The Delaware register, or, Farmers', manufacturers' & mechanics' advocate. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1828-1829, 1828-11-29

bees in this district does not furnish food enough for
great number
In this apary the miller or night-moth is successful
y guarded against. A small wire door, made to slide
behind two door posts, formed of needles, is closed
the entrance of the hive the bees have
retired for the night. This is done during the months
of April, May, and June after that, if the weather
in warm, and the bees oppressed by heat, the
floor of the hive is let down, which, it is fastened
to the hive behind with hinges, and the sides with
hooks and staples, easily be accomplished. Two
rows of scantlngs josts four inches square, and
running the whole length of the apary, receive the
hives between them, which thus suspended at a
distance of about three feet from the ground.
The hive is thirteen inches square at the top and is
of the size at the bottom of the front and back,
but the bottom of the sides is only inches wide.
BY this slope of the hve the combs wedge themselves
they made, and there is for the ilcontri
we'd crossed sticks that generally thrust in the old
hives, to keep the combs from falling down by their
own weight The floor is, as we observed, fastened
by hinges and hooks. II is likewise an inclined plane,
having a slope of at least four inches
The advantages of this inclination will be instantly
seen. The perspraton of the bees, which is copious
is, by the inclination of the sides and floor conveyed
off at once, without being absorbed by the boards
All eXtraneous matter can be carried away by the
bees with very little trouble, and they defend them
selves from robbers or corsair bees with much great
er than if the floor fiat
AS the floor opens and shuts, the observer in
spect the interior of the hive pleasure, not with the
hope of gcttingat the mnutia Of the bees policy, but
to the forwafdness of the combs the number of the
bees, and the general appearance, which practised
eve can soon understand When the floor of the hive
is left down all night, and the bees hang very low from
the combs in the morning, they will them
selves up again, if the floor is raised very gently and
slowly, and fastened as usual.
The of the hive is of course thirteen inches
square 1t is made of common pine, as is the hive,
the board from warping to prevent the box, up-
per story, which is always added from being moved
from its place. The cover Of the hive has three holes
of one inch diameter within quarter of an inch of
each other These holes to allow the bees to puss
to the upper box, when the hive is full of honey.
1t is ascertained satisfactorily, that the young brood
and the beebread pollen deposited in the hive
where the swarm is first put The holes in the
are therefore kept shut by plugs, until the hive be fill
led. The holes are then opened, the bees immediate
y pass up, and if the season be propitious, they fill
the upper box with comb and honey, which, as there
is neither brood nor bee-bread is of tie finest and
purest kind.
We have often seen forty and sixty pounds obtained
by this simple proceeding and the box is also used
to feed famished hive in the spring. single comb
left in one of these boxes will sustain swarm, that
has eaten up all its honey, until vegetation common
ces. As the boxes and hives are of equal size, any
one box will fit hive.
When the combs in the hive are three years old,
two of them be taken out every winter, provided
con 81