let 

 the reader have a description of the quilt. He says : "For 

 all crown covers, it is tho very best for winter use, because 

 it permits the escape of aU noxious vapours from the hive, 

 as soon as they are generated. The quilt arrangement 

 comprises a piece of carpet, or other material of hard tex- 



