SKEP COVERS. 67 
of coverings, many are sufficiently unsightly; some 
being of straw thatch (or hackles), others of carthen- 
ware, in various ugly forms, and often objectionable 
and injurious to the hive from thew weight. The 
catalogues of our hive-makers will present us with 
various species of covers in zinc or wood, but the 
bee-keeper can readily provide them for himself by 
coiling and riveting a sheet of zinc into the shape 
of a cone; or he may substitute felt for zinc, as 
recommended by Mr. Cheshire, tacking the edges upon 
a thin lath, and pitching pr tarring over the outside. 
In either case he may advantageously follow the 
directions of this gentleman for cutting out two covers 
with the smallest possible amount of waste. A yard of 
felt, he tells us, costs eightpence, and measures two 
feet eight inches across; and as we require only three- 
quarters of a circular piece for each cone, we can (see 
figure) obtain two covers out of a piece four feet long. 
Draw a line DG lengthways down the exact middle 
F 2 
