INVENTION OF THE CALIFORNIA HIVE. 33 



proper degree for building comb. Second, When 

 the combs are too widely spaced, the bees, while re- 

 filling them with stores, lengthen the cells, and thus 

 make the comb thick and irregular the application 

 of the knife is then the only remedy to reduce them 

 to the proper thickness. 



Another objection to the suspended frame, is the 

 impossibility of removing the hives containing bees 

 to a distance, without first nailing or fastening each 

 frame to its place ; and to get control of them, the 

 hive has again to be opened and the frames unfast- 

 ened ; all of which requires time and trouble, to say 

 nothing about the liability of being stung while treat- 

 ing the bees thus rudely. 



After a fair trial of the Langstroth hive and its 

 working capabilities, compared with the hive which I 

 had previously used, I found it inferior, and accord- 

 ingly determined to abandon its use entirely. 



INVENTION OF THE CALIFORNIA HIVE. 



Immediately after my arrival in California with bees, 

 (fall of 1857) I procured lumber and other material 

 suitable for making hives on my old plan. After cut- 

 ting out the stuff for twenty, and completing a portion 

 of them, I became satisfied that useful improvements 

 could be made. What I wanted was a hive for the 

 use of my own bees : one that I could adapt and use 

 to the exclusion of all others, so long as I continued 

 the business of bee-raising. 

 9* ' 



