THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
feet, six inches, and separated from the greenhouse by a glass 
division. Whichever way this is heated it would be found 
awkward, and take up much of the available room to have 
the means of getting in and working inside. It will, there¬ 
fore, be next to essential that there should be a pathway of 
two feet in width across the house at this propagating end, 
and then the glass division being made to open in parts, 
everything may thus easily be done in the propagating part. 
Presuming that the west end will be brick and glass, a part 
of the glass could there be made to open; but then you 
could not attend to plants from the outside with the same 
comfort in all weathers, though it could be managed from 
that end if there was no pathway across the house. 
Keeping this pathway in mind, the neatest arrangement 
would be to have the door at the east end, or in the middle 
if elegance was desired; to have a shelf nine inches wide 
along the front, and a border nine inches wide at the back 
and east end walls ; these walls to be covered with creepers, 
Camellias, &c.; and a two-feet path all round, with a plat¬ 
form four feet wide in the centre. There is always a degree 
of pleasure in being able to go round a house. If the 
storing a great many half-hardy plants were the object, then 
it would be best to have a two-feet path at the propagating 
end, a shelf of nine inches in front, a pathway two feet and 
a half, and a stage abutting against the north wall and the 
east end of the house, or rather, the west end of the dwell¬ 
ing house. Another mode might be having the pathway 
in the centre three feet wide, and having a platform three 
feet six at back, and three feet in front; but though either of 
these modes will permit of harvesting or keeping more 
plants, they will not be so elegant or pleasing as the path¬ 
way all round. 
As to heating, it is generally best to let a correspondent 
follow out his own idea, as what is “ best administered” will 
often be best, and therefore we would not throw cold water 
on your idea of having a tank the size of the propagating 
part, with a small boiler underneath it. We have little faith, 
however, in heating the greenhouse part by merely having 
the separating wall furnished with pigeon-holes. We should 
depend more on the following plan: —Have an open space 
below, and also above the tank, if the latter should be 
formed even of clinkers; have a free outlet from that 
chamber into the atmosphere of the propagating part to be 
regulated at pleasure, so as to give you the due amount of 
bottom and top heat. At the lowest point of the chamber 
have an opening a foot square in the greenhouse side, with a 
board to shut it when necessary; but that will not be very 
often. Have a triangular piece in the glass division con¬ 
tained at the apex between the sloping roof and the back 
wall, say eighteen inches deep at the back wall, made to open 
and shut at pleasure. In cold weather open this triangular 
piece, and the heated air will rush out, and the cold air 
will be drawn in at the opening into the chamber. In 
such a small house this will most likely answer, otherwise 
we should have advised taking and returning a pipe from the 
tank, or having a small, narrow tank in the greenhouse, from 
which the circulation might be stopped at pleasure. We were 
once consulted in a similar case, only the greenhouse was 
more than double the length, and the proprietor had a horror 
of all new-fangled notions, and would have nothing but back 
dues, as he knew all about them; but there must be only 
one fireplace. The flue entered at the north-west corner, 
just as the one under consideration, and was built stronger 
than usual across the end of the house, being brick on bed, 
and covered with flagstones two inches thick. It had a turn, 
and returned to the chimney, so that the hot end was heated 
separately. Before the turn the flue also joined the flue 
for the greenhouse, built brick on edge, and covered with 
tiles. An air-tight slide prevented the heat passing there 
when it was not wanted. When this was taken out, and the 
slide across the return at the end inserted, the heat went along 
the greenhouse, and terminated behind in a short chimney at 
the other end. The plan answered very well. There was no 
difficulty in regulating the different temperatures. We have 
understood that the rage for building has swept all away 
years ago.—R. Fish.] 
THE ONE COMB OBSERVATORY HIVE. 
