EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



361 



considered at all. Revere winters killed all but the strongest of those 

 colonies, which were unprotected, and so the bee-keeper would "in- 

 crease" to a considerable number of colonies, expecting to lose the great- 

 er part of them throrgh neglect. 



In recent years a new kind of bee-keeper, the specialist, has come to 

 the front and we find the haphazard bee-keeper gradually disappearing, 

 his place being taken by the one who is trying to manage his apiary 

 by modern methods. Bee-keeping is now recognized as one of the special 

 branches of agriculture and those who engage in it find that when one 

 has the necessary experience, the returns compare favorably with those 

 from most other branches of agriculture. 



Fig. 2. — A Box-hive apiary (original). 



BOX-HIVES. 



Despite the progress in bee-keeping there are still many colonies in 

 Michigan kept in box-hives of some kind. By the term box-hive we mean 

 a hive that cannot be examined readily by the removal of the frames 

 containing the combs. 



Box-hives should give way to the movable-frame type of hive for 

 many reasons, among which may be mentioned the following: 



It is impossible to control foulbrood in box-hives. 



Bees in box-hives cannot be managed so that the bee-keeper is master. 



The returns, or profits, from a colony in a box-hive are seldom as 

 large as those from a colony in a movable-frame hive. 

 The keeping of bees in box-hives usually means a neglectful bee-keeper. 



