154 MODERN BEEHIVES. [Ch. hi. 



This is a great weight to be supported in hot summer 

 weather, when the wax is softened by the heat. Another 

 distinguishing feature that the Stewarton hive possesses is 

 the use of the box c, which, by giving increased room as 

 the season advances, prevents what is often an annoyance 

 to the apiarian, viz., a late swarm — too late to be of any 

 value, and impoverishing the stock by a division of its 

 numbers, thereby perhaps impeding the completion of 

 the super. A further advantage of the box c is that it 

 induces the bees (who frequently hang in clusters about 

 the entrance) to carry on their work instead of remaining 

 in enforced idleness. 



An accomplished apiarian who writes much in the 

 Horticidtural and Bee J^ournals under the title of " A 

 Renfrewshire Bee-keeper," and whose descriptions and 

 management of the Stewarton hive render him an 

 authority on this mode of bee-keeping as well as on the 

 subject generally, says the only fault he has to find with 

 the Stewarton hive is the fixity of the bars. With a 

 modified hive used by him they are held in position with 

 half-inch brass screws ; thus all are movable, instead of 

 being fastened with nails as in the original Stewarton. In 

 each of the three body boxes are four bar-frames from 

 end to end of the parallel sides; the two combs on either 

 side of these are attached to movable bars, but these 

 have no frames, as there would be a difficulty in making 

 them to suit the angle. If it is requisite to withdraw 

 the bars, they may be easily disconnected from the sides 



