If, however, you can invest a little in apiculture, as people do in agriculture or market-gardening, only on a very much smaller scale, I strongly recommend wooden hives or boxes. These, well made, are necessarily expensive. The objections commonly urged by those I have talked with are, first, that they split and twist, and get out of gear. This may occur in the best in a slight degree, but it arises generally from having unseasoned wood and bad workmanship. Green wood is utterly worthless. Bad workmanship is dearest, when done at the very lowest rate. The best workmanship and the most seasoned wood, I have invariably found in the workshop of Mr. Pettitt, Dover. They never cast, and are beautifully smooth, and all the fittings play easily. Such wood and workmanship, no doubt, may be had of any sensible and honest carpenter. My reference to Pettitt is merely the record of my own experience. In every case the entrance should be cut, not out of the hive, but out of the board on which it rests.
The second objection is, that wood is not sufficiently equable in temperature. I answer, if protected by a bee-shed, which I regard as an essential part of bee-furniture, this objection, so far as summer is concerned, is at once disposed of. Neither rain nor the direct rays of the sun can affect it. But in winter, I am persuaded from thorough experience, that in all hives under sheds additional shelter is required to keep out the searching north and east winds, and to keep in the vital warmth of the bees. For this purpose, I regard good brown paper, or a newspaper after you have read it, as the cleanest, neatest, and really warmest protection. Vermin gather less about paper than woollen material, and brown paper is less palatable to insect pests than any other. Let the back and ends of your bee-boxes inside the bee-shed be covered over in October—the front being left uncovered, unless by the bee-shed, and you will find every objection to wooden hives disposed of by facts.
The first illustration I will present is that of one by Pettitt, made of the best seasoned deal, unpainted, of course; for paint, however necessary to the shed, must on no account be suffered to pollute the hives.
On the top of this hive, of which I give a back view, are four apertures, each about three inches by two; zinc dividers, D D, being pushed in before receiving a swarm, shut off all egress, and on being withdrawn in May, allow the bees to ascend into the bell-glasses E E, of which there are four, each, of course, covered with its nightcap.
B is a glass window, with a thermometer inside. By the window you can examine progress, taking care when you leave to shut the lid.
In very dry, hot weather, when the thermometer rises to ninety-five, draw out the drawer A about two inches, and open the little door C, withdrawing at the same time also the zinc plate F, pushing in its place a perforated zinc plate, precisely the same in size as F, but perforated. A current of air is thus introduced, and in a short time the thermometer will fall five degrees.
Though I do not like the square shape as much as the octagonal or hexagonal, yet I regard this as a very valuable hive-box.
Instead of bell-glasses, Pettitt has substituted boxes for supers, about ten inches in height and seven inches in breadth; the front having glass instead of deal board, with a shutter ready to be put on.
It is in this way:—