64 THE -COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 



make them run diagonally from comer to corner. Not only is this a 

 great advantage to the bees, chiefly in winter and the early spring, 

 when the heat can be more readily concentrated in one of the corners 

 of the hive, but, by this arrangement, the breeding of the queen may 

 be seen going on in every part of the hive at once, as a considerable 

 portion of every comb will come into view at these windows. Not 

 using bars, I invariably make a piece of comb adhere to the roof of 

 the boxes having this direction. 



As to the arrangement of the bars, I cannot do better than transcribe 

 Dr. Bevan's directions for fixing them, as well as adjusting the top board 

 on them : " The sides of the boxes should be an inch thick, and have the 

 upper edges of the fronts and backs rabbeted out half their thickness, and 

 half an inch deep, to receive a set of loose bars upon their tops, which 

 should be half an inch thick, and one inch and an eighth wide." The 

 number of the bars will be regulated by the size of the box. " If 

 the distances of the bars from each other be nicely adjusted, there will 

 be interspaces between them of about half an inch. The precise width 

 of the bars should be particularly attended to, and also their distances 

 from each other, as any deviation in this respect would throw the 

 combs wrong, particularly if that deviation gave an excess of room. 

 It would be better, therefore, for 

 them to be somewhat within the 

 rule, than to exceed it by ever so 

 little, for whenever the bees 

 evince a disposition to depart 

 from the prescribed dimensions, 

 its tendency is generally to make 

 the combs aproximate." " Each 

 box, (on my plan,) must have one 



close cover, which should be an inch thick, and well clamped at each 

 end to prevent warping, as a considerable quantity of steam arises 

 from the bees at certain seasons. The top, being intended to take off 

 and on, should be secured by means of four screws, each placed about 

 an inch and a half from the respective corners." Of- course, where 

 the bars are dispensed with as unnecessary, no rabbeting will be want- 

 ed, but the top must be screwed down at once, thus effecting a con- 

 siderable saving of expense. 



In one corner of each of my boxes, I always place a small thermom- 



