18 THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 



another dwelling composed of two hives, each individually smaller than 

 the other, though collectively larger. In this way, as soon as the 

 stock hive has thrown off its prime swarm, it is put in this doubled 

 hive, and suffered to remain till autumn, when the bees are driven 

 from it, and returned again to the hive whence they issued earlier in 

 the season, while the entire contents become the spoil of the bee 

 master. For this second or spoliation hive, (as I call it,) I recom- 

 mend a size of eleven inches in diameter by nine inches in depth ; that 

 is, (where the two hives are put together,) of eleven inches in diame- 

 ter by eighteen inches in height, which makes it considerably larger 

 than the breeding hive. I prefer two hives to one large one, because 

 it favors the storing of a purer kind of honey, (in the upper part, at 

 least,) than if it were all laid up in the same hive, to every part of 

 which the queen mother has free access for laying eggs ; otherwise, I 

 would recommend a size of seventeen or eighteen inches by twelve 

 for a single spoliation hive. The swarm put into this hive is encour- 

 aged to increase itself to the greatest possible size, (which the large 

 dimensions of the parent hive tend to favor,) before its issue, after 

 which, all casts are returned, and the old hive, with a new queen, suf- 

 fered to enrich itself for another year. 



The material of which all hives of straw should be, if possible, con- 

 structed, is sound unthreshed rye straw, the universal testimony of all 

 bee writers justly recommending it. Let the hives be made rather 

 stouter than usual, especially if they are to stand in a cold situation — 

 one inch and a half thick is not too much, well and tightly bound to- 

 gether. The boards upon which these hives rest must be of stout inch 

 or one-and-a-half-inch stuff, and they will be of two sizes, agreeing 

 ■with the dimensions of the stocks to be placed on them ; but each 

 board should project at least one inch beyond the hive in every direc- 

 tion, being planed to a slope three inches all round for carrying off the 

 water. Moreover, the lowest band in every hive should be worked 

 upon a hoop of wood of as nearly as possible the same thickness.* In 

 this case, the entrance way may be cut in it, three eighths of an 

 inch high, (rather more than less,) and four inches wide ; otherwise, the 



* Care must be taken, in affixing this hoop, not to increase the height of the interior 

 space of the hives beyond the eight or nine inches respectively. Allowance must therefore 

 be made for it on first constructing a hive. 



