CHAPTER IV. 



THE BEE-IIIVKS. — HIVES WITH IMJIOVABLE COMBS. 



2<.). The first hives that were iirovided fur Ijee.s were as 

 ruile as their natural abodes. We do not need Id hjcik back 

 veiy far t" remember the "bee-gum," su called, probably, be- 

 cause it had often been made out of the gum tree, with two 

 slicks crcjssing in the middle, and a mugh board nailed on 

 lop, while a notch in the lower end formed the entrance. In 

 (he iJld World, they manufactured .straw or willow "skcps'' 

 and pottery hives, which are still used in Asia and ^Vfrica. 

 The earthen hive was simply a tube, laid on its side, and 

 closed at each end with a movable wooden disk. This di.sk 



Fig. 51. 

 E.iRTHEN HIVE OF APEICA AXD CYPEUS. . 



(From "L'Apiccltore," Milan.) 



was remiived to take the honey, which is always located at the 

 hack part of the hives. 



Tlu'M' earthen hives were, unquestionably, the most sensible 

 of ilicise old kinds. In the Islands of Greece they were set 

 in thick stone walls, built on purpose with the entrance on one 

 side of the wall. Sometimes they were located in the walls 

 of the houses, and the honey was removed from the inside of 

 the house, or, if in walls, from behind, out of the fliglit of 

 bees. 



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