120 
Modern Bee-keeping, 
medicine. Our ancestors obtained their strong drink from it, and 
there are many yet who make their metheglin and mead, and find 
them better than the drink sold to the public at the present day. 
As a liqueur, an old mead of, say, ten years of age is very hard to 
beat. 
It will be well in conclusion to give some idea of the imple- 
ments in use with the Modern Bee Keeper. His Hives are still 
very much on the Woodbury lines, though many alterations 
have been made and various neat devices added to render them 
simple and easy to work. The floor-board should always be 
easily removable, and should have an ample alighting board. 
Tastes vary as to legs ; they are useful in the winter, but should 
be removed, we think, when the cold snowy weather is past, and 
for the remainder of the season the Hive should rest on a bed of 
dry ashes raised about six inches above the level of the sur- 
rounding gi'ound. The Hive should have two bodies with 
double walls on two sides. The lower body should have a well- 
spreading porch to shelter the entrance from the sun's rays, and 
the entrance doors should be so contrived as to open the whole 
width of the Hive, so that efficient ventilation may be obtained 
in the hot weather. The upper body should be in two parts, 
the lower part of the correct depth for shallow frames, as their 
use is very advantageous. At the same time, if the two parts 
of the upper body are placed together, they should form a Hive 
capable of taking the ordinary standard bars. Then, if supering 
is resorted to, all we have to do is to remove the walls from 
these upper bodies, when crates of Sections can be tiered one 
upon the other. The roof finishes off the Hive. Everything 
should be kept well painted, as dryness is very essential to the 
welfare of Bees, which were originally natives of a very much 
drier climate than our own. The Hive illustrations given here- 
with will show all points alluded to better than pages of ex- 
planation. 
Sections are an important feature, as by their use we get 
our Comb Honey in a saleable form. The one-piece Sections 
are very ingenious, being strips of tough wood ^ inch in thick- 
ness and 2 inches wide, with tenons at each end. Three V- 
shaped grooves are taken out of each strip, merely a tliin 
shaving being left at the bottom of each groove. When these 
V-joints are wetted they readily bend without breaking, and the 
tenons are pushed into each other, a perfectly square strong 
box being the result. We are indebted to the Americans for 
this device, and the invention is claimed by Mr. C. ]']. Parks, 
who maimfactures about 15,000,000 yearly, of which Great 
