148 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



of the movable-comb system of managing bees, but I 

 wish to be very brief. Perhaps the best thing that 

 can be said in their favour is the facility they afford 

 for the use of artificial comb foundations. The comb 

 foundations is a wonderful invention, and likely to be 

 of great advantage to bee-keepers who at present are 

 inexperienced in their use. In using them hitherto 

 failure has been the rule, and success the exception. I 

 believe they have been successfully used by some api- 

 arians, and I hope that the difficulties of using them 

 wiU be overcome, and that the advantages of their use 

 will be idtimately realised by all the schools of api- 

 culture. Let me again say that the bar-frame hive 

 affords the greatest facilities for the extensive use of 

 artificial comb foundations. The great objection to the 

 bar-frame hive is the materials of which it is made. 

 How any sensible honest man can advocate the use of 

 wood for bee-hives is a marvel to me. It is an improper 

 material, and should not be used if better can be found. 

 This is being found out in the bar-frame school itself. 

 Wooden hives do not permit the moisture of bees to 

 escape : it is condensed on their inner surfaces, and 

 runs down the sides of the hives, and the presence of 

 moisture in hives rots their combs. Various plans have 

 been adopted to let the moisture escape, and have failed. 

 Ifow chaff hives — that is, hives with double boards or 

 cavity walls, the cavities being filled vri.th chaff — are 

 being tried and approved. Doubtless they are the best 

 things out at present, and a great improvement on aU 

 that has gone before them. The chaff is good both for 

 warmth and ventilation, and if the inner case and outer 

 shell of the chaff hives are well pierced with holes, the 

 moisture of the bees will be sifted out of the hive and 

 do no harm. Something better than wood for bar- 

 frame hives will, I have no doubt, be discovered and 

 come into use. Last time I was at Carluke in Lanark- 

 shire, I saw a straw hive built as square, and its sides 

 as plumb, as any wooden hive ever made. It stood 



