522 



MISCELLANEOUS GARDEN STRUCTURES. , 



tanks might be built upon the surface 

 with safety and advantage. 



A very important precaution ought to 

 be taken as regards tanks and cisterns 

 exposed to the weather— namely, to break 

 the ice that forms in them once or twice 

 a-day during frosty weather. Inattention 

 to this has been the cause of many tanks 

 and cisterns being destroyed by the ex- 

 pansive effects of frost. 



Of air and vermin traps for cisterns, 

 there is a great variety ; and they are 

 so valuable that we are surprised they are 

 not more generally used. Fig. 737 repre- 



Fig. 737. 



\ — = — s — 













sents one of these, which, as will be seen, 

 is simple and efficacious. The drain a 

 may be of any form ; the trap d is a sunk 

 area as it were in its bottom, in which 

 the water will stand as high as repre- 

 sented at c, provided this area be made 

 water-tight, which should be the case. 

 From the bottom of the drain at d, a 

 piece of pavement, if the drain is large, or 

 a tile if it is small, should project about 

 5 or 6 inches over the sunk part, which 

 will prevent vermin passing that way. 

 The drain should drop in level 5 or 6 

 inches at the other end of the trap, 

 which will keep the water sufficiently 

 low. Another piece of pavement or iron 

 plate may be suspended from the roof 

 of the drain, and of sufficient length to 

 dip 3 or 4 inches into the water, which 

 will not only act also as a barrier to 

 vermin, but, at the same time, will pre- 

 vent the ascent of noxious effluvia. An 

 eye or opening should be placed imme- 

 diately over the trap, with a movable 

 stone or cast-iron cover, closely fitted 

 into a stone or wooden plinth, to admit 

 of the trap being cleaned out or examined 

 Fig. 738. 



occasionally. Fig. 738 is nearly on the 

 same principle. 



§ 5. — APIAKIES. 



The keeping of bees is of very ancient 

 date — almost coeval with the cultivation 

 of fruits and culinary vegetables. They 

 have, in all ages and in all civilised coun- 

 tries, been protected and placed near the 

 habitations of man — most generally in his 

 garden— and, by their industry, have 

 amply repaid him for the small share of 

 assistance they receive at his hand. The 

 humble straw-thatched hive in the little 

 garden of the cottager may be taken as 

 an indication of the moral habits of the 

 owner ; and in the gardens of the great, 

 the variously contrived structures pro- 

 vided for the protection of these insects 

 add not a little to the decorative embel- 

 lishments of the domain. 



Great diversity of opinion exists both 

 as regards the management of bees, and 

 also as to the form and material of which 

 their habitations should be constructed. 

 Such, therefore, being the case, we need 

 not be surprised at the number of trea- 

 tises which have been published on the 

 subject,* nor at the variety of structures 

 recommended for the use of the insects. 

 The desire, also, to know something of 

 their internal government has led modern 

 apiarians to adopt such forms and means 

 as might enable them to watch their 

 progress without disturbing the economy 

 of the hive. Amongst those, the " Patent 

 Bar and Frame Hive " of A. Munn, Esq., 

 deserves notice, while his little work on 

 their management will well repay a care- 

 ful perusal. The annexed sketch, fig. 739, 

 will show its principle. This hive con- 

 tains eleven frames, one of which is shown 

 in the sketch, partly withdrawn, to show 

 the progress of the bees in the glass case 

 in front. One peculiarity in Mr Munn's 

 management is moving the hives from 

 place to place, for the purpose of afford- 

 ing the bees a larger field for feeding. 

 This, although condemned by some, is by 

 no means either an unnatural or useless 

 practice. In Scotland, it is quite common 

 to take the hives from the low country, 

 when the season of flowering of the 

 plants most sought after by the bees is 

 over, and to carry them to the hills, 

 where the prevalent flowers, particularly 



* Cotton, in a work entitled <! My Bee-Book," gives a list of one hundred and twenty-four 

 works on bees, from 1639 to 1842. 