“ No part of The Cottage Gardener do I read with 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 24, 1857. 431 
greater pleasure than communications relating to the 
practical management of bees, and I should feel much 
obliged if you would be so kind as to answer the following 
questions for me :— 
“ 1. I am about to have made, by a country carpenter, a 
unicomb observatory hive, and I wish to know whether 
ventilators ought to be introduced. If the hive is venti¬ 
lated I am told that the queen bee will find it too cold 
to lay her eggs; if it is not ventilated I am told that so 
heavy a mist will fall on the inside of the glass as to 
render the mysteries of the hive unobservable. 
“2. Ought the hive to have a box, or enlarged space, at 
the base for the bees to cluster in during the winter ? 
“ 3. Shall I find any difficulty in making the bees enter a 
hive of this kind ? Last summer one of my swarms refused 
for forty-eight hours to go into a shallow but broad wooden 
box hive, and were only at length induced to do so by smoking 
them with tobacco from beneath, yet at a sufficient distance 
as only to stupefy very few of the swarm. Now, a unicomb 
hive seems unnatural, so I am afraid I shall find it almost 
impossible to hive a swarm in it if I am not instructed by 
you or one of your many skilful correspondents. 
“4. Do bees dislike the full light of day, and ought the 
hive to have a wooden shutter to cover the glass ? Messrs. 
Neighbour and Sons’ catalogue states that they have found, 
from experiments made by them, that bees do not manifest 
the least dislike to a continual flood of light. Do you and j 
your correspondents agree with them in this opinion? 
“ Any further information you can give me on the manage- ' 
ment of the unicomb observatory hive, or of the book or leaf 
hive, will be most useful, not only to me individually, but to i 
many I know, readers of The Cottage Gardener, who are 
more anxious to observe the habits of this wonderful insect, 
and more particularly of the queen, than to carry off large 
quantities of the fruits of their industry. Before I conclude 
may I again trespass on your patience by asking you how 
the bar hive can be arranged so that the bees, when weak, 
can be fed from the top rather than from a drawer at the 
bottom?”—T. A. G. S. 
[We much doubt whether “ a country carpenter ” will be 
found equal to the task of making such a unicomb observa¬ 
tory hive as will answer the ends in view, at all events 
unless he has before him a pattern to work by, for the 
details require a knowledge of the subject. To take your 
queries in order, we may say, a3 to ventilation, that in almost 
all hives this is liable to be misunderstood, and used to 
injurious purposes, as was constantly the case in Nutt’s 1 
hives, in which it was chiefly or originally recommended. It 
is true that the small opening on the upper edge of the 
unicomb hive may be used either for feeding or ventilating; 
but the latter must be resorted to very cautiously and sparingly, 
for the escape of warmth in such a time is extremely rapid. 
There is not much to apprehend from the vapour adhering to 
the glass sides, as this is seldom sufficient to obscure observa¬ 
tion. There would be no utility in “ a box or enlarged space 
at the base; ” for the bees would not quit the combs contain¬ 
ing their food and young to cluster in an empty compartment 
at any time of the year. And herein consists much of the 
difficulty of keeping a family alive through the winter in a 
hive made almost entirely of glass, constantly conducting 
away the warmth. It is true that by means of a covering of 
felt, flannel, or hay, instances have occurred of preservation ; 
but more commonly the inconvenient and unnatural arrange¬ 
ment of a unicomb hive restricts its utility for practical and 
scientific purposes to one season of working. As re’gards 
the “ difficulty of making the bees enter a hive of this kind,” 
it is considerable, as the swarm cannot be shaken into such 
an awkward receptacle; but a common hive must be used in 
the first instance, from which it can be transferred in the 
evening. Perhaps the apparatus contrived by Messrs. 
Neighbour is the best, which consists of a long wooden 
trough or funnel fitting into the entire length of the hive, 
the top board being unscrewed to admit it. Thei’e is then 
no difficulty in pouring the bees down, the trough being 
made wide at the top, and tapering downwards to an opening 
of about an inch in width. For security it may be well to 
have outside shutters, or a moveable inclosing wooden case; 
but there is no doubt that the bees will carry on their 
operations exposed to the full light of day, though certainly 
not from choice. One of Messrs. Neighbour’s unicomb 
