Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

296 API
Apiary. At the top and bottom of the body is placed an exterior
band, which forms a projecting border on each end, the
lower one giving the hive a firm station on its pedestal,
the upper one contributing to secure the attachment of
the cover, or allowing of another similar body being placed
above the first, if such an addition should be deemed ne¬
cessary. At the top of the body, and even with the up¬
per band, is placed a flooring board, made of a light plank,
ten inches in breadth in all directions, and the four cor¬
ners of which are sawed off in such a manner that the
breadth along the diagonal measures one foot. This
board is fixed by nails inserted in the upper double band,
and entering a little into the front. The four openings
that are left on the sides are necessary for the passage of
the bees, and for the escape of the vapours which are ex¬
haled from them in winter. A flat rod traverses the hive
immediately under the board, and projecting from the two
sides about an inch and a half, affords handles for lifting
the hive, and facilitates the fastening of the cover, which
has also a projecting rod corresponding with that of the
hive. At the bottom is an opening two inches broad and
nine lines in height for the ingress and egress of the bees.
The cover is formed in the shape of a dome, with a ver¬
tical handle at the top, and a cross bar at the lower part,
by the projecting ends of which it may be tied to the
ends of the bar in the body, and which serves also as a
support to the combs that are constructed in the cover.
For the latter purpose, also, two other bars are placed
crosswise, one above the other. All the hives and all the
bases of the covers are to be made of one uniform diame¬
ter, in order that the hives may, if occasion require it, be
placed upon each other, and the covers be adapted to any
of the hives that may happen to be at the top.
The pyramidal hive of M. Ducouedie, which the inven¬
tor extols in his book entitled La Ruche Pyramidale, avec
Tart cTetahlir et d'utiliser les ruches, &c. as leaving nothing
more to be wished for as to the cultivation of bees, differs
but little from that of Mr Thorley. A common straw
hive is taken, containing a swarm, which is allowed to re¬
main till the spring of the following year; it is then placed
on the top of a square box, with which it is made to com¬
municate by a round aperture at the top of the box. In
this state it is termed by the French la ruche Ecossaise,
or, ruche de M. de la Bourdonnaye. In the following
spring a second box is placed under the first, and the
whole now assumes the name of la ruche pyramidale. The
bees are still allowed no other ingress or egress but by a
single hole made in the lowest story. The upper stories
may then be removed in succession, while further room is
allowed below by the addition of fresh boxes. It is stated
by M. Ducouedie, that the bees in his pyramidal hive
never perish by hunger or by cold; for they always abound
in provisions, and are too numerous to be affected by the
most rigorous winter. When the bees are in groups, they
maintain the necessary warmth in the hive, and the brood,
on the return of spring, is hatched one month sooner than
in any other hive. Mr Huish has, however, made it clear¬
ly appear that these pretended advantages are much ex¬
aggerated, while its inconveniences are passed over in
silence. It is difficult, if not impossible, to proportion the
hives in all cases to the magnitude of the swarms, or to
the energy with which they labour. The honey being
taken from the oldest cells, is deteriorated by an admix¬
ture of pollen, communicating to it a degree of bitterness,
of which it is difficult to deprive it; and it is less abundant,
in consequence of the diminished capacity of the cells,
in which the coccoons of successive bees in their state of
nympha have accumulated. From their being divided
into different stories, the bees are obliged to live, as it
were, in different families; while their own preservation
A P I
and that of the brood requires them to live in the strict- Apicius
est union. The heat is also lessened by the division of ||
the bees into different groups. The upper part of these ^P!s-
hives being all necessarily flat (except the first or straw
hive), occasions a serious inconvenience, by allowing mois¬
ture to collect and drop down into the middle of the hive,
instead of trickling down the sides. The injury which
this does to the combs, and to the bees themselves, who
are constantly exposed to its influence, is, according to
Mr Huish, the most common cause of the loss of the
hives during the wdnter. The bees, he observes, always
begin their work in the most elevated point of the hive,
and seek for that purpose the central part of the roof. If
the top be flat, and especially if it be as spacious as in
the hives called pyramidal, the bees will not find this cen¬
tre ; they will work one year in one part, and the follow¬
ing year in another. This is without doubt one of the
causes which oblige a proprietor to wait three or four
years before any honey can be gathered from these hives.
The hive recommended by Mr Huish as affording suffi¬
cient facility for examining any of the combs, and perform¬
ing on them any operation at pleasure, is very similar in
form to that described as being used in Greece. The body
of the hive is a straw basket in the shape of a flower-pot,
that is, of a broader diameter above than below. Eight
pieces of well-seasoned wood, about eight inches broad
and half an inch thick, are laid parallel to one another, at
equal distances, over the top of the basket, and fastened
to an outer projecting band: they are then covered with
network, over which is placed a circular board, or what
is better, a convex cover of straw extending over the
whole of the top of the hive. This network obliges the
bees to fasten their combs to the transverse boards, by
means of which each comb can easily be lifted up with¬
out interfering with any other part of the hive, or occa¬
sioning the loss of a single bee; and the whole of the in¬
terior of the hive is thus open to inspection, and we are
enabled to trace the devastations of the moth, or to as¬
certain the presence of any other enemy.—See the arti¬
cle Bee. (p. m. r.)
APICIUS. There were at Rome three persons of that
name, all celebrated as epicures. The second, M. Gabius
Apicius, is the most famous of the three. He lived under
Tiberius, and invented various sorts of cakes and sauces
which bore his name. He squandered L.800,000 on his
luxurious appetite; and finding his fortune reduced to little
more than L.80,000, he grew alarmed at the prospect of
starvation, and poisoned himself. His last draught, accord¬
ing to Seneca, was the most commendable he had ever swal¬
lowed. His name was long venerated by the votaries of the
gastronomic art, as the highest of culinary authorities; and
rival schools of cookery claimed their descent from the great
Apicius. A treatise, De Re Culinaria, sive de Obsoniis, &c.,
by an unknown writer under the assumed name of Caelius
Apicius has been frequently reprinted. The best edition is
that of Lister, Lond., 1705, 8vo.
APINGADAM, or Appingadam, a town of Holland, in
the province of Groningen, and capital of the circle of the
' same name. Pop. 3600.
APION, a famous grammarian and commentator upon
the Homeric poems, born at Oasis in the land of Apis, though
he called himself an Alexandrian. He flourished a.d. 30,
and was conspicuous for his opposition to the Jews. Some
fragments of his writings are extant, including the story ol
Androclus and the Lion, preserved in Aulus Gellius; and
his treatise against the Jews, preserved with the works of
Josephus, who wrote a reply to it.
APIS, a divinity worshipped by the ancient Egyptians
at Memphis under the form of an ox, having certain exte¬
rior marks. The soul of Osiris was supposed to subsist in