59 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 27, 1858. 
pipes broke, from the damper being in too far. I then tried, 
as stronger for the front, the nine-inch glazed pipes made 
by J. Cliff, of Wortley, near Leeds; but the first heat was 
still too much for these, for the first pipe very soon went; 
so last summer I had them taken out, and a brick flue built, 
two bricks-on-edge, standing on a twelve-inch pavement, 
raised three inches from the floor, and covered with another 
i pavement. And, as several of the unglazed pipes were 
cracked, I put the* glazed ones across the end; and shall, 
most likely, do the same down the back this summer, as 
two or three of the unglazed ones there are cracked. I 
should say, that my furnace bars are three feet ten inches 
below the floor, so there is a very strong draught; the pipes 
at the end are often so hot, that the hand cannot be kept on 
them for even half a minute. 1 find line clay and hair better 
than anything else for making the joints with. I keep the 
air damp, by standing flat tins with water on the flue and 
pipes. With these pipe flues, I have kept the house at a 
minimum temperature of 45°, for a short time at first, or 
until plants began to grow; then 50° was my minimum. 
Since the 1st of January, with very little trouble up to this 
time, I only had fires just to keep out the frost; or, on a 
fine day, to drive out the damp. 
A gardener near me uses nothing else but pipes in his 
greenhouses, but a brick flue in his forcing-house.—W. 0. D. 
THE BAR AHD SLIDE HIVE. 
Having had several applications from the readers of The 
Cottage Gaedener for particulars respecting this hive, I 
am induced to think that a short description of it may not be 
wholly without interest to those who are bee-keepers. 
The hive is the result of some years patient investigation 
into the most profitable mode of keeping bees, in large numbers. 
During this inquiry I have performed a vast number of expe¬ 
riments, having constructed hives of different materials, in 
order to test their working capabilities. I have tried tubs or 
pails, measures of curved wood, coils of gutta percha, rings of 
bark, hives of earthenware, &c., but, with the system of ma¬ 
nagement I adopt, I have found that these substances were 
all, more or less, open to objection; and I returned to the 
square-shaped storifying box, formed of inch-deal. 
My reason for preferring the square to the octagonal, or 
hexagonal, form is, that the moveable bars, to which the combs 
are attached, are able to be shifted to any place in any box. 
Whereas, if an octagonal box is made with moveable bars, it 
is obvious that this advantage is entirely lost. 
The hive consists of two or more storifying boxes, each 
furnished with seven loose bars, to which the combs are 
attached. These are kept in their places by eight slides, 
■which, when in position, render the loose bars perfect fixtures, 
so that the box may be inverted without the bars or slides 
shifting their position. Their arrangement is shown in the 
accompanying engraving, which represents a single box with 
its floor-board; the entrance being cut out of the latter. 
It is needless to insist upon the advantage of loose bars, iD 
they are constructed of the proper width, as fixed by Mr. 
Golding, viz., one inch and one-eightli; they place every comb 
at the perfect disposal of the bee-master, either for the removal 
of honey, for the purpose of forming artificial swarms, or 
cutting off royal cells to prevent swarming, &c. 
The slides (which, I have no hesitation to say, I adopted 
for the first time last season, copying them from the Stewarton 
boxes, so excellently and cheaply manufactured by Mr. Eagle- 
sham) are a vast improvement over the original plan of putting 
a cover on a bar hive, as they permit any single bar of comb 
to be extracted, without disturbing the others, and give every 
facility for storifying, and enable the removal of full honey 
boxes to be very safely performed. 
The plan of working these boxes is very similar to that 
which is adopted with the Stewarton’s, viz., a very stronn- 
swarm, or two weak ones, are placed in two boxes, and 
when these are well filled, as seen on looking through the 
windows behind, a honey box or glass is placed over, and 
communication made by withdrawing the slides. If a small 
swarm is placed in a hive, of course, no extra store is to be j 
depended on the first season. 
One great advantage of the loose-bar system is, that in a 
large bee garden, such as that of which I am joint proprietor, 
not a single cell of brood is ever destroyed, for on taking up 
the hives in the autumn, all the bars that contain any brood 
are put into empty boxes, and these are placed over the re¬ 
maining hives, to be hatched out. Thus avast number of late- 
liatched young bees are preserved, that live through the winter, 
and are invaluable in spring. 
Again, artificial swarming is, with these boxes, extremely 
easy, nothing more being required than to take out the centre 
brood comb from a populous hive, in May, and place in an 
empty box, which is put in the situation of the old stock, that 
is removed to a new situation a few yards distant. 
It may be, perhaps, desirable to state, that the boxes are 
eleven inches and three quarters square, inside measure, and of j 
two sizes as to depth, viz., seven inches and five inches. The ; 
second engraving shows a hive consisting of a box of each size, 
with a wooden shade, which I find is most conveniently and | 
cheaply made, by dowelling together two nine-inch deals, so 
as to form a piece of eighteenfinches square ; this readily pro- ! 
tects the hive from rain and sun ; and if it is made of deals 
that are two inches thick, and chamferred off from the centre, 
as shown in the cut, it forms an appropriately shaped finish ; 
which is superior to metal, as it is warmer in winter, and 
shades off the intense heat in summer.—W. B. Tegetmeier, 
Muswell Hill, A T . 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
THE ACHIMENES. 
Thebe is no doubt these have become florists’ flowers, for 
the sports from seeds are now so numerous, that a botanist 
would be quite in despair, had he to give specific distinctions 
to every variety now produced. In the Cottage Gardeners' 
Dictionary there are enumerated about thirty species, more 
than half of which are garden varieties. Such kinds as the 
Achimenes atrosanguinea, A. cupreata , A. gloxiniaflora, 
A. grandiflora, A. longiflora , A. multiflora, A. pcdunculata , 
A. picta, A. pyropcea, and A. Skinneri , are, perhaps, true 
species, but even these, I fear, would sport from seed, and 
hybridise with each other. Such being the case, I may, 
without any disparagement to botanical lore, claim this genus 
for the florist to exercise his skill upon. Each variety, like 
all true hybrids, may be continued true by propagation, 
