THE HIVE 27 



features that the beekeeper can take ad- 

 vantage of in designing his hives for it 

 must be admitted that "wild" bees fre- 

 quently live over the winter in better con- 

 dition than they do in certain forms of 

 manufactured "houses." The beekeep- 

 er, too, can avoid certain obvious defects 

 in the natural hive and it is with a view of 

 combining the good points of the natural 

 hive and eliminating its objections that 

 the beekeepers have striven. 



After the invention of the movable 

 frame hive many different individuals at- 

 tempted to work out a satisfactory method 

 of applying the idea to practical work. 

 The result was a tremendous variety of 

 "patent" hives each in its turn heralded 

 as the last word on the subject. I think I 

 have never known any business that has 

 been more fad-ridden than has that of 

 keeping bees, and while it now shows signs 

 of getting down to brass tacks and behav- 

 ing itself like a gentleman it is by no 

 means over the mania for experimenting. 



