HIVES. 71 



One person will desire to study the natural history of the 

 Bee, and use his Apiary very much for scientific investi- 

 gation, without regard to pecuniary profit ; another will 

 look to the latter point alone ; while a third will, perhaps, 

 for want of leisure, or of education, only be able to 

 manage the hive which gives the least possible trouble, 

 content to sacrifice a large portion of profit. Hives 

 naturally divide themselves into two great classes, viz. : 

 straw skeps, where the combs are immoveable, and 

 wooden frame hives, where the combs can be removed at 

 will, and the whole internal economy of the hive investi- 

 gated by the Bee-master. To the latter class of Bee- 

 dwellings we are indebted for a great multitude of facts, 

 which have in modern times come to light in Apiarian 

 science, as well as many physiological discoveries, of 

 great interest to the naturalist. The crude idea of 

 moveable combs is, indeed, of very ancient date, having 

 been adopted by the Greeks in the days of their pros- 

 perity, but having been of a very rude character, appear 

 to have fallen into disuse ; the plan adopted was to 

 induce the Bees to start their combs from moveable 

 bars, but as they were generally attached to the sides of 

 the hives, they required cutting away before removal, 

 which in some measure prevented constant observation 

 from the natural objection of the Bees to have their works 

 destroyed. It was reserved for our own times to make 

 a great stride in management by the invention of the 

 moveable frames (in lieu of bars), suspended free in the 

 hives, and removeable at pleasure without greatly dis- 

 turbing the Bees. The credit of this device is attri- 

 butable to the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, an American 

 Bee-keeper of great renown, and another equally cele- 

 brated German Bee-master named Dzeirzon, who seem 

 simultaneously to have hit on the same plan, and who 



