24 BEE-KEEPING FOR PROFIT 
hiving a swarm—the skep nevertheless possesses 
some advantages over the wooden hive. It is 
not liable to the attacks of fungus, or rot; it 
is also warmer for the bees in winter if pro- 
perly covered in severe weather, for as the 
combs are fastened to the sides of the hive 
they serve the purpose of a cavity wall or 
dead space. 
Wooden Hives.—The wooden hive now 
reigns supreme in all well-regulated apiaries, 
and the mechanical methods of working wood, 
with their accuracy of joining, &c., from a 
constructional point of view have brought 
them practically to perfection. It must be 
confessed, however, that wood is not the ideal 
material for hive making. As we have already 
suggested, it is subject to deterioration from 
fungus and rot, and, even when well-seasoned, 
contains a certain amount of moisture which 
renders it readily liable to these evils. The 
interior of a hive, too, becomes moist from 
condensation, which again helps to promote 
decay, a decay which in turn is favourable to 
the development of disease among the bees. 
As a check to the ill-effects of this moisture 
some bee-keepers make a _ practice, when 
cleaning their hives, of thoroughly scorching 
the interior walls with a blow lamp. 
