50 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
of the floor board (as vve see at A, Fig. 7), instead of 
iin. above the bottom rail, which must have a bee- 
space allowed below it (as in Figs. 18 and 19). All 
the combs are thus made movable ; but so cleverly 
are the slides fixed with propolis (see Propolis ”) 
by the bees, that terrible earnestness is requisite to 
draw them from their position. 
Each box has an entrance cut in its front ; but, if 
two or three boxes are used, the entrance of the 
lowest is alone left open. “ Renfrewshire Bee-keeper’’ 
advises increasing the entrance- way, by making similar 
openings on each side of the usual one. 
The octagonal shape is, in the opinion of the same 
charming writer, an immense benefit to the colony 
during winter, an opinion which I can only very 
partially endorse, for reasons given in the previous 
chapter. The variation in the form of the* top bar 
which it entails certainly prevents the complete inter- 
changeability of combs which a rectangular hive pos- 
sesses, while it to some extent stereotypes the mutual 
positions of the combs of any one hive, disadvantages 
which will hereafter become apparent. The Carr- 
Stewarton, however, retains the square form, and 
rejects the unconquerably inconvenient slide, adopting 
frames like to the Langstroth, while it gives us com- 
pletely the telescopic character of its prototype — the 
one feature which has made the Stewarton commend- 
‘able, and the importance of which is only now 
beginning to be generally realised. Both of these 
hives may be extended, by the addition of stock- 
boxes and supers, to suit precisely the strength of 
the colony and the yield of honey, while they can 
