HIVE, AND HOW TO HANDLE IT 103 



bee-escapes introduced between the super and the 

 hives are used to-day by most enterprising bee-men. 



OBSERVATION-HIVES (Frontispiece) 



Anyone who has worked long with bees, cannot 

 fail to become filled with curiosity concerning the 

 way their work is carried on in the mysterious dark- 

 ness of the hive; to such a person, the observation- 

 hive is a source of perennial delight, as well as of 

 interesting and useful knowledge. 



Observation-hives have been used by bee-keepers 

 from the time of Huber to the present, and naturally 

 many forms of them have been devised. The type 

 in most common use now is a small hive, containing 

 one, two or three frames, and furnished with glass 

 sides, through which the bees can be observed. The 

 glass sides are covered with a door or curtain, except 

 when observations are being made; for, if not, the 

 bees will cover the glass with a coat of propolis, ren- 

 dering it opaque. 



It is somewhat difficult to keep a colony in good 

 condition upon a single frame; and if two or more 

 frames are used side by side the observer is unable 

 to see what goes on between the frames. Professor 

 Kellogg, of Stanford University, has devised a per- 

 fectly satisfactory two-frame observation-hive for his 

 laboratory. It consists of a glass-sided box, large 

 enough to hold two Langstroth frames, one above 

 the other; as both sides of the comb are exposed, 

 any individual bee may be kept constantly in 



