THE HONEY-BEE. 179 



the entrance is made through the thickness of the 

 floor-board. We dislike the sliding bars, with their 

 pins and wedges, which are so far inconvenient, that, 

 in drawing them out, all the frames are liable to open, 

 and the observer is exposed to some hazard of annoy- 

 ance from the bees issuing out at every joint; and we 

 have substituted for them hinges on the one side, and 

 a hook and eye on each frame on the other ; we can 

 thus open any particular leaf without meddling with 

 the rest. In taking honey from this hive, the bee- 

 master has the whole interior completely under his 

 eye and at his disposal, and can choose what combs 

 best suit his purpose, both as to quantity and quality ; 

 taking care, however, to do so only at such periods 

 as will leave the bees time to replenish the vacancy 

 before the termination of the honey season. It is 

 also well adapted for artificial swarming. By sepa- 

 rating the hive into two halves^ the honey, brood- 

 combs, and bees will, generally speaking, be equally 

 divided ; and by supplying each half with four empty 

 frames, we shall have two hives, one half empty 

 equal in number of bees, of brood, and even of stores. 

 One of the new hives will possess the Queen ; and if 

 the operation has been performed at the proper time, 

 that is to say, a week or ten days before the period 

 of natural swarming, the probability is there will be 

 royal brood coming forward in the other ; at all events, 

 there will be plenty of eggs and larvae of the proper 

 age for forming an artificial Queen. 



Single-comb Hive. The celebrated naturalist, Bon- 

 net, suggested and recommended to Huber the adop- 



