240 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ March 24,1887. 
hardly expect to reap any benefit from the change, but 
for the sake of testing the relative values of the two sizes 
a few will this year be used in my apiary, and the result 
shall be reported at the close of the year's work. 
In constructing hives to winter out of doors, unless 
double walls are used the wood must be 1 inch thick 
before it is planed. Many bee-keepers think that single- 
walled hives winter bees equally as well as those with 
double walls. Mr. Cheshire speaks very emphatically in 
favour of the space between the walls being filled with 
cork dust, and points out that a dead air space is of com¬ 
paratively small value. There is no hive which I can 
describe or claim to be the best of all, but in view of the 
fact that there may be some who would like to know how 
to construct a simple hive at a small cost, it is my inten¬ 
tion to describe in detail bow to make a hive which will 
combine all the essential necessaries for successful 
management with simplicity and cheapness. In such a hive 
there will be nothing original, nothing new. A simple 
case to contain a certain number of frames and so con¬ 
structed as to be useful for all purposes for which it may 
be required. The old question will of course be raised— 
What are the essential necessaries ? 
The “ Woodbury hive ” is still in use in some parts of 
this country: it is either made of wood or straw, and 
usually contains ten frames. 4 hese frames are smaller 
than tfie standard irames above described; the dimensions 
are 13 by 71 inches inside measurement, with projections 
of five-eighths of an inch at either end; the inside mea¬ 
surement of the hive itself is 14£ inches square and 
9 inches deep. The most novel feature in the hive is that 
between the tops of the frames and the under side of the 
crown board there is a three-eighths bee space left, so 
that the bees can at all times travel over the top bars of 
the frame and so have free access to the different combs. 
This frame is less suitable to the requirements of the 
apiary than the “Standard,” and it is only here described 
because some may desire to possess a hive of the kind 
which gave great results in past years. 4 he “Woodbury 
super” is 13 inches square and 6 deep, and contains 
eight bars, and is made of glass. 
Every rack of sections will require “ dividers.” 
These are made of wood or tin; if of wood they must be 
cut as thin as possible, wood are the better. Those used 
in my apiary stretch from side to side of the rack and 
rest on pieces of wood quarter of an inch high laid along 
the sides of the bottom of the racks. The dividers 
must be wide enough to extend within a quarter of an 
inch of the top> of the sections, and will for the 41 by 4p 
sections be about 13 inches long by 3J inches wide. Two- 
pound sections are occasionally used, but unless in a 
locality where a special demand exists for these larger 
sizes it. will be wiser to discontinue their use, as they are 
much less readily saleable, and there is considerably more 
risk in transit. Large indivisible supers are of little 
value, and are rarely saleable at a good price, although 
occasional purchasers may still be found for the “ Crystal 
Palaces ” in which bee-keepers only a generation ago 
used to exult. Large divisible supers, such as the 
“ Stewarton,” are easily sold in some districts and are 
very beautiful to the eye, but for general purposes they 
hardly seem to suit the taste of the consumer of to-day. 
My experience does not extend to Scotland, where these 
large divisible supers seem to be easily sold at good 
prices. It has never been necessary for me to send my 
honey far from home when I wish to sell it; it is gene¬ 
rally sold a year before it is produced. 
_ The above notes are somewhat discursive, and are not 
arranged so methodically as they might have been, but 
this article is meant simply to fill up, as it were, the in¬ 
terstices left in preceding contributions, and so make all 
who have followed me in former advice to more readily 
grasp what has been written in the past, and to prepare 
them to receive what I hope to write during the next few 
months on the practical management of the apiary.— 
Felix. 
BEES LEAVING THEIR HIVE AFTER BEING HIVED. 
“ Felix,” some time ago, when speaking of bees leaving their hive 
after being hived, said : “ Why it is has never yet, so far as I have 
heard, been explained.” “ Felix ” may not have observed my remarks 
on the subject, but I have frequently alluded to it, and in my essay 
(page 05) some of my observations are recorded, and may be summed 
up in the following :—The bees before swarming may have discovered 
some untenanted combs, which they, after swarming, will attempt to 
occupy, in spite of being provided with a suitable hive, unless the said 
combs have been made distasteful to the bees by carbolic acid. Bees 
swarming from a hive having little honey will be liable to leave their 
hive unless immediately provided with food. Stranger bees and a 
duality of queens, either from their own or another hive, causes the 
queens to be encased or balled when the bees leave the hive, as if by 
stratagem to save their queen. The foregoing are undoubtedly some of 
the direct causes of bees leaving their hive. But there are other causes. 
One of them is that the swarm is often queenless—oftener than many 
bee-keepers suspect. The following is an instance which occurred here 
last summer, and which will suffice for explanation. The hive in ques¬ 
tion was a top swarm about six weeks hived, when it threw a “ virgin ” 
swarm. It was hived in a neighbour’s garden, and he appropriated the 
swarm, joining it to one of his own. In this case, under these circum¬ 
stances, the bees remained, and fraternised with their neighbours in 
their new abode ; but had they been placed in an empty hive they 
would certainly have returned. An examination made on the old hive 
shortly thereafter revealed the fact that the queen regnant, now very 
heavy and of large size, had never left the hive, and the queen cells were 
being destroyed. Such cases are by no means common, but are more 
frequent than many may suppose. 
Some years ago I had a hive of bees that persisted in swarming in 
spite of every precaution on my part to prevent it. At length the old 
queen was deposed, as well as every royal cell and young queen, unless, 
one, which, according to the rule in swarming, should have ended it ; 
but, strange to say, it did not until it had swarmed, and was returned 
fi re times. Cases of this nature are so rare that bee-keepers need be 
under little apprehension that any of their hives will suffer from such 
an occurrence. My motive for mentioning it is simply to show the 
strange aberrations that sometimes take place, and to induce bee¬ 
keepers to search in a wider field than they do for an explanation of 
the mysteries that occur. — A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
® 0 ° 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 un¬ 
avoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
LATE INQUIRIES.— It is necessary to again remind correspondents that 
letters arriving on WEDNESDAY MORNING cannot be answered 
in the “ next issue,” which is then far advanced for press. 
Address (.4 Lady Reader).— Tbe address you require is Charles White- 
head, Esq.. Banning House, Maidstone. 
Strawberries in Pots (C. B. B.). —The precise information you require 
was published at the top of the first column on page 221 last week. It is 
not necessary to remove your plants from the present frame into one still 
warmer unless you deBire to expedite the ripening of the fruit. The 
variety you are growing is very useful, hut cannot be made to produce fruit 
as large as ihat of Sir Joseph Paxtrn and Marguerite. 
Lselia purpurata (A. B. C.). —The peat should be covered with growing 
sphagnum, and this w 11 give a good indication as to the water required, as 
it must he kept in a fresh healthy condition. Only sufficient water is needed 
to keep the peat moderately moist to prevent the growths suffering in any 
way, but it must never he allowed to get into a soddened state. After the 
flowering, when the growth is commenc ng, more water should be supplied. 
Iu midwinter, when the days are short and there is little sun heat, less 
water is requisite than at the present time, as with bright sun the plants a e 
liable to si ffer if supplied too sparingly. 
Saw oust for Mulching ( F.J. ).—We have not used sawdust from stables 
I for mulching the soil over the roots of fruit trees. We think it might be 
