March 25, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
241 
attention must be paid by a purcbaaer. I am able to buy 
hives with double walls all round, floorboard, section crate 
ready for use, and roof of depth sufficient, it is true, for one 
crate of sections only, but the remedy for this defect can most 
easily be supplied at home; at this price and after testing such 
a hive for the last three years, with no attention bestowed 
upon it except an annual coat of paint, I am perfectly 
satisfied that such a hive is all that is required, and will last 
equally as long as any that it has been my fortune to come 
across in my visits to neighbouring apiaries. 
There are numerous “ best ” hives in existence, so many 
that it is impossible to award the palm with certainty to any 
individual one ; but of this I am convinced, that too much 
stress is laid upon the hive and too little upon the skill of the 
owner. What more can be desired beyond an ordinary hive 
of sufficient capacity ? Do frames parallel with or at right 
angles to the entrance make so great a difference to the health 
of the bees ? One credulous observer even ventures to hazard 
the idea that foul brood may be induced by the position of the 
combs, while others say that one position is more natural 
than another. But of such fanciful ideas no notice need be 
taken, except to hope that common sense will come to the 
rescue and lead those who hold such ideas from their untenant¬ 
able position. Perhaps the most crucial question in connec¬ 
tion with hives is the merits of deep and shallow frames. It 
is said that bees on deep combs lie more quiet in winter than 
colonies on the shallow frames, and if this is true it is a 
decided advantage. But it is a matter of common observa¬ 
tion that two stocks in hives of identical description, will, the 
one be restless and active, the other quiet and still; and of 
this more than one case has come under my notice this winter, 
which has been a trying one to bees, and in not a few cases 
fatal. If it was my intention to keep up a large apiary I 
should not hesitate to adopt the standard frame, not because 
of any particular virtue it is supposed to possess, but simply 
on the score of convenience, but whichever size is made use 
of every frame ought to be of the same dimensions and so 
interchangeable. 
This year I am for the first time using a Stewarton of the 
improved type, and I have little doubt that it is a hive of 
great practicality ; but the one doubt which has hitherto 
prevented my using it is the possibility of selling the supers 
at a fair price. As for using sections on it, it appears to be 
ill fitted for such a purpose, while on the other hand it is 
surpassingly perfect in its construction, if ordinary supers are 
used. But notwithstanding all that has been said and written 
about various kinds of hives it is still my opinion that a large 
straw Pettigrew is one of the most efficient of hives. If swarms 
are desired it gives the earliest and the largest; if supers are 
desired, sections or other supers can be obtained with great 
ease and in quantity ; for wintering they cannot be excelled ; 
for the cottager who has but little time to devote to bees they 
are the easiest to manage, the surest to give a profit, neces¬ 
sitating least outlay, a minimum of trouble, and the greatest 
satisfaction and pleasure. 
It seems a forlorn hope to expect to persuade bee-keepers 
that a hive with fixed combs can be a profitable one. They 
like to play with their bee3, examine them and pry into the 
secrets of the hive, and think they are increasing their profits. 
If they are content to follow where some unwisely lead, I 
can only lift up a solitary voice in opposition, and wait until 
a return is made to the old methods, and a fresh revolution 
in apiculture is announced. Already the American bee¬ 
keeper, with his accustomed shrewdness, sees the fallacy of 
moving single frames, and is introducing a hive by which 
with one movement only a whole set of frames may be mani¬ 
pulated, and this if I am not mistaken is a small cloud on the 
horizon, betokening a speedy change in the position taken up 
by advanced bee-keepers since the moveable-frame hive was 
first prominently brought into notice. Time alone can prove 
the right, and, if by a few words of advice the return of a 
wanderer is hastened to the more certain way to success my 
end has been attained.— Felix. 
HONEY PRESS WANTED. 
Although generally setting ourselves against tbe multiplication of 
bee-keeping appliances, we cannot help expressing the want we have 
often felt of a handy honey press. Small producers who cannot afford 
a honey extractor, and those who only use straw hives, know with what 
difficulty anything like a good article of strained honey is procurable. 
The usual plan of breakiog up the comb and leaving it to drain through 
cheese cloth is only a degree better than squeezing it by hand. In either 
case, in spite of precautions, the pollen will get broken up and impart its 
unwelcome flavour to the honey ; and the case is still worse when, as is 
the case of heather honey, the honey i3 too thick and heavy either to 
drain of itself or to be squeezed out without being heated. 
In the case of heather honey, in fac 1 -, nothing but squeezing will 
separate it from the comb, the extractor being perfectly useless. 
