174 SUMMER. 



engaged in the body of the hive, more room is unne- 

 cessary. 



MAKING HOLES AITBR THE HIVE IS F0LL. 



Whenever it is required to put boxes on a hive that' 

 has no holes through the top, it need not prevent 

 your getting a few pounds of the purest honey that 

 may be had, just as well as to have a portion of the 

 bees idle. I always endeavor to ascertain in what 

 direction the sheets of comb are made, and then mark, 

 off the row of holes on the top, at right angles with- 

 them. 



ADVANTAGE OF PROPER ARRANGEMENT. 



Two inches being nearly the right distance, each 

 one will be so made that a bee arriving at the top, 

 of the hive between any two sheets will be able to 

 find a passage into the box, without the task of a long 

 search for it ; which I can imagine to be the case when 

 only one hole for a passage is made, or when the row 

 of holes is parallel with the combs. A hive might- 

 contain eight or ten sheets of comb, and a bee desirous 

 of entering the box might go up between any two, 

 many times, before it found the passage. It has been 

 urged that every bee soon learns all passages and places 

 about the hive, and consequently will kaow