HIVES. 



105 



combs, allowing the Bees free passage all over ; they 

 are kept confined by a thick glass door on each side, 

 which in turn can be covered, and the light shut off by 

 external Venetian shutters. The framework of the hive 

 is of mahogany, and the whole revolves on an ingeni- 

 ously constructed turn-table, giving passage to the Bees 

 by a tunnel to the external air. It makes a handsome 

 ornament for a drawing-room or study, placed in a 

 window ; a small aperture in the window frame will give 

 passage to the Bees. This observatory hive has the evil 

 of all other glass hives, the cold nature of its material, 

 and the narrow width prevents the Bees clustering, the 

 consequence being that no stock can be trusted to the 

 rigours of the winter in it ; but its special advantage is 

 that the framed combs can be taken from an ordinary 

 Woodbury hive at the approach of summer and returned 

 to their old place when summer is gone. In such a hive 

 every Bee can be brought under observation, and when 

 the Queen be not found on one side turn to the other 

 and there she must be. This hive is made by Neighbour 

 & Sons, Regent Street, London. 

 Abbott's Observatory Hive. — This hive, of late 



Fig- 43- 



