INTEODUOTION. 15 



valuable peculiarities, I still found myself unable to remedy 

 many of ihe casualties to which bee-keeping is liable. I 

 now perceived that no hive could be made to answer my 

 expectations unless it gave me the complete control of the 

 combs, so that I might remove any, or all of them at pleas- 

 ure. The use of the Huber hive had convinced me that with 

 proper precautions, the combs might be removed without 

 enraging the bees, and that these insects were capable of 

 being domesticated or tamed, to a most surprising degree. 

 A knowledge of these facts was absolutely necessary to the 

 further progress of my invention, for without it, I should 

 have regarded a hive designed to allow of the removal of" 

 the combs, as too dangerous in use, to be of any practical 

 value. At first, I used movable slats or bars placed on rab- 

 bets in the front and back of the hive. The bees were in- 

 duced to build their combs upon these bars, and in carrying 

 them down, to fasten them to the sides of the hive. By 

 severing the attachments to the sides, f was able, at any 

 time, to remove the combs suspended from the bars. There 

 was nothing new in the use of movable hars ; the invention 

 being probably, at least, a hundred years old ; and I had my- 

 self used such hives on Bevan's plan, very early in the com- 

 mencement of my experiments. The chief peculiarity In 

 my hives, as now constructed, was the facility with which 

 these bars could be removed without enraging the bees, and 

 their combination with my new mode of obtaining the sur- 

 plus honey. 



With hives of this construction I commenced experiment- 

 ing on a larger scale than ever, and soon arrived at results 

 which proved to be of the very first importance. I found 

 myself able, if I wished it, to dispense entirely with natural 

 swarming, and yet to multiply colonies with much greater 

 rapidity and certainty than by the common methods. I 



