96 HIVES. 



and Travels in the Levant, &c. By Fred. Has* 

 selquist, B.D. 



Under the head of Storifying, I have given a 

 history of the discovery and progressive improve- 

 ment of boxes and storifying hives, and shall 

 chiefly confine myself, in this chapter, to the form 

 and dimensions of hives. The common bell- 

 shaped straw hives used by the cottagers are too 

 well known to need remark. Premising, there- 

 fore, that the Chelmsford and Hertford hives are 

 considered as the handsomest shaped and best 

 formed, I shall limit my observations to the straw 

 hives which may be employed for storifying, as 

 some persons may prefer straw to wood. These 

 have been called Moreton hives, on account of 

 their form only, the material of which they were 

 made being reeds and not straw. The best straw 

 for constructing hives is that of unblighted rye, 

 and unthrashed is preferable to thrashed straw ; 

 for being smooth and entire, the bees will be 

 spared a good deal of trouble, as they invariably 

 nibble away the rough sharp spiculae that they 

 find on the inner surface of a new hive. The 

 ears of corn may be dissevered from the straw 

 by a chaff-cutter, and thrashed with other corn. 

 The most approved size for a storifying straw 

 hive is nine inches high by twelve inches wide, in 

 the clear, the diameter being the same from top 

 to bottom. The importance of having all bee- 



