1G8 HIVES. 



as our reason for the above recommendation, that we 

 have uniformly found that such of our straw-hives as 

 approached nearest the shape recommended, have 

 been, ceteri* paribus, the first to swarm, and hav 

 swarmed thfc oftenest. We had till lately in our 

 possession, one of the form fig. 2, which had for three 

 successive years thrown each year three swarms. 



Wildmans Storied Straw Hive. This is preferred 

 by many to wooden hives on the same plan, from the 

 persuasion that straw is a preferable material. It 

 consists of two or more stories, each seven inches in 

 height, and ten inches in diameter. In the upper 

 row of straw, there is a hoop of about half an inch 

 in breadth, to which are fastened six or seven wooden 

 spars, each one-fourth of an inch thick, aifd one and 

 a quarter of an inch broad, and half an inch apart 

 from each other. To these bars the bees fix their 

 combs. In order to give greater steadiness to the 

 combs, and prevent their being broken or deranged 

 when the hive is moved, a rod is run through the 

 middle of it, in a direction across the bars, or at right 

 angles with them. A flat cover of straw, worked of 

 the same thickness as the hives, and twelve inches in 

 diameter, is applied to the uppermost story, " made 

 fast to the hive with a packing-needle and thread," 

 and carefully luted. Before it is put on, a piece of 

 clean paper, of the size of the top of the hive, should 

 be laid over the bars, the design of which is to pre- 

 vent the bees from working in the intervening spaces. 

 (PL X. fig. 3.) 



Grecian Hive. This has long been in use in ll>i 



