46 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of hive, that there is a necessity for changing 

 the brood-combs, because the larvne hatched 

 from the eggs and sealed up in tlie cells, there 

 spin their cocoons, which remain on the walls 

 of the cells, when the matured insect goes out. 

 This deposit, although extremely thin, dimi- 

 nishes the size of the cell, affording less room 

 for each succeeding generation, thus causing 

 the bees gradually to deteriorate in size. In 

 practice this result is rarely known to cause 

 any serious injury, though the gradual accumu- 

 lation of nymphal envelopes in the cells unfits 

 these in other respects for honey receptacles. 

 The chief objection to this form of hive and 

 mode of management, is its tendency to induce 

 the bees to build drone comb inordinately in 

 the lower compartment, which, by the nadir in g 

 process, then becomes the brooding chamber, 

 leading to the excessive production of drones, 

 and destroying the value of the colony as a 

 honey-producing stock. Other advantages 

 claimed for this kind of hive are : the facility 

 with which small swarms may be united and 

 large ones divided ; the opportunity it offers 

 for feeding, by putting into the hive a box of 

 surplus honey ; and the uniformity of temper- 

 ature preserved by the airchamber betv.'een the 

 drawers and the outside of the hive. On the 

 other hand, the cost is considerable, and it is 

 denied that deterioration is caused in the bees 

 by the filling up of the brood cells, and time 

 ind honey are therefore needlessly wasted by 

 keeping the bees constantly making new brood 

 ■somb. This and the difDculty of putting the 

 J!warms into the hives, and the many lurking 

 places they afford to the bee-moth, and also the 

 difficulty of procuring in this method of taking 

 away honey, that which is good and free from 

 cocoon and bee-bread, in the opinion of most 

 bee-keepers more than counterbalance their 

 supposed advantages. Swarming hives are 

 sometimes used. They are made with sections, 

 so that by closing all or part of them, the space 

 which the bees occupy is lessened ; and they 

 are crowded out, and their swarming hastened. 

 Hives are sometimes arranged so as to allow 

 the bees to go on accumulating honey and in- 

 creasing in number, and not swarm at all. A 

 hive of bees is put in a bee house, and empty 

 hives connected with it, so that as soon as one 

 becomes filled the bees pass to the adjoining 

 ones. In some instances great quantilies of} 

 honey have been obtained by this method ; but 

 it has not generally been found practicable or 

 profitable. The result of all the experiments 

 made in this country, with complicated and in- 

 geniously contrived hives, and also in Europe 

 where equally many attempts have been made 

 to adopt artificial tenements to the simple in- 

 t'lini ts of the bee, tends to show the superiority, 

 lor i)ractical purposes, of the simpler hive. 

 The intvoductiou of the movable comb hive, is 

 the only real advance that has been made in 

 this direction, beyond the plain old box or straw 

 hive ; and even in this all deviations from its 

 original, plain and simple form, are in reality 

 deteriorations, rendering them cumbersome and 

 incommodious, tending to defeat the chief ob- 

 ject in view — the facility of controlling the bees 

 and directing their labors. 



For protection against the extremes of heat 

 and cold in summer and winter, straw hives 

 are excellent. In Poland, where finer honey 

 is produced, and bees are more successfully 

 managed than elsewhere in Europe, where 

 movable combs are not yet used, hives are 

 very generally made by excavating trunks of 

 trees, taking logs a foot or more in diameter and 

 about nine feet long. They are scooped out or 

 bored for the length of six feet from one end, 

 forming hollow cylinders ; the diameter of the 

 bore being six or eight inches. A longitudinal 

 slit is made in the cylinder neajly its whole 

 length and about four inches Avide. Into this is 

 fitted a slip of wood with notches on the edges 

 large enough to admit a single bee. This slip is 

 fastened in with wedges or hinges; and if it is in 

 several parts, it will be found the more conve- 

 nient. The top is covered, and the trunk set 

 upright with the opening towards the south. 

 Through this door the condition of the entire 

 swarm is seen, and the honey taken from time 

 to time. The length of the hive and its small 

 diameter, fit it for both large and small swarms. 



One of the best kind of common hives is made 

 of pine boards, an inch or an inch-and-a-cpiarter 

 thick. The best size is twelve inches scpiare 

 inside, and fourteen inches deep. If to be ex- 

 posed to the sun and rain, they would be better 

 painted. The top is made of boards, and is 

 fifteen inches square. The boards should be 

 joined carefully; many put paint between the 

 junctions, to keep the moths from breeding in 

 them. It saves the bees much labor if the in- 

 side of the hive is planed and cleaned, and cov- 

 ered with a thin coating of beeswax. It should 

 not be washed immediately before a swarm is 

 put in, with either water or spirits, or any 

 lic^uid that would i^revent the comb from ad- 

 hering readily. Cross sticks should be put in 

 to support the comb. Small notches should be 

 made in the bottom of the hive for the passage 

 of the bees. Boxes for caps or covers may be 

 made, if the chamber hive is not preferred, 

 about seven inches deep and twelve or thirteen 

 inches square. If glass vessels or others are to 

 be used to receive the honey, they may be put 

 under these caps, or the caps may be used 

 alone. They should fit close to the tops of the 

 hives, several holes being made in the tops for 

 the passage of the bees. The bottom-board 

 should be fifteen inches square, at least large 

 enough to give the bees space to alight and 

 expatiate. It is better to give each hive a sep- 

 arate stand. If protection from vermin and 

 insects is required, the hive may be placed on a 

 single pedestal two feet from the ground ; but 

 if there is no danger from them, nor from damp- 

 ness or snow, they may be nearer the ground. 

 The hives need some cover from the sun and 

 rain. A separate one for each may 'be easily 

 made by putting together two boards, one-and- 

 a-half or two feet long, and of the necessary 

 width, letting them "incline to each other 

 so as to form a roof. Bee-houses are found not 

 absolutely necessary, and worse than useless 

 when not rightly constructed. It is Avell to 

 guard against shading the hive too much in the 

 spring and fall ; against preventing a free cir- 

 culation of air all around them in summer ; and 



