l74 tHE BteE-HlVES. 



ommend the hollowed trunk of the cork tree, than wliich no 

 material would be more admirable if it could only be cheaply 

 procured. Straw hives have been used for ages, and are 

 warm in Winter and cool in Summer. The difficulty of 

 making them take and retain the proper shape for improved 

 bee-keeping, is an objection to their use. Hives made of 

 wood are, at the present time, fast superseding all others. 

 The lighter and more spongy the wood, the poorer will be its 

 power of conducting heat, and the warmer the hive in 

 Winter and the cooler in Summer. Cedar, bass-wood, 

 poplar, tulip-tree, and especially soft pine, afford excellent 

 materials for bee-hives. The Apiarist must be governed, 

 in his choice of lumber, by the cheapness with which any 

 suitable kind can be obtained in his own immediate vicin- 

 ity. 



Scholz, a German Apiarist, recommends hives made of 

 adohe — in which frames or slats may be used — as cheaply 

 constructed, and admirable for Summer and Winter. Such 

 structures, however, cannot be moved. But in many parts 

 of our country, where both lumber and saw-mills are 

 scarce, and where people are accustomed to build adobe 

 houses, they might prove desirable. The material is plastic 

 clay, mixed with cut straw, waste tow, etc. 



360. To make the movable-frame hives to the best 

 advantage, the lumber should be cut out by a circular saw, 

 driven by steam, water, or horse-power, or even by foot- 

 power. We have used the foot and hand circular-saws 

 made by W. F. & J. Barnes, for years, and could not do 

 without them in our shops. In buildings where such saws 

 are used, the frames may be made from the small 

 pieces of lumber, seldom of any use, except for fuel, and 

 may be packed almost solid in a box, or in a hive which 

 will afterwards serve for a pattern. One frame in such a 

 box, properly nailed together, will serve as a guide for the 

 rest. The parts of the hive can easily and cheaply be made 



