188 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE- 



After Langstroth had patented his hive, whereby everyone 

 possessing his patent rights were excluded, "Ministers of the 

 Gospel excepted," Baron Von Berlepsch invented frames of a 

 similar character. This was an improvement upon Dzierzon'a 

 complete hive, but it did not do away with the inconvenience of 

 removing nine frames to get at the tenth. Still, both these men 

 have their disciples, but the Berlepsch hive is fast falling into 

 disuse. 



Since these hives of various complication have been placed 

 before the public, all claiming to haive more or less greater ad- 

 vantages over those already referred to, which, perhaps, goes to 

 show that we have not, as yet, arrived at human perfection as it 

 regards bee-keeping, I suppose no industry in so short a period has 

 produced such a host of improvers. "Amateur bee-keepers are 

 great inventors." 



BEES WORKING IN THE OPEN. 



The illustration shows a swarm of bees hard at work in the bush 

 on which they alighted. They were discovered in June, 1894, 

 near Sutherland, working on a geebung-bush (Persoonia linearis) 

 about 3 feet from the ground, by Messrs. Bloxham Brothers, of 

 Peel and Cheshire Creek Apiaries. It is very rare that bees 

 prefer to work in the open with no other protection than that 

 offered by foliage and twigs. In the Northern District I found a 

 swarm working on the underside of the ledge of an overhanging 

 rock. Although the combs were clearly visible from some dis- 

 tance they were well protected from rain and sunshine. Another 

 I was shown in a hollow log. It was fully exposed to view. The 

 combs were narrow, and the longest about 20 inches in depth. The 

 swarm working on the rock had been there at least two winters. 

 The winter climate of the Clarence is more genial than that of 

 Sutherland. Whether these could have so wintered it is hard to 

 say. I one time saw a swarm in the Goulburn district that had 

 taken possession of the thickest part of a sweet-briar bush. It was 

 late in autumn, and the stores they possessed would not have 

 carried them nearly through the winter months of that bleak 

 district. I have more than once seen bees build underneath gin- 

 case hives for want of room above. In one instance in the cold 

 district of Queanbeyan. But, as the cold increased and the stores 

 in the upper part of the hive were used up, the stores underneath 

 were carried above. 



The accompanying illustration is the most perfect and visible 



