108 APPENDIX. 



(B— Page 19.) 



I have been curious to see what the best authorities have advised on the subject of the pro- 

 per dimensions of bee hives. As the result of my investigation may not prove uninterest- 

 ing to many who have not the opportunity of referring to those writers, I do not scruple, 

 even at the hazard of prolixity, to entertain the reader with it. 



In favor of large hives on the single-hiving or swarming system, I find an array of 

 weighty names, such as those of Butler,* Sir J. More,t T. "Wildman,! Keya,|| De Gelieu,§ 

 and Bonner,1T among the bee masters of more ancient times ; nor are there wanting among 

 the moderns several, I may say many, stout advocates for the use of large hives. ... On the 

 other side are to be found no old-established names that I have become acquainted with. 

 The earliest advocate I know for small hives on the single system is Dr. Bevan, (a great 

 authority certainly inmost bee matters,) in whose train follow a host of supporters well 

 and favorably known to the modern apiarian world, including Mr. Golding, Mr. Payne, 

 Mr. Taylor, and others ; all of whom, however, are, from acknowledged experience, better 

 versed in the details of storification or collateral than of single hiving. None of these recom- 

 mend a size larger than thirteen and a half inches in diameter by nine inches high. 



From what has been written above, it will appear that most English apiarians of the 



* " Hives are to be made of any size between five and seven gallons, that any swarm, of 

 what quantity or time soever, may be fitly hived. The middling size of three pecks is most 

 profitable." — Butler's Feminine Monarchic Oxford, 1634, 



t " Your hive must be of any size between five and seven gallons, that any swarm, of 

 what quantity or time soever, may be fitly hived." — Sir J. More's England's Interest. 

 Fourth ed., London, 1707. It appears that More copied from. Butler, or both from some 

 third source. 



t Wildman, as is well known, was an advocate of the double hiving, (I will not say, 

 storifying,) system, and recommends a small-sized hive ; yet I quote him here as authoriiy 

 in favor of large hives, on the single hiving principle, because it is evident that there is 

 no real difference whatever between one large hive and two smaller ones affording the same 

 room, where these are put together almost immediately, and the second nadired, that is, 

 put under the first. Where hives are supered, (which alone is properly termed storifying,) 

 the queen is confined to the lower hive (in nine cases in ten) ; but where they are nadired, 

 not only does she fill the upper hive with eggs, but, as comb is built below, she also occu- 

 pies and breeds in the lower box ; and the sole object I have in view in recommending the 

 use of large hives, is to encourage the queen's breeding for a longer time than usual. 



[| Although Keys is a decided advocate of -storifying, (proper,) I find the following re- 

 mark in his Treatise (a new edition, London, 1814:) — ' ( I think, in the single method, no 

 hive should be less than three pecks, or perhaps a bushel, but not more than twelve inches 

 in height." 



§ De Gelieu says nothing certain as to the size of hives, but, speaking of their shape* 

 he has some observations which lead me, I think justly, to include him in the above list. 

 " I have invariably remarked," he says, " that bees thrive better in low hives than in high 

 ones ; that, in general, those which are broad and fiat, or extended horizontally, amass 

 more honey, thrive better, and give out stronger and earlier swarms than those which are 

 high and of several stories," Among the reasons which he gives for this opinion, is the 

 following weighty one, of which I most cordially approve : — " A hive thrives ONLY in pro- 

 portion to the success or perfection of its brood comb," which, he argues, must be gene- 

 rally defective in other than " low, flat hives, (of course, single hives and large ones,) in 

 which the heat is more easily concentrated." 



IT " As to the size, a hive that will hold about two and a half pecks, Linlithgow measure, 

 will hold a pretty large swarm; but there is no certain rule to judge what hive will be 

 exactly filled by a swarm- Much depends upon the succeeding season. If the swarm be 

 parly and large, it will requirea large hive ; but, if 7 otherwise, the hive should be pro- 

 portionably less." — A New Plan, &c. Edin., 1795. 



