680 Report on Bees, Hives, and Honey at Kilburn, 1879. 
were obliged to import Dutch clover-seed (rr//b?mm r-eye/is) annually, but, 
owing to the introduction of the honey-bee, they are now able to export it. 
There can be no doubt, judging from the crowds by which the exhibition 
was daily visited, the extreme interest evinced by the public generally in the 
manipulations of living bees, and the explanations so ably given by some of 
our leading apiarians, that this department of our great annual national show 
was one of the most attractive of the entire exhibition. 
We earnestly trust that the science of apiculture, which in ancient times 
was always considered a branch of agriculture — and although a small matter, 
it is by no means an unimportant one : "In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria," 
as Virgil sang of old — may become better known and appreciated by the 
agricultural community at large from its exhibition having assigned to it a 
portion of the Koyal Society's patronage at its annually recurring Show. 
In the department for Observatory Hives there were eight entries, display- 
ing the advance made of late years in this class of hive. 
The hive of Mr. Freeman was a model of neatness of construction, and we 
had no hesitation in awarding to it the first prize. It consists of six fraines 
which when closed —three in front, and three at back — have communication 
with the entrance by means of a channel, through which the bees pass to and 
fro. The two outside frames of each set of three are movable, and turn upon 
a pivot, while the third, and centre one, is fixed ; and all communicate with a 
central opening through wbich the bees pass from all combs, and enter the 
channel in connection with the entrance to the hive. Each frame is enclosed 
in glass, rendering both sides of the combs visible. 
Mr. Brice Wilson, of Newbury, Berks, obtained second prize with a hive of 
most ingenious construction, containing also six frames, but differing from the 
former in having all its frames movable. These are placed on the sides of a 
hexagon, and can be joined together to form a compact hive for the preserva- 
tion of heat during the winter months. 
Mr. Abbott's third-prize hive was of very simple and less costly construction. 
It is intended to be fixed to a wall, and moved horizontally at pleasure, the 
combs being placed vertically, one above the other. 
In Class 375, "For the best Hive on the movable comb principle, with 
best arrangements for securing a Harvest of Comb Honey, with covering and 
Stand, complete," there were twenty entries, and Messrs. Abbott, of Fairlawn,, 
Southall, received the first prize for their hive " Superlative," No. 985, there 
being no other exhibit which united so many combinations of almost every 
principle adapted for securing a large honey harvest, in portable and saleable 
form, together with practical utility as regards the wintering of the bees, and 
the inducement to work in its supers. Space will not permit of our fully 
describing the principles involved in this hive, but its chief features are, great 
facility for increasing or diminishing the size of the hive to any extent desired, 
adaptation to the systems of supers, nadirs, collateral or longitudinal depriva- 
tion, natural or artificial swarming ; and last, but not least, the facility with 
which any portion of the combs of the hive may be withdrawn for manipula- 
tion in the extractor. 
The second prize was awarded to Mr. J. M. Hooker, of Sevenoaks, for^ his 
hive the " Alexandra," the construction of which for strength, solidity, 'and 
soundness of material leaves nothing to be desired. Its chief feature consists 
in the placing of a duplicate hive above the stock -hive, by means of which a 
swarm issuing from the parent hive can be placed over it until furuished with 
comb and brood, when stock and swarm are again united, royal quarrels 
settled by combat or otherwise, and overflowing population secured for work 
in supers, for which the usual arrangements are made, tiers of sections being 
placed collaterally, and provision for super deprivation : another advantage- 
being the movability of the combs of the hive laterally, free from any 
disturbance of supers. 
