132 I'IRST PRINCIPLES OF BEE-KEEPING. 



I hope you will not be content without soon having 

 something better. 



To give you some idea of these disadvantages : 

 suppose something goes wrong with the bees — some 

 of their enemies get inside, or the bees are ill, as 

 sometimes is the case ; — you know that it is so, that 

 things are wrong ; but what can you do ? There the 

 bees are, safely shut up in a hive, where you cannot 

 either see or help them. There are things you could 

 do, and remedies you could apply, which would soon 

 put all straight again, but you are helpless to do 

 anything. 



Think how it would be if you yourself were in 

 similar circumstances. We will suppose that you arc 

 ill, and the doctor sent for. He comes, and feels your 

 pulse, and asks you many questions, and so prescribes 

 his medicine. But what could the doctor do if, when 

 he came, he had to stand outside the house, and not 

 even see you through a window ? And of what use 

 would be all his medicine if, when brought, it had to 

 be set down outside the house, and there was no 

 one to bring it in ? You see, of course, the absurdity 

 of the whole thing. And yet this is much the case 

 with the bees in a straw hive when things go wrong. 

 We cannot get at them, either to see what is amiss, or 

 to give them any remedy. 



And then there are frequently other occasions 

 when many things can be done to assist the bees, and 

 to make them into thriving colonies, if only we are 

 able to see into the hives, and to handle the separate 

 combs. 



And now, keeping all this in view we see not only 



