156 THE FARMER'S MANUAL. 



led to the expedient of weaving the straw hive, which 

 continues in common use to this day. The many 

 objections which have arisen to both these hives, 

 have led the Apiarians, through nice and curious re- 

 search, to ascertain tjie best materials for construct- 

 ing the hives for Bees, and the best forms to con- 

 struct those materials into, to obtain the greatest pro- 

 fit from the labours of the Bee, with the least ex- 

 pense to ourselves, and loss and damage to the Bees : 

 for the solution of this question, we must resort to the 

 experiments of the Apiarian. Happy would it be 

 for us and them, if their labours could furnish an an- 

 swer to the inquiry promptly ; but unfortunately this 

 is not the case, their own experiments have deceived 

 them, and this should lead us to be cautious that they 

 do not deceive us. Mr. Huish admits, that no seri- 

 ous objections can lie against straw as a material for 

 the construction of bee-hives; but objects only to 

 the common form, viz. the bell-hives, as being un- 

 healthy to the swarms, and difficult to extract any 

 portion of the honey from, without suffocating the 

 bees, which he very justly abhors : he therefore ex- 

 plodes the bell shaped hives. Our author goes on 

 to object to the glass hives, constructed to gratify the 

 curious, as being unfriendly to the labours of the Bee. 

 He adds, " I have kept glass hives of every sort in 

 hopes to obtain some clue to the developement of 

 their secrets ; but I candidly confess, that light was 

 no sooneradmitted, than the utmost confusion prevailed 

 in the hive, in that particular part, and the Bees were 

 seen running about in the greatest consternation ; con- 

 sequently I never attained to the knowledge of a single 

 operation of the Bees by means of a glass hive. I 

 therefore, call in question all fat:ts stated as the dis- 

 coveries of a glass hive. Although the Bee will 

 work in any hive, of any shape, yet the choice of that 

 shape is of importance to the health and profit of 

 your Bees. The great body of the people continue 

 the common hive, and the common practice of smo- 



