390 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mabch 26, 1861. 
straw bee-hive, 4? inches deep, and inches diameter, top and 
bottom, inside measure, fitted with neatly rounding covers, and 
their rims not to exceed in depth if possible more than one- 
eighth of an inch, with small bow handles, and holes cut in their 
sides just sufficiently large to admit the handle of a dessert¬ 
spoon ? The bottoms of the glasses also to have holes in their 
centres 1 inch in diameter.” 
“Sir,—We cannot give you the exact cost of the glasses made 
to your dimensions, but we think they would come to about 42 s. 
per dozen. We should want to make some before we could give 
you the exact price.” 
“ Gentlemen,—My idea from the first was to try for some 
honey-glasses not to exceed 3,s. each. Your last statement gives 
me hopes that it can be done, if you substitute knobs instead of 
the bow handles for the covers. Make two glasses according to 
my last dimensions, and send them to me for approval. Knobs 
versus bows.” 
“ Two bee-glasses and covers at 3s. 9 d. 
“ Per rail this day. 
“ The above will be 39s. per doz., and if we can do them for 
36s. we will.” ^ 
“ Gentlemen,—The two glasses will do very well, the covers 
are a great improvement. Continue to give the least possible 
measurement of depth in the rims. Send me four more as soon 
as possible. I must not order them by the dozen till I have 
introduced them to try their success in the market.” 
Thus ends the history of the glass formation; but it must have 
a leg to stand on, which will be best wrought by a turner’s lathe 
out of the whitest piece of sycamore wood quite 1 inch thick, 
having a six-inch diameter one way, and seven and three-quarters 
another. Round it otf with the exception of a one-inch-and- 
three-quarters projection at its broadest diameter to imitate the 
alighting-lip of a bee-board, chamfer this upwards and outwards 
to its extremity where it is left one-eighth of an inch thick, and 
it will serve the purpose of a handle. Measure three-eighths of 
an inch, and turn and cut away from thence its under edge in 
two two-eightli3 recedings, forming, as it were, the capital for a 
column, with an abacus of three-eighths. Then within a margin 
of four-eighths hollow out the surface about three-eighths deep, 
and keep the glass that is intended to fit at hand, so that the 
sides of the hollow may be formed to bind it firmly, and also 
in the centre of this hollow form another about 1 inch diameter, 
and one-eightli deep, to admit the end of the piece of cork which 
is to be placed in the bottom of the glass when it is filled with 
honeycomb. These will cost lOd. each. When the glass is set 
to work on the hive it is placed mouth downwards over the hole 
of the adapting-board, and over the small hole in the glass is 
laid a piece of perforated hat-box, kept down by a ring of lead, 
which will prevent the warm air of the hive becoming too much 
condensed upon the sides of the glass. If a piece of carpet 
formed in the shape of a bag is slipped over the glass, or glasses, 
before the overall-hive (seep. 185), is put on, so much the better ; 
as it preserves a warm temperature, the air of the hive is less likely 
to condense, and the bees are better enabled to anneal their wax 
to the glass, and, agreeably to their natural inclination, it assists 
to preserve a total darkness. 
When the bees have nearly filled their combs in the glass with 
honey, pass a loop of strong thread or very thin wire over the 
glass on to the surface of the adapting-board, holding the ends 
in the right hand steady the glass with the left, and draw the 
thread away between the junction of the glass and board, which 
will separate the connection of the combs, and you will at 
once perceive the reason w r hy the fillet should not obtrude 
itself above the adapting-board, as also advised upon at page 
185. Now, grip the top of the glass with the right hand, lift 
it, and place an empty one in its stead, lay upon it an adapting- 
board with a hole cut in its centre quite 1 inch in diameter (I 
form these out of the lids of those small, round, flat, foreign, 
crystallised fruit-boxes, and also the fillets), set the glass with 
honeycomb upon it, and the bees will soon complete the sealing 
over of the combs; then take it with the adapting-board im¬ 
mediately away, and place the piece of perforated box and ring 
of lead upon the glass remaining, and when that is nearly filled 
with honeycomb, substitute another emply glass beneath as before, 
and so on. It is well for all the glasses to have a small piece of 
guide-comb attached to their bottoms, or rather their tops, as I 
they arc placed for working, as the bees all the more readily 
take the hint. Hold a glass in one hand and a piece of guide- I 
comb in the other before the fire for an instant, then press the 
comb against the glass and the fixture is complete. 
