THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 25, 1850. 
2a 1 
THE TASMANIAN IIIYE. 
FIG. 2. —VIEW ROOKING INTO THE INTERIOR. 
I herewith send you a plan of a hive of my own invention, 
or rather improvement, which I first used, and found to answer 
extremely well, in Tasmania, and which I have, therefore, desig¬ 
nated “ The Tasmanian Hive.” It is a bar-hive. Its peculiarity 
consists — first, in its capability, as a single hive, of enlargement or 
contraction, in autumn or in spring, to suit the wants of the 
bcc; secondly, in the unusual facility it affords for the ex¬ 
traction of honey-comb, without destroying the bees, or dis¬ 
turbing the hive. 
On first peopling this hive, only the centre part (a) is given to 
the bees. This averages , in the clear, fourteen inches by eight 
inches and three quarters, and eight inches deep, bars included; 
“ averages,” I say, because it will be seen, from Fig. 2, that the 
•sides (a a) contract inwards towards the base of the hive, as well 
as the sides (5 l). This, obviously, is for facility of lifting out 
the bai’s with comb attached, as well as for a support to the 
combs themselves. The centre part of the hive is divided off 
from the chambers (b b) by partitions of wood or zinc, per¬ 
manently affixed to bars, which rest on the sides of the hive at 
a a. These partitions are made to sit quite loose, and must be 
left to the bees to fasten to the sides of the hive, which they will 
soon do with propolis. When it is desired to give additional 
room to the bees in the honey season, it will be easy to break, or 
cut away, these propolis fastenings, and to take out the partitions. 
Their place must then be supplied with ordinary bars, with guide 
combs carefully attached. Care must be taken that these bars 
are quite clear of the centre part of the top board (Fig. 3), so 
that they may be easily removed, by merely lifting up the end 
boards (d d). From the sloping nature of the chamber sides 
(5 b, Fig. 2), it will bo seen how easy it is to pass a knife round 
and under the outermost comb nearest to b b, owing to the 
small depth of this comb ; also, how easy it is, this outer comb 
being once removed, to get at the other combs in order. More¬ 
over, these combs, from their comparatively small depth, and 
their distance from the oentralhc-at, will seldom, if ever, be found 
to contain eggs, or young bees, or bee bread. A whiff or two of 
smoke will soon clear them of bees, without disturbing the main 
body of the citizens, while these combs are being removed. The 
several parts of the top board are screwed down with well-greased 
screws, easy to be taken out j and it will be seen that there are 
tlrree holes in the centro part, communicating directly with the 
middle of the hive. 
It was from a hive similar to this, only made of straw, that I 
obtained 791 lbs. of virgin honeycomb in the Tasmanian summer 
of 1856-7, being the produce of a stray stearin of the same 
summer. There was also honey enough left for their winter 
store.—B. and W, 
