56 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
L July 18, 1885. 
vention was necessary only for defective hives that have 
traverses between the entrance and combs, low porches, 
crooked entrances, or frames across the entrance. The latter 
is a mistake, as was shown in this Journal by Mr. Woodbury 
long ago, and I also proved it to be one of the direct causes 
of dysentery. There are many forms of abdominal disten¬ 
sion brought on by other causes, but none so fatal as that 
brought on by draughts or a vitiated atmosphere. The straw 
hive has, in a great measure, an entire immunity from these 
calamities. It has at all times a free circulation of air, but 
without a draught. The former bees cannot do without, and 
will not thrive without it. A stillness of air in a hive is as 
prejudicial to bees as a draught can well be. If bees from a 
straw hive reach the landing board after an airing during 
the winter or early spring, from the proximity of the combs 
to the entrances they will in most cases re-enter the hive in 
safety ; but not so where the combs are far from it, and the 
passage forming a labyrinth. When this is the case many 
bees get chilled, making the obstruction greater. Porches 
from 1 to 3 inches high are also most destructive to bees; 
the roof of these should not be less than 6 or 7 inches high. 
The above are not all the advantages straw hives possess 
over the unwieldy and badly constructed modern frame hives 
which in many cases are not only expensive but useless for 
a great number of bee-keepers who depend upon their har¬ 
vests of honey by moving their bees from one district to an¬ 
other. Single-cased, Stewarton, and straw hives are all well 
adapted for this purpose, but straw has nothing to recommend 
it over wood; but for travelling purposes, and the ease by 
which it can be rendered safe by ventilation, is certainly, to 
some bee-keepers, of greater value than many frame hives. 
There are but few things necessary to procure honey—viz., 
bees, flowers, weather, and a hive commodious enough to 
hold the stores gathered during the honey season. Bees will 
not lay up more honey in a frame hive than in a straw one, 
and, as I have shown, no hive is better for raising bees than 
a straw one—the wooden ones may be equal. We are told 
that, by the use of the extractor, frame hives yield more 
honey ; but there has never been any reliable proof adduced 
as to this, and, unless it is extracted after being sealed, the 
quality is not so fine as when taken from sealed combs from 
straw hives. 
Frame hives have, doubtless, the advantage over straw 
hives n their adaptability to receive comb foundation, the 
preserving of combs for future use after being extracted, for 
the rearing of queens, and their disposal at times, impracti¬ 
cable in the straw hive. There is, perhaps, an advantage in 
frame hives in being able to discover with certainty whether 
it is or is not in possession of a queen; but other properties 
claimed, such as the combs being interchangeable from one 
place of the hive, and from one hive to another, serve no 
good purpose—in fact, the reverse. Combs rarely match 
each other when made to change places, and foul brood has 
been often spread through the exchange of combs. The loss 
of queens from straw hives is so rare that it can scarcely be 
called a great defect. Though we cannot ascertain the fact by 
ocular demonstration, a clever bee-keeper can usually tell 
when a hive is queenless by the action of the bees. It is 
better that one hive should perish through this defect than 
many (as has often been the case) by manipulation. More 
queens have been lost from frame hives when manipulating 
than ever occurred in straw hives when left alone. 
Frame hives furnished with comb foundation give a great 
advantage over those not so provided; but straw hives, if 
made cylindrical and provided with bars, are equal to them. 
But even where this is not the case, the advantage is not all 
on the one side. Though those furnished with sheets make 
most progress for a few days at first, I have found that those 
not so provided made greater progress after a while. Then, 
as the honey season in this country lasts only from eight to 
twenty-one days at a time—the latter seldom—this unfixed 
number and uncertainty of honey days forms a wide gap fo 
discussion on the profit or otherwise of extracting, and th 
actual amount of profit, if any, by using foundation in frame 
hives, or the loss by not using it, in straw hives. In conse¬ 
quence of never having put the thing to a thorough test, I 
must leave that over until I am able, by actual experiment, 
to give a table of the results. I know very well that the 
foundation will give best results ; but I am also sure that by 
taking one year and one season with another, the straw hive 
without it will not be so far behind as some would have us 
believe. Some frame-hivists have gone so far as to say that 
supers could not be obtained from straw hives. A more strange 
statement could not be made. Supers were taken from straw 
hives before there were any frame ones. If straw hives are 
properly made, supering can be carried on equally as well 
with them as any frame hive, and artificial swarming is more 
expeditiously performed with straw hives. 
I trust the foregoing will be read with profit by those who 
cling to the old-fashioned hive, and read in the same spirit I 
have written it by those who condemn straw hives. My 
object has been to help those bee-keepers to do the best with 
the old appliances they have, to cheer and show them that 
the frame hive does not possess all and every advantage 
towards successful apiculture, but, at the same time, advise 
all to make a trial of modern hives ; and I have no doubt 
they will, with the knowledge they possess, be able to get on 
well, if not better than they did with the older ones.— 
Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor’' 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than tivo or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Marechal Niel Rose (J. Mc.D.). —We are obliged by your letter, wbicb, 
however, cannot be inserted this week. 
Antirrhinums (J. W., Pershore). —It you cut off the faded spikes 
promptly, before seed pods form, and give a soaking of liquid manure, the 
plants, if fairly strong, will, in all probability, flower well in the autumn. 
We have often adopted this practice with very satisfactory results. 
Vines Scorched ( E. L.).— Your vinery is no doubt kept too moist and 
close. Do not damp it very late in the evening, leave the top lights open 
an inch all night, and give more air as soon as the sun reaches the house 
in the morning. The box and Grapes were smashed, but from what we 
could see the Vines are unhealthy. 
Chrysanthemums for Exhibition ( Wordsworth ).— There has been 
delay in the delivery of your letter. Remove promptly all the buds that 
form in July. Use rain -water from the tank, exposing it to the sun 
previously if convenient; hard water causes the leaves to shrivel prematurely. 
We will reply more fully next week. 
Hyacinth Holders (J. K. Young). —Although we had not had an oppor¬ 
tunity of actually trying the ingenious appliance it appears the point we 
mentioned was not unimportant, and you show a way out of the little 
difficulty. That Hyacinth spikes can be supported with the wires and clips 
there is not a doubt, but the value of the contrivance can only be fully 
tested by actual practice, and we advise you to send samples to a few persons 
who grow Hyacinths largely in beds, and ask them to try the holder next 
spring. 
Yellow Rose not Flowering (E.W .).—If yours is the “Old Yellow” 
Rose all you can do is to encourage healthy growth with liquid manure if 
necessary, let the shoots be fully exposed to the sun to ripen, and limit the 
pruning to the removal of the soft unripened tips. As we have many times 
stated, it is quite impossible for us to undertake to name Roses, as this can 
only be done by actual comparison with others in a large collection or at an 
exhibition; besides, the petals had fallen entirely from some of the blooms. 
We can only say the striped Rose resembles the York-and-Lancaster. We 
cannot even suggest the names of the others. 