The Caledonian Apiarian Society for years offered a prize for an 
“ extractor ” for heather honey; but, so far as we kuow, no award was 
ever made. The only exhibit we ever saw for this prize was not an 
extractor, but a presser or ejector, consisting of a cylinder and piston—a 
screw press, in fact—which took a very small piece of comb each time, 
and was besides offered at a price practically prohibitive. No doubt it 
would work in its own way, but a first glance showed a radical error in 
construction—the comb had to be placed flatways in the bottom, and the 
piston on descending had to burst the whole of the cells at once, the honey 
from those in the centre having to find its way through all the ruptured 
cells to the. circumference. No wonder a powerful screw was required. 
We would suggest to our ingenious subscribers our own ideas of what 
a honey presser should be like, hoping that a serviceable article may be 
evolved ere long. In the first place it should be made to receive the 
comb so that the pressure may act on it edgeways—that is, in the plane 
of the midrib. Thus the cells would receive the pressure consecutively, 
and a gradual easy pressure would do. The cells would then burst as 
they ought, only at their cappings, and the honey escape without having 
to pass through other cells, some of them, it may be, containing pollen. 
We would make it to take pieces of comb about the size of that con¬ 
tained in a 1 lb. section—that is, the sixth part of a standard frame of 
comb. For this purpose a strong receiver with perforated sides would be 
requisite, and measuring, say, by 4 by 1| inches, and a piston or 
pluuger of solid hard wood, only a shade less. The plunger should, we 
think, be easily worked by means of a lever like a small pump-handle, 
only having its fulcrum at its extreme end. 
The other requirements are an arrangement for removing the crushed 
comb, convenience for receiving the honey as it is pressed out, and a 
simple framework to hold all in a convenient position. We have our 
own ideas as to how these details may be carried out, but doubtless these 
will suggest themselves to any whs really understand what is wanted. 
We only add that the whole apparatus should be so cheap as to be within 
the reach of our average bee-keepsrs. From experiments already made 
we are satisfied that with such a press the honey would be of the purest 
quality. Tbe single squeeze given to the comb in the position we suggest 
does not break up the pollen so as to mix it with the honey. Who is 
going to give us a cheap and reliable honey press ?—W. R. (in British 
Bee Record). 
[Honey Presser. — Shows and Judging. —That there has 
been a great amount of knowledge in bee-keeping diffused through 
bee and honey shows cannot be doubted, but on the other 
hand there has been a considerable amount of injustice at them 
no person but those interested will attempt to deny. At the first 
Crystal Palace Show held in London gross injustices were not only 
attempted, but carried out to the very letter by tbe managers. At the 
first Caledonian Apiarian Society held in Glasgow the Judges were allowed 
to adjudicate and award the prizes to their own exhibits, which is not only 
unjust but misleading. At that Show a prize was offered for the cheapest 
storifying hive ; two competed for the prize, the one was entered at 
12s. 6d., while the other was entered at 34s. 6d.; the latter was in no way 
superior to the former, yet it was awarded the first prize. We have seen 
much written and heard much spoken about adulterated honey. Two 
gentlemen, members of the British Bee-keepers’ Association, whose names 
I mercifully conceal, acted as Judges at a show where I was present, 
awarded every prize with one exception to pure sugar, in spite of my 
warning that it was sugar, and it was afterwards proved to be sugar. 
In one case I saw two different hives compete in different classes, and 
the one that obtained the first prize in class A was beaten by the 
same hive in class B. There was no difference in make or price of any 
of these hives in either class, and the Judges were the same. There was 
an objection made to the losing hive in class A that it was “ too dear 
for general use ; ” but it so happened that it was 10s. cheaper than the 
other, and appeared in printed letters underneath the ominous words, 
“ too dear for general use.” In class A three hives competed, but 
there were fourteen in class B. In class C awards were made even more 
glaring. Some of the best hives were not even opened. Along with two 
other persons I officiated as Judge at a show where we had great difficulty 
in awarding the prizes to the most deserving through the interference of 
one of the Committee in charge, and because we would not be influenced 
by him he disallowed the opinions of the Judges to appear in the press. 
I observed he took a special interest in bee furniture, and busied himself 
i n recommending it to customers, ’ 
If shows are to be productive of good they must be conducted on 
equitable principles, and the judges appointed above suspicion, having a 
thorough knowledge of what they adjudica*e on. “ Honesty, justice, ane 
truth should be their motto, without which, and in the absen3e of any o i 
