3. The observatory hive is ingeniously made, so as to fix two plates of glass exactly one and a half inches apart, which gives the bees room to build one comb, and only one, averaging an inch thick, and leaves a quarter of an inch for the bees to pass on either side between the comb and the glass. A cylindrical collar, on which the hive works, and through which the bees travel up into the hive, enables you to turn towards you whatever side of the comb you wish to observe, without disturbing the bees at their work. It is a very nice piece of furniture to have inside a room: it may be fixed in a window, the lighting board projecting through the window glass, and the piece of glass under which the bees travel coming so close up to the glass of the window, that not a single bee can get into the room. I shall not attempt, in this short Appendix, to give a full description of this hive : it would be scarcely intelligible without some figures. The greatest improvement which has been lately made in them consists in letting the panes of glass into a groove, without any framing to the glass, so that every bee is at all times visible. This hive may be made for \(
ot{E}1\!:\!10\)s. complete. I have made a modification of this hive, by setting the plates of glass so far apart, that the bees have just room to build two combs. Others are made in the shape of a cross, two such planes crossing each other. This hive is more expensive, costing \(
ot{E}3\). The Sieilian hive is a very handy form of the straw hive : when complete, it is like a long barrel resting on tressels, divided into three or more sections, which are all kept in their places, by fitting each of them into an extra rim of straw, worked round the edge of that which stands immediately behind it. The front, which is a flat disc of straw, is fitted into the last section in the same way. The advantage of this hive is, that it can be enlarged to any size, by adding fresh rings of straw. The honey, too, is very easily taken ; a few puffs of smoke at the doorway will drive the bees into the far part of the hive, and then you may either cut out such honey combs, or take away a whole section. The _ruche a l'air libre_, or open hive, is nothing more than a square board fourteen inches and upwards, standing on four legs (like a table, in fact), with shutters fitting into rabbits cut in these legs. These shutters are to protect the bees in windy or rainy weather, but may be taken down when it is fine and still ; and then you will have a beautiful sight : the whole of the bees, as they hang in their clusters, will be exposed to view ; and combs, as they are filled, may be cut out with the greatest ease. It is a beautiful sight when fully stocked, and when there are two or three tiers of these table shaped frames on the top of each other : take care that your breath does not fall upon the bees as you are taking down the shutters, or you will be stung. A timid apiarian may modify these hives by having a plate of glass on each side, with the shutters over them. Rich glasses worked on the top of these hives look exceedingly well. All the sorts of hives here described may be seen at the apiary of St. John's College, where any fellow bee master will meet with a hearty buzzing welcome.