The apiary; or, bees, bee-hives, and bee culture [1866]: Being a familiar account of the habits of bees, and the most improved methods of management, with full directions, adapted for the cottager, farmer, or scientific apiarianNeighbor, Alfred
Science
The apiary; or, bees, bee-hives, and bee culture [1866]: Being a familiar account of the habits of bees, and the most improved methods of management, with full directions, adapted for the cottager, farmer, or scientific apiarian
D D are ventilators. In the centre of each of the end boxes is a
double zinc tube, reaching down a little below the middle: the outer
tube is a casing of plain zinc, with holes, about a quarter of an inch
wide, dispersed over it; the inside one is of perforated zinc, with'
openings so small as to prevent the escape of the bees; a flange or
rim keeps the tubes suspended through a hole made to receive it. The
object in having double tubing is to allow the inner one to be drawn
up, and the perforations to be opened by pricking out the wax, or
rather the propolis, with which bees close all openings in their hives.
These tubes admit a thermometer, enclosed in a cylindrical glass, to be
occasionally inserted during the gathering season; it requires to be
left in the tube for about a quarter of an hour, and on its withdrawal,
if found indicating ninety degrees or more, ventilation must be adopted
to lower the temperature. The ornamental zinc top D must be left
raised, and is easily kept in that position by putting the perforated
part a little on one side.
The boxes before described are placed on a raised double floor-board,
extending the whole length--viz., about thirty-six inches. The
floor-board projects a few inches in front. In the centre is the
entrance (as our engraving only shows the back of the hive, we must
imagine it on the other side); it is made by cutting a sunken way, of
about half an inch deep and three inches wide, in the floor-board,
communicating only with the middle box; it is through this entrance
alone that the bees find their way into the hive, access to the end
boxes and the super being obtained from the inside. An alighting-board
is fitted close under the entrance, for the bees to settle upon when
returning laden with homey. This alighting-board is removable for the
convenience of packing. The centre, or stock-box A, called by Mr. Nutt
the _Pavilion of Nature_, is the receptacle for the swarm. For stocking
this, it will be necessary to tack the side tins so as to close the
side openings in the partition, and to tack some perforated zinc over
the holes at top; the swarm may then be hived into it just the same as
with a common hive. A temporary bottom board may be used if the box
has to be sent any distance, or a cloth may be tied round to close the
bottom (the latter plan is best, because allowing plenty of air); and
when brought home at night, the bees being clustered at the top, the
cloth or temporary bottom must be removed, the box gently placed on
its own floor-board, and the hive set in the place it is permanently
to occupy. E E are two block fronts, which open with a hinge. A
semicircular hole, three inches long and two inches wide in the middle,
is cut in the upper bottom-board, immediately under the window of each
box; these apertures are closed by separate perforated zinc slides.
These blocks, when opened, afford a ready means of reducing the
temperature of the side boxes, a current of air being quickly obtained,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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