THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
91 
rain almost without intermission, hut I would 
not be satisfied with my own opinion without 
giving it a trial. It remained in my shop the 
greater part of the souson, until one day a very 
tine natural swarm issued, and no hive being 
available, I hived it into the Berlepsch hive, 
and in some respects the said hive pleased me 
very much. In regard to wintering pure 
Italians during a wet Victorian winter, the 
Berlep»ch hive cannot be surpassed. I believe 
it is owing to the super being so connected 
with the broodroom that no outer air can 
enter, and yet the steam from the bees has 
ample room to escape, and the bees do not 
contract the diarrhcca. But yet there are 
other reasons why I dislike it. One reason is 
that my extractorisoneof Mr Root's 1 " Novice,” 
and the Berlepsch frames do not fit into the 
wire basket. But as I wanted the frames 
extracted last season, I had to fix separate top 
bars on to the Berlepsch frames, on which I 
could hang those frames on to the busket 
of the Langstroth extractor. Of course I did 
it, but with u great loss of time, which is a 
great consideration in that season of the year. 
Another reason that I did not want it is, that 
the bees till up the grooves, in which the 
projecting ends of the frames are moving, so 
full <>f propolis, that nt times, especially in 
cold days, it is almost impossible to move the 
frames without breaking them. Further, I find 
that the bees now and then d build the combs 
not quite straight down, and the combs become 
fixed tocach other. Asthesuper wasfilled with 
beautiful comb honey, I could dispose of it, hut 
not so readily os the one pound sections from 
the Langstroth hive. I had made up my mind 
that three weeks after the first swarm issued 
from it, 1 would transfer it into a Langstroth 
hive, but as the season was good, at that time 
it was so full of almost solid honey that I had 
to extract it and transfer it later on. Although 
I said above that I had not seen a Berlcpsch hive 
before, yet the first frame hives 1 made about 
ten years ago were, although not the same 
dimension, on the same principle, namely, tne 
frame ends running in a groove, and open at 
the back of the hive, mid 1 think it is this kind 
of hive Mr. Full wood is alluding to. 
H. Naykau. 
Hamilton, 18th August, 1880. 
— aem ij-t '-a sr-g-T .nr--*' w " ■ ■ — — - . — 
NEW BOOKS, REVIEWS AND 
EXTRACTS 
FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARSUXO. 
WtlKRK fertile queens can be obtained at 
reasonable prices, the following plan of 
dividing is, perhaps, the least objection- 
able and Ute most profitable, when increase 
with a fair amount of surplus honey is 
desired. Let A be the hive it is proposed to 
divide. About mid day, when the bees are 
flying, remove from A one frame of brood, with 
the queen, and place it in the centre of u new 
hive B, tilling up botn with frames of founda- 
tion or empty reserved combs, or both. Place 
B upon the stand of A. Take combs from A, 
and shake into B about half the been from A, 
returning the comb* to their places in A. 
Cage under a pipe-cover cage, in the centre of 
A, the uew and fertile queen, and close up the 
frames, removing A to a new stand. On the 
following morning the queen may be released, 
and in a good season both hives may be 
worked for extracted or comb honey with fair 
prospect of success, provided the division be 
made sufficiently early, say not later than the 
first week in June. This system must only 
be applied to hives with large population and 
abundance of brood . — British Bee Journal 
Befkkkhng is Minorca. 
You ask me how the natives keep bees. I 
think our bees keep themselves. V’erv little 
care is bestowed u|ion them by the so-called 
beekeepers. Their hives are composed of a 
long cylinder made of split reed-, with round 
stone headings an inch thick at either end. 
These cylinders — about a foot across and five 
long — are laid on a sloping stone bank, with a 
few shaving* on top »s a cushion. Xome dozen 
hives lire thus laid close together with front 
entrances sloping downwards, generally among 
the prickly pear bushes, where nothing more 
useful can be made to grow The front stone 
heading has nine or ten holes bored through 
it for the bees to go in and out. Tiles arethen 
laid over the whole to keep off the rain, and 
their apiary is completed. 
Once or t wice a year the so-called beekeeper, 
who is generally an ignorant rustic, look* into 
his hives in order to takeout wtiat little honey 
he may find there. But he often finds hee-tuoths 
and caterpillar* where be hones to find honey. 
In our « aim climate the tnotn make sad havoc 
among these ill cared hives. On such occasions 
our beekeeper conclude* hi* Im p* have made 
the sad mistake of laying moth-worm egg* 
instead of hoe-brood. He considers this the 
only possible way of acc unting for such ruin 
as he finds within the hive*. Occasionally he 
come* across a little of our excellent Minorca 
honey, and thi* is the way he goc* to work to 
get it out; — 
About the middip or end of June he takes 
with him an iron instrument, some two feet 
long, having a fist, simrp-eutiing edge at one 
end and a hook at the other, and utter smoking 
heavily he goc* to woik cutting away and 
pulling out the combs — brood and all — which 
