REQUISITES OJF A COMPLETE HIVE. 107 



offered in the shape of a patent bee-hive, as a worthless 

 conceit, if not an outrageous swindle. 



So deleterious has been the influence of the so-called 

 " Improved Hives " that, as a general thing, only those 

 who have used hives of the simplest form, have derived 

 much profit from their bees. They have wasted neither 

 time, money, nor bees, upon contrivances which can secure 

 nothing in advance of a simple box-hive, with an upper 

 chamber. 



A hive of the simplest possible construction, is a close 

 imitation- of the abode of bees in a state of nature ; being 

 a mere hollow receptacle, where, protected from the 

 weather, they can lay up their stores. An improved hive, 

 is one which contains an additional, separate apartment, 

 where bees can store their surplus honey for man. Most 

 hives in common use are only modifications of this latter 

 hive, and, as a general rule, are bad, exactly in propor- 

 tion as they depart from it. While they tempt the com- 

 mon bee-keeper to ruinous departures from the beaten 

 path, they furnish him no remedy for the loss of the queen, 

 or the casualties to which bees are exposed. Such hives, 

 therefore, form no reliable basis for any improved system 

 of management ; and hence, the cultivation of bees, in 

 this country, has declined for the last fifty years, and the 

 Apiarian is as dependent as ever upon the caprices of an 

 insect, which more than any of his domestic animals, may 

 be completely subjected to his control. 



I would respectfully submit, that no hive which does not 

 furnish a thorough control over every comb, can give that 

 substantiaKadvance over the simple improved or chamber 

 hive, which the bee-keeper's necessities demand. Of such 

 hives, the best are those which best unite cheapness and 

 simplicity, with protection in Winter, and ready access to 

 the spare honey-boxes. 



