BEESj BEE^HIVES, AND BEE CULTURE. 37 



frames as tliey range from back to front. A window is also shown ; 

 this is placed in the engraving over the entrance, but the proper 

 position would be just opposite. The drawing is made so as to 

 show back and front at once. The floorboard is 1 ^ inch thick, 

 having two " keys " on the underside to prevent warping. 



STRAW BAR AND FRAME HIVE. No. 45. 



Since the introduction of 

 the wood hive by Mr. "Wood- 

 bury, that gentleman has re- 

 commended, in the Journal of 

 Horticnlture, that the stock 

 hive be made of straw, of 

 exactly the same dimensions ; 

 this material being warmer in 

 winter, slightly ventilating, 

 and allowing of absorption. Bees during cold weather cluster 

 together to generate the requisite degree of heat, the temperature 

 of the interior of the hive being thus so much higher than the 

 external atmosphere, a good deal of moisture condenses at the 

 top and on the sides of the hive; the straw, as before stated, 

 prevents this dampness hanging about the hive, and tends to keep 

 the inmates more healthy. Dampness in a hive is a fruitful source 

 of mischief, causing empty combs to grow mouldy, and is injurious 

 in many ways. 



The square straw hives, and a machine for making them, 

 exhibited in the Austrian department of the International Exhibition 

 of 1862, suggested the idea of employing that material for English 

 bar and frame hives. We have had made a machine somewhat 

 similar to the one exhibited and suited to the size of our hives, by 

 which our hive maker is able to manufacture neat square straw 

 hives. These have a wood frame at top an inch deep, with the 

 requisite notches to allow the ten comb frames to hang. A similar 

 frame forms the base, the straw being worked between. The 

 floorboard is 1^ inch thick, " keyed " with stout keys as before 

 mentioned. An inch projection is left on all sides beyond the 

 exterior of the hive, from which it is slightly chamfered down. 

 An entrance 4 inches wide is cut out of the substance of 



