13 



warm air into it, while as the end of the hive warms up the heat will eircuhite between 

 tlie frames. When tlie doorway faces east or west tlie noonday sun iieats np a side, 

 warming up a comb next to it, Vuitnot afl'ecting in anj' way tlie miiMle frames, on which 

 the bees are apt to be clustered. 



The hive must not rest on the gr(jund, as the moisture will rot the brittom lioard. 

 80 far as utility is concerned, a couple of pieces of rough 2 \)y 4 lund)ci' are as good as 

 anj'thing. If the ground is uneven, it must be made jjerfectly level, for perfect combs 

 cannot be secured if the frames are off the plumli. During tlie rainj' season the back 

 end of tlie hives should be raised an inch or two, so that water may run freely off" the 

 alighting-board. 



CHAPTER III. 



Tools and Dress. 



The tools essential for the practice of l)ee-kee)jing in a small way ai-e neither 

 numerous nor expensive, consisting practically of a smoker and a hive-tool. The latter 

 may be disposed of in a few sentences, so will be dealt with at once. Its principal use 

 is to force apart the frames, which are generally glued together Ijy an adhesive known 

 as propolis. As any piece of flat and light metal is fit for this simple work, we find the 

 majority of bee-keepers are content to use a screwdriver or a wood-chisel an inch wide 

 in their ordinary' work. Bnt once in a while one must scrape awav the accumulations 

 of wax and propolis from the frames, or the deposit of dea<l bees and other waste matter 

 from the bottom boards, so that a tool witli a sciajjing-eilge is a great convenience. 

 jMany hive-tools have Ijeen invented, Imt after ti-ying about a dozen the writer pins his 

 faith to the P^oot tool, which is illustrated in Kig. 1. The lient end is used for scraping, 

 the straight one for separating frames and hive Imdies. 



Fig. 1. Itoot Ilive-tool. 



