106 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



raise the greatest number of chickens, and sell the largest 

 number of eggs. 



Worse than all, it cannot furnish the many advantages 

 enumerated, and yet be made in as little time, or quite as 

 cheaply, as a hive which, in the end, proves to be a very 

 dear bargain ! 



In the progress of my invention, while undoubtedly 

 attaching undue importance to some points, I have 

 steadily endeavored to avoid constructing a hive in accord- 

 ance with crude theories, or mere conjectures. Having 

 carefully studied the nature of the honey-bee, for many 

 years, and compared my observations with those of writers 

 and cultivators who have spent their lives in extending 

 the sphere of Apiarian knowledge, I have endeavored to 

 remedy the many difficulties with which bee-culture is 

 beset, by adapting my invention to the actual habits and 

 wants of the insect. I have also tested the merits of this 

 hive by long continued experiments, made on a large scale, 

 so that I might not, by deceiving both myself and others, 

 add another to the useless contrivances which have 

 deluded and disgusted a too credulous public. I would, 

 however, utterly repudiate all claims to having devised even 

 a perfect bee-hive. Perfection belongs only to the works 

 of Hun, to whose omniscient eye were present all causes and 

 effects, with all their relations, when he spake, and from 

 nothing formed the Universe. For man to stamp the 

 label of perfection upon any work of his own, is to show 

 both his folly and presumption. 



The culture of bees is confessedly at a low ebb in this 

 country, when thousands can be induced to purchase hives 

 which are in glaring opposition to the plainest dictates of 

 common sense, as well as the simplest principles of Apiarian 

 knowledge. Such have been the losses of deluded pur- 

 chasers, that it is no wonder they turn from everything 



