55 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
. of glass on the top box. The tube, therefore, 
I has to be so much lower than the sides that 
I the bees may walk between the edge of the 
I tube and the glass. After this I cut a hole in 
l the quilt where the cluster is, put the feeder 
i on with some Bugar or syrup in, and now you 
, can see through the glass how the bees come 
up in numbers to carry away the contents. 
This feider answers more than one purpose; 
it supports ventilation, yet the pane of glass 
prevents cold from entering and the vapours 
from below condense on the lower surface of 
the glass into drops of pure water ; the feeder 
therefore supplies the bees at once with both 
food and drink. 
H. Naveau. 
Hamilton, Aug. 25, 1887. 
Ertracts from jfordQit Journals. 
OUTLINES OF BEEKEEPING FOR 
BEGINNERS. 
From British Bee Journal. 
Continued from Pa ok 27. 
VI. — Bees Require a Dwelling to Live in. 
1. The honey-bee does not like dirt, and it 
differs from ordinary domesticated animals 
kept in stalls and stables, by itself attending 
to the cleanliness of its own dwelling. It gets 
rid of its dejections outside of its residence, 
and when in health never soils the inside ; it 
ventilates it and constantly renews the air, so 
that the newly-stored honey does not become 
contaminated by foul smells or unwholesome 
surroundings. A stall always has a bad 
smell ; it is, therefore, not right to speak of a 
stall of bees (an expression not at all un- 
common in some country districts). The 
dwellings in which bees live and build their 
combs are called hives. 
2. Wind, wet, and cold, are injurious to 
bees; the hive must, therefore, be well pro- 
tected against these. A good hive must be 
warm, have a good covering, and it must be 
placed in such a position that the keen north- 
east and the moist south-west winds do not 
easily find their way into the entrance-hole. 
3. Hives are made of different materials 
and vary in shape. Those formerly in use 
were called sleeps; although these are still 
found, and are extensively used by villagers, 
modern beekeepers have adopted wooden 
boxes, as in every way preferable. 
4. Skeps are usually made of straw, and are 
generally dome-shaped, or circular with flat 
tops, having a hole in the crown. They are 
worked on the swarming principle, and have 
fixed combs. The modern wooden boxes used 
for hives have even sides, generally at right 
angles to each other. In them the combs are 
moveable, and for this reason they are called 
moveable comb-hives. They offer greater faci- 
lities for manipulation than skeps ; at the 
same time they present considerable advan- 
tages, and if managed properly, enable the 
beekeeper to obtain a very much larger 
quantity of honey. 
5. Besides skeps and moveable comb-hives, 
there are what are called Stewarton hives. 
These are also of wood and are eight-sided 
(octagonal). The central combs are moveable 
the outer ones being fixed. Stewarton hives 
are easy of management and give better 
results than skeps- 
6. Wooden hives should be well made by a 
good carpenter, who is also a beekeeper and 
understands the requirements of bees. Ac- 
curacy of workmanship is of the greatest 
importance, and the simpler the construction 
the more easily will the hives be manipulated. 
The wood used must be well seasoned, dry 
' yellow deal or pine free from loose knots and 
cracks. 
VII. — The Comb Structure in a Hive. 
1. When a swarm is placed in a hive the 
bees constituting it begin to build combs. 
! These are made of wax, which is secreted by 
the bees and appears in the shape of small, 
thin, five-sided scales between the rings on 
the under-side of the worker’s abdomen. 
[ The wax is produced from the honey con- 
sumed by the bees, of which several pounds 
| are required to yield one pound of wax. 
2. During comb-building the bees hang 
quietly in clusters. They work up the wax- 
scales with their jaws, and, by adding a liquid 
i (saliva), they knead the wax into a soft paste. 
Comb-building is commenced at the top and 
continued downwards, the central division 
wall or foundation being always begun first. 
This forms the basis of the cells, which are 
placed on each side in such a way that the 
base of one forms portions of the bases of 
three on the opposite side. Two rows of such 
cells with a central division constitute a comb, 
| and from this shape the cells fit so closely 
together that no room is wasted. 
3. The cells are usually six-sided, and are 
not quite level, having a slight inclination 
upwards in the direction of the openings. 
4 Only well fed bees can make wax and 
build combs. When bees are queeuless or 
i food is scarce combs are not built. 
5. When bees are placed in an empty hive 
they at first build combs with small cells 
called worker-cells ; later, larger cells are con- 
structed, and these are called drone-eells. 
Sometimes the tees change the size of the 
cells on the same comb, and go from worker 
to drone, or from drone to worker; they then 
construct between them irregular shaped cells, 
which are called accommodation cells. The 
change is usually made in from one to six 
rows ; these cells may be of almost sny Bhape, 
and have sometimes five or seven sides. 
G. Cells intended for brood are of two 
regular sizes ; those in which workers are bred 
are one-fifth of an inch between the sides, 
and five of them measure one inch. Comb 
