small hoop should be worked, for the purpose of nailing a board or some wooden bars to it, and within the bottom row a piece of wood should also be worked over the part where the bees are to pass in and out, to allow of a more easy movement of the slide in the floor board. It would be an improvement if the hoop were perforated through its whole course with a wimble bit, that it might be stitched with willow or bramble splits, to the upper round of straw, instead of being worked in with it; and if a hoop were also stitched in a similar manner to the lower round of straw, the lower edge of it could be planed, sufficiently smooth, to lie on the middle or floor boards, as closely as a box, which would render the use of mortar or other luting unnecessary. The stitch holes in the hoop should be filled with putty, after the hive has been finished. If bars be made use of, they should be of the same width, and placed at the same distances from each other, as recommended for the boxes, and the vacancies, that would otherwise be left between the ends of the bars, should be made quite level, with bits of wood, cow-dung, or any other convenient substance. If a single board be used, that, of course, must be cut into bars of the proper widths. The direction of the bars should always be from front to back. Middle boards and floors will be equally required for storifying hives as for boxes; but the outside covers should be made of straw, like round mats, and be wide enough to extend an inch beyond the edges of the hives, if used in an out-door apiary. The whole story should be covered with a good _hackel_ or _cap_, secured in its place by an iron hoop or a properly weighted wooden one, to prevent it from being blown down. As clean fresh rye straw is most suitable for constructing the hive itself, so it will be the best for forming the hackel with: the latter should be changed before it begins to decay, that it may not become offensive to the bees from its odour, nor be selected by insects as a nidus for their eggs. The apiarian, if he be desirous of having glass windows in his straw-hives, may accomplish this object by cutting with a sharp knife through two of the bands of straw, in two places, about three inches asunder. The windows are generally cut opposite the entrance, and about the centre, but may be made at any part of the hive. The ends of the cut straw-bands may be secured by stitches of packthread, or, what is better, with softened mole snap wire, and the panes of glass may be fastened with putty.