On removing a filled glass from the hive, set it on its proper 
position upon a table placed handy, and cover it at once with a 
common bell propagating-glass, up into which the bees will 
ascend by degrees. It must be quickly lifted now and then, and 
the prisoners shaken into the air (they return to their hive), and 
replaced immediately; or what is better, use two glasses, one off 
and one on alternately, for robbers are always on the look out 
on these occasions—they are very expert in their movements to 
get at the coveted sweets, and when they do so they show no 
more mercy to the combs than does the tradesman’s knife. 
I mark each glass, cover, stand, and cork with their uniform 
numbers on adhesive labels, and each glass is weighed before I 
set it to work. These attentions save much future complication, 
and the nett weight of the honey can always be shown. My 
tickets for numbering are simply made from the margins of the 
sheets of postage stamps, to each set three small squares thus— 
- and one larger piece. The latter 
made to adhere over the spoon- 
N°. l. hole a £ j.j ie e jq e 0 p {q ie cover> 
_[ and effectually prevents a fly even 
from intruding if the ticket is 
bent under when the cover is placed in its 
position. Unless they wish it I shall not 
require the purchasers of my honey to take 
the glasses permanently, but merely to 
.guarantee the amount of their prime cost in the hands of the 
dealers, to be received again in return. It is from what I con¬ 
sider the desirableness of the manner, the earliness, and con¬ 
sequent superior value of the honey in the market that I calculate 
upon reimbursement. 
We are honey eaters here, and when it is taken fresh from 
the hives in the morning to appear on the breakfast-table in 
the appropriate glasses above described, backed by fresh-gathered 
strawberries, butter churned at 6 P.M., and eggs taken scarcely 
cold from the nest, why it is a match for your famous break¬ 
fasts, Mr. Cameron, of Inverness, hot bannocks, cold grouse, 
heather honey, &c., and those long walks i’ th’ hielands for 
the Bauce withal.— Upwards and Onwards. 
WIIAT ARE THE TRITE DIMENSIONS FOR 
COMB-BAR HIYES AND BOXES? 
Such works as I have read state the breadth of brood-comb 
to be IT inch. The combs that I have examined in this neigh¬ 
bourhood, and they are not a few, measure no more than fifteen- 
sixteenths of an inch in breadth, thus being three-sixteenths 
less than seems to be the size in other parts of England. 
Last season I had a box without bars or guide-comb 12 inches 
square, the bees wrought in it eight combs all perfect and in 
regular order, with the exception that one comb was a little im¬ 
perfect on one side. If the box had been 12£ inches square, there 
would have been eight full-sized combs according to the scale of 
working observed by the bees of this neighbourhood. Here is 
a difference of 1 inch between the size observed by the bees in 
this district, and that recommended by such writers as Taylor 
and the “Country Curate.” 
Being about to begin bee-keeping on the improved principle, 
I wish to know whether the bars of my hives should be If inch 
or the size observed by the bees. If the bars were If inch, 
there would be a space of about three-fourths of an inch 
between the combs, which would, perhaps, be detrimental to the 
prosperity of the hive, or the bees might defeat the object 
desired in bar-hives, by following the scale of their instinct in 
working an extra comb, and thus prevent the extraction of the 
bars.—N orth-Lancashire Bee-keeper. 
[We have submitted your letter to Mr. Woodbury, who, we 
believe, has had more practical experience in the use of bar-hives 
than any other English apiarian. The following is his reply:— 
“ I raised this question in The Cottage Gardener so long ago 
as the autumn of 1858, stating my belief that the dimensions 
given in apiarian works were considerably in excess of the true 
proportions, and asking bee-keepers generally to communicate 
the result of their observations on this important point. The 
only answer to this appeal was from a gentleman who no longer 
writes for The Cottage Gardener, and who stoutly upheld 
the correctness of Mr. Golding’s measurements. I now find that 
American apiarians, following in this respect the example of 
those of Germany, have adopted a narrower gauge, and have 
laid it down as a rule that 11 inch is the right distance front 
No. 
1 . 
Weight 
of 
glass.. 
— iftlb. 
Weight 
of 
honey 
... 4lbs. 
Price. 
