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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



through the side of the building, giv- 

 ing free passage, in and out, for the 

 bees. Sometimes a glass box inclos- 

 ing each frame, arranged like leaves 

 of a book, with a common entrance to 

 all of them, from the tube running 

 through the side of the building, is 

 made to exhibit bees. This gives an 

 opportunity for thorough examination 

 of the whole colony. 



Prof. Cook has an Observation 

 Hive in his study, and, by request, he 

 has sent us a drawing of it, from 

 which we have made the illustration, 

 so that our readers will obtain a good 

 idea from it and the accompanying 

 description given by the Professor : 



OBSERVING HIVES. 



Of course every live bee-keeper 

 will possess and read one or more of 

 the books that treat of bees and their 

 management. These place the whole 

 subject before him, and, if well in- 

 dexed, enable him to study any par- 

 ticular phase of the subject at will. 

 He will also, if wise, ttike and read 

 one or more of our excellent periodi- 

 cals. These keep him versed in the 

 progressive steps in this art, and the 

 various discoveries and improvements 

 can be appropriated as soon as made. 



There is still another method to 

 gain knowledge, which though, per- 

 haps, not so full of practical aid as the 

 above, will greatly beneflt.even on the 

 practical side of our business ; but, 

 more than this, it will enable us to 

 conUrm what we learn from the books, 

 and will do more than anything else to 

 exalt our appreciation of the wondrous 

 habits and instincts of the little in- 

 sects with which we have to do. It 

 will do much to make our life work as 

 full of wonder and admiration as it is 

 of pleasure and profit. I refer to the 

 possession of an " Observing Hive ;" 

 so that, with each leisure hour, we 

 may look into the very life habits of 

 our pets. Such observation, in any 

 field of natural history, always excites 

 interest, imparts instruction, and en- 

 nobles the observer. 



Pew experiences in my life have 

 yielded more real pleasure and valu- 

 able instruction, than the hours spent 

 in watching the strangely interesting 

 labors of the bees, as studied in my 

 library, by use of the small " observing 

 hive,'' here illustrated. 



I do not think we need any complex 

 arrangement. A simple, uni-frame 

 hive, with glass sides, which may be 

 darkened by doors, is cheap, easily 

 made, and will enal)le us to watch any 

 operations carried on in the hive. I 

 have even had bees in such a hive 

 prepare to swarm. Of course, such 

 limited quarters will not permit much 

 increase, and so, when the brood com- 

 mences to hatch out, the bees must be 

 shaken from the frame, and it re- 

 placed with a frame of empty comb, 

 or, better still, a frame of comb foun- 

 dation. We then can watch the bees 

 as they transform the foundation into 

 a sheet of beautiful comb. If the 

 bees are not gathering at the time of 



this transfer, we must either feed 

 them, or give them acomb containing 

 some honey. We may now watch, 

 not only the wondrous fashioning of 

 the comb, but the laying of eggs, the 

 packing of pollen, the finding of the 

 larval bees, and the many other won- 

 derful manipulations, to be witnessed 

 in the " Observing Hive." 



My hive, which is correctly repre- 

 sented in the engraving, is neatly 

 made of black walnut, and forms, of 



The TJni-Comb Hive. 



itself, quite a pretty ornament in my 

 study ; while, with its wondrous con- 

 tents, it forms an attraction which 

 can hardly be surpassed. It will pay 

 every apiarist to keep such a uni- 

 frame hive, for his own edification, 

 the instruction of his children, and 

 the entertainment of his friends. 



At the St. Joseph Exposition last 

 month there were two of these ob- 

 servation hives exhibited by Messrs. 

 P. G. Hopkins, senior and junior, and 

 they were more attractive than any 

 other exhibit. The tubes, running 

 from the entrances through the side 

 of the building (the exhibit being in 

 the second story), allowed the bees to 

 work industriously, and 



" Improve each Bbinfng hour " 



of every day of the exhibition, greatly 

 to the delight and wonderment of the 

 multitude of observers. 



There were something like a score 

 of other hives and nuclei containing 

 bees " at work " in the same way, ex- 

 hibited by Mr. E. T. Abbott, Mr. J. 

 G. Graham, Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson, 

 Mr. Wm. Kimball, and Mr. E. S. 

 Armstrong. ' 



These exhibits are growing in num- 

 bers, and we hope to see the day 

 when there are hundreds instead of 

 scores or dozens at every Pair and 

 Exhibition in America. 



As to the cost and how to obtain 

 them— the cost is but trifling, unless 

 it is desired to have them ornamental 

 as well as useful. While such an Ob- 

 servatory Hive can be made for a 

 single dollar, twenty might be ex- 



pended to make it ornamental, and 

 hence more attractive. Any carpen- 

 ter or cabinet maker could make it — 

 for it is simply a box to hold one- 

 frame from an ordinary hive.— Ed.] 



Honey Leaflet. 



Some Reasons for Eatini Honey. 



ALIiEN PRINGLK. 



Why people should freely eat honey 

 can be put briefly in one sentence, to- 

 wit: Because honey is wholesome, 

 palatable, and comparatively cheap 

 food. This fact in itself ought to be 

 sufficient to ensure its general use, 

 and no doubt it will when the fact is 

 generally known. 



Owing mainly, perhaps, to the fact 

 that honey yields such exquisite 

 pleasure to the human palate it is, for 

 the most part, regarded as a. mere 

 luxury, and its valuable qualities as a 

 food, and even a medicine, are gen- 

 erally overlooked. Corn meal por- 

 ridge is a wholesome and cheap food, 

 but it is not sufficiently palatable to 

 catch many mouths watering for it. 

 There are many excellent articles of 

 diet that are quite neglected, simply 

 because they do not commend them- 

 selves to our perverted tastes, every- 

 body, however, admitting their whole- 

 someness. 



But, because honey is so superla- 

 tively pleasant to all tastes— both nor- 

 mal and abnormal— the hasty conclu- 

 sion is forthwith reached that it is 

 merely a luxury to please the palate, 

 having no special value as a regular 

 article of diet. This popular con- 

 ception is very erroneous, and must 

 be corrected before this rich product 

 of nature can take its proper place ort 

 the tables of all classes of people as a 

 common article of diet. 



True, occasionally a person is found 

 who cannot eat honey. It disagrees 

 with a few, or, as they put it, " acts 

 almost as poison " to them. But this 

 fact no more proves that honey per s& 

 is essentially injurious than the fact 

 that potatoes are essentially unwhole- 

 some. The fault is not in the honey 

 or potatoes, but in the subject him- 

 self. In some peculiarity of constitu- 

 tion, or abnormal condition of the- 

 system may always be found the true 

 cause of the difticulty. 



The dietetic elements which honey 

 contains are quite indispensable ta 

 first-rate health in this and more 

 northerly climates— indeed, to all out- 

 side the torrid zoue. The carbonace- 

 ous, no less than the nitrogenous, 

 elements of food are required by the 

 human system in these zones ; and as 

 we go north from the Tropic of Can- 

 cer, more imperatively required than 

 the latter. Now, as honey furnishes 

 these indispensable, heat-producing 

 elements in greaterpurity than almost 

 every other article of human diet, it 

 therefore stands at the very head of 

 the carbonaceous ingesta. 



If the animal heat of the system is 

 produced and maintained by the com- 

 bustion in the blood of the oxygen of 

 the air taken in by the lungs and cer- 



