52 THE BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. 
empty box or hive, pushed beneath a full one, is 
denominated a nadir—a species of help not always 
advisable except in the case of swarms of the same 
year, or towards the latter end of very abundant sea- 
sons. A still smaller addition to a common hive con- 
sists merely of a few bands of straw, on which it is 
raised temporarily, and this constitutes an eke. When 
either this or a nadir is used, and to facilitate its sub- 
sequent removal, a board ought to be placed between 
the stock-hive and the nadir, to prevent the combs 
from being worked down into it. The nadir will corre- 
spond in principle with the stock-hive, but if movable 
bars or frames are not adopted in it, then its board 
may either be pierced with good-sized holes through- 
out, or it may be cut into the form of a grate, with the 
openings about half an inch wide. The entrance to 
the stock-hive must be stopped, and one made at 
the bottom of the eke or nadir. We shall hereafter 
describe a modification of the nadir principle, which, 
by way of distinction, I have called nethering. 
The preference given to either of the two schemes of 
bee management we have just detailed, must direct 
the proprietor in the choice of his hives, and we shall 
proceed to describe such of them as have found most 
favour among modern practitioners; premising that in 
using the term hive, we intend its general acceptation, 
no matter of what material it is made. Neither is it 
our object unduly to magnify the advantages of 
wooden hives at the expense of those of straw: preju- 
dice exists on both sides of the question. They are 
each valuable according to circumstances and their 
intended uses. Moreover, he only deceives himself 
