504 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
tions, exhibited in 1886, and raised without separators, 
of which so much was sdd, were only approximately 
regular, and, indeed, not nearly so regular as great 
slabs of comb raised by myself, and some others, 
many years before separators were thought of. The 
Canadian honey required to be cased in the order 
in which it was built, and then it was generally im- 
possible to lift out a box without damaging its face, 
or the face of its neighbour. 
Mr. Simmins’ system depends largely upon the 
bee’s preference for comb over foundation. Fig. 76, 
intended to explain the principle, but not the details, 
shows a space which would, in practice, accommodate 
not less than five or six frames for a hive of one 
storey,* and the combs built here may be utilised by 
being put into sections. If eggs have been laid in 
them, the eggs lose their vitality by the comb being 
kept a few days before it is given to the bees. The 
inventor depends more, however, upon combs built 
earlier in the year in an upper storey, under the 
stimulation of dry sugar feeding. These_, cut into 
six, just fit qjin. square section boxes ; and since all 
the boxes are supplied with combs simultaneously, 
separators are not essential, and l\Ir. Simmins does 
not generally use them. 
The significant fact, however, is that bees so prefer 
to wmrk in sections supplied with comb to building 
below, that the former will be readily stored and 
* One-storey hives are not best suited to the Simmins’ system. With 
those in tiers, starters only are given in the bottom storey, while comb is 
crowded into the sections. A loose comb is a bee’s abomination. Fixing 
is followed by filling, so that the nadir unheeded is found to have made 
little progress even at the end of the season. 
