f'&O THE FARMER'S MANUAL, 



the success of the undertaking. My first object was 

 to select those materials which I judged most suita- 

 ble for the purpose, and, after repeated experiments, 

 I was convinced that none were more suitable than 

 straw. This I know is denied by Huber ; but I must 

 be allowed, in this instance, to differ from that cele^ 

 brated Apiarian. The shape of the hive was my 

 next consideration. I had been so often defeated in 

 my expectations regarding the deprivation of the 

 common straw hive, and especially by the sticks with 

 which they are superfluously furnished, to keep the 

 honey from falling, that I was persuaded it was a 

 shape suited only to the use of those persons who 

 suffocate their Bees; but to the deprivator, it was the 

 most inconvenient and unmanageable sort that could 

 be devised. It was a flower-pot which first gave me 

 an idea of the shape, and which appeared to possess 

 peculiar advantages. It would, in the first place, su- 

 percede the necessity of sticks, for the comb then 

 acting like a wedge, being larger at the top than the 

 bottom, would not fall on to the board. One only 

 method now presented itself of extracting the comb, 

 and this was at the top ; and this I knew could not 

 be effected, if the combs were all constructed in one 

 mass, upon one basis, which is common to the gene- 

 rality of hives. I reflected that a Bee will never 

 work upon an unstable foundation, and that my plan 

 would succeed, if I could insert some network be- 

 tween the "pieces of wood. Having obtained seven 

 pieces of well seasoned wood, about one and a half 

 inch broad, and about a quarter of an inch thick, 

 I laid them equidistant on the top of the hive ; 

 and having fastened them to the outer band which 

 serves as their basis, and covered them with network, 

 over which I placed a circular board, the whole 

 size of the hive. I then divided the circular board 

 into five pieces, which are attached to each oth- 

 er by hinges ; each one can be opened separately 

 ^pon occasion To obviate the objection of this 



