160 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



213. Bee-Uives.— Tlie best hivo is one with movable supports for each 

 sheet of comb. Although hives of this kind may have been patented, the 

 patent is not good for anything, nor should it bar any one from the use of 

 such a hive, because the invention is not new. Bevan, an English writer 

 upon bees, described such a hivo many years ago, as in use by liim, and 

 recommended it to others. More than twenty years ago, I described a hive 

 i\>v movable frames to sustain the separate sheets of comb, in the Albany 

 Cultivator, and altliough the plan might have been patentable, it was dis- 

 tinctly stated that it was not, nor would be patented, and any one who liked 

 it was recommended to use it. The form of the hive there recommended 

 was to hang the frames by hook-and-eye hinges to the back of the hive, so 

 fliat all would swing like the leaves of a book standing on its end. The 

 front, or cover to the edge of the leaves, being opened, by turning it around 

 to the left hand, leaf after loaf could be swung around to the right, and a 

 sheet of comb cut out of any one, or the frame could be lifted oil' its liinges 

 and taken away, and a new one put in its place. We thought the plan a 

 more convenient one than lifting the frames out at the top of tlie hive. 



There is an objection to all movable fi-ame hives, that they furnish har- 

 boring-places for moths. They also, on the other hand, afford facilities for 

 searching after them, and removing any infested comb. 



Bees are like any other wild insect or animal that has been domesticated. 

 By good treatment they can be made very domestic, so that their keeper can 

 handle them about as easily as any otlier pets. 



The next best form of hive is a square bos, made of planed boards one- 

 and-a-hait or full one-and-a-quarter inch stuff, well seasoned, and tongued, 

 and grooved, and firmly nailed together, so as to be water-tight, and nearly 

 air-tight, and well painted. A box fifteen inches deep, and twelve inches 

 across each way, contains 2,160 cubic inches — ten in excess of a bushel. 

 Tliis is a good size and form for a hive. It will add much to the conveni- 

 ence of the hive to insert a pane of glass in the side opposite to tlie open- 

 ings where the bees enter, which should be six three-eighth-inch holes, an 

 inch above the bottom. The glass should have a tight-fitting shutter ; and 

 the bottom should be screwed on, or hinged and fastened with a hook so 

 that it coTild be opened. If it is screwed on, make an opening two inches 

 across in the center of the bottom board, with a close-fitting shutter that you 

 can take out occasionally to allow the bees to sweep out tlieir room. Open 

 this only in tlie morning, and close it before night. There will then be no 

 entrance for tlie moth except through the bee holes, and these the sentinels 

 will guard. Bore four inch holes in the top, and fit corks in them. Have 

 a cap fitted on top to cover four boxes, five or six inches square, made with 

 one glass side. "Wlien the lower part is filled, which you can tell by observ- 

 ation at the glass in the back, or by weighing, then open the top holes, and 

 put on the boxes, open side down, and shut the cap over them, and the bees 

 will soon find that they have extra store-room, and go to work and fill it 

 with new comb, and fresh honey, free of bee-bread or brood-comb. As soon 



