16 HIVES. 



praised by our committees and officers as improvementa 

 in bee-culture. These men may be capable, intelligent, 

 and well fitted for their sphere, but in bee matters, 

 about as capable of judging, as the Hottentot would 

 be of the merits of an intricate steam-engine. Know- 

 ledge and experience are the only qualifications com- 

 petent to decide. 



OPPOSITIOK TO SIMPLICITY. 



I am aware that among the thousands whose direct 

 interest is opposed to my simple, plain, manner of get- 

 ting along, many will be ready to contend with me 

 for every departure from their patent, improved or pre- 

 mium hives, as the case may be. 



BY GAINING ONE POINT, PRODUCB ANOTHER EVIL. 



I think it will be an easy matter to" show that every 

 departure from simplicity to gain one point, is attend- 

 ed in another by a correspondent evil, that often ex- 

 ceeds the advantage gained. That we have made 

 vast improvements in art and science, and in every de- 

 partment of human affairs, no one will deny ; conse- 

 quently, it is assumed we must correspondingly im- 

 prove in a bee-hive ; forgetting that nature has fixed 

 limits to the instinct of the bee, beyond which she 

 will not go 1 



It wUl be necessary to point out the advantages 

 and objections to these pretended improvements, and 

 then we will see if we cannot avoid the objections, 

 and retain the advantages, without the eoapense, by a sim- 

 ple addition to the common hive ; because if we ex- 



