COTTAGER'S HIVE. 8i 



centre. The size of this lower hive is seven or eight 

 inches deep, fourteen inches across the bottom, finished 

 with a wooden hoop, which adds very much to the firm- 

 ness and durability of the hive. The floor-board is one 

 and a quarter inch thick, with a way sunk therein for 

 the entrance. A small round mat of straw closes the 

 hole in the top ; this mat may be fixed by wooden pegs. 

 We have now described what is termed the stock-hive, 

 which is, in fact, an old-fashioned straw hive, adapted, 

 modernised, and improved to the more humane, viz., 

 the depriving, system. The weight of the stock-hive, 

 with its floor-board, is about 7 lbs. 



The super or cap hive is about seven inches deep, 

 eight inches in diameter, and, when filled, contains about 

 10 lbs. of honey and comb. A glass window, which 

 is placed at the side, is useful for inspecting the pro- 

 gress made in filling it! 



A common straw hive, sufficiently deep to cover, 

 drops over the super, keeping the window dark, and 

 fitting close on to the stock-hive. This cover-hive may 

 be made fast by driving in two skewers, one on either 

 side, to keep the whole firm. Unless placed in a bee- 

 house or under a shed, the outside should be painted ; 

 or a piece of oil-cloth, or waterproof covering of any 

 kind, shaped so as to shoot off the rain, will save the 

 trouble of paint, and answer the purpose. If no protec- 

 tion of this sort is used, the rain is likely to rot the straw. 

 As a covering, cottagers often use straight stiff thatching 



