112 THE BEE keeper's MAHUAI.. 



which have deluded and disgusted a credulous public. I 

 would, however, most earnestly repudiate all claims to having 

 devised a " perfect bee-hive." Perfection can belong only 

 to the v^orks of the great Creator, to yihcse Omniscient eye, 

 all causes and effects with, all their relations, were pres- 

 ent, when he spake, and from nothing formed the universe 

 and all its glorious wonders. For man to stamp upon any 

 of his own works, the label of perfection, is to show both 

 his folly and presumption. 



It must be confessed that the culture of bees is at a very 

 low ebb in our country, when thousands can be induced to 

 purchase hives which are in most glaring opposition not 

 only to the true principles of Apiarian knowledge, but often, 

 to the plainest dictates of simple common sense. Such 

 have been the losses and disappointments of deluded pur- 

 chasers, that it is no wonder that they turn from everything 

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

 humbug, if not a most barefaced cheat. 



I do not hesitate to say that those pld-fashioned bee-keep- 

 ers, who have most steadily refused to meddle with any nov- 

 elties, and who have used hives of the very simplest con- 

 struction, or at least such as are only one remove from the old 

 straw hive, or wooden box, have, as a general thing, real- 

 ized by far the largest profits in the management of bees. 

 They have lost neither time, money nor bees, in the vain 

 hope of obtaining any unusual results from hives, which, in 

 the very nature of the case, can secure nothing really in 

 advance of what can be accomplished by a simple box-hive 

 with an upper chamber. 



A hive of the simplest possible construction, is only a close 

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

 mere hollow receptacle in which they are protected from 

 the vvealherj and where they can lay up their stores. 



