REQUISITES OF A COMPLETE HIVE. 99 



the bees ought not, as in most hives, to lose valuable tune 

 in searching for it. 



27. It should give the requisite ventilation, without en- 

 larging the entrance so much as to expose the bees to 

 moths and robbers. 



28. It should furnish facilities for admitting at once a 

 large body of air, that the bees may be tempted to fly 

 out and discharge their faeces, on warm days in Winter, 

 or early Spring. 



If such a free admission of air cannot be given, the bees, 

 by losing a favorable opportunity of emptying themselves, 

 may suffer from diseases resulting from too long confine- 

 ment. 



29. It should enable the Apiarian to remove the excess 

 of bee-bread from old stocks. (See p. 82.) 



30. It should enable the Apiarian to remove the combs, 

 brood, and stores, from a common to an improved hive, so 

 that the bees may be easily able to attach them again 

 in their natural positions. A colony transferred to my 

 hive will repair their combs, in a few days, so as to work 

 as well as before their removal. 



31. It should permit the safe and easy dislodgement of 

 the bees from the hive. 



This requisite is especially important, when it becomes 

 necessary to break up weak stocks, to join them to 

 others. 



32. It should allow the bees, together with the heat and 

 odor of the main hive, to pass in the freest manner, to the 

 surplus honey-receptacles. 



In this respect, all other hives with which I am ac- 

 quainted are more or less deficient : the bees being forced 

 to work in receptacles difficult of access, and in which, in 

 cool nights, they find it impossible to maintain the requi- 

 site heat for comb-building. Bees cannot, in such hives, 



