266 # NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



er. If then the lower box be gently beaten with a stick, 

 the bees will ascend to the upper one, and the box contain- 

 ing the honey can be removed and emptied at pleasure, with- 

 out any destruction of the bees. But these boxes must not 

 be exposed during the winter, or its inhabitants will perish 

 of cold and hungei;. 



Within the past few years great improvements have been 

 made in the construction of hives, both in Europe and in 

 North America. Among the Europeans, the hive of Pro- 

 fessor Huber, of Geneva, occupies the first rank ; but there 

 are many others in use which are described by Robert Huish, 

 in his "Treatise on Bees," and also in "The Naturalist's 

 Library." 



Among the many patent hives of North America, we feel 

 justified in recommending the "Platform Bee-hive," in- 

 vented in 1853 by Sylvester Davis, of Claremont, New 

 Hampshire. At the " Exhibition of the Industry of all 

 Nations," in the Crystal Palace at New York, this hive re- 

 ceived the medal for its ingenuity and practical utility in 

 the keeping of bees. The Committee of the Ohio State 

 Board of Agriculture, also, awarded a silver medal and di- 

 ploma to the inventor ; and they spoke in special terms of 

 commendation of the combined merits of this hive, the in- 

 vention of which has reduced the matter of keeping bees to 

 a system, which vies with the manufacture of honey by the 

 bees themselves. This hive has also taken the first premi- 

 um at the State and County Fairs in Vermont, New Hamp- 

 shire, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Ohio, and justly so, for 

 with it any one may keep bees with perfect safety and suc- 

 cess, since all difficulty and uncertainty are entirely removed. 

 With it the bees may be made to swarm from one or more 

 hives, or may be conducted into any one hive without 

 swarming, and still have a full supply of queens, while all 

 the bees are entirely protected from the bee-moth, and other 

 insects which annoy and ruin them. The work and prog- 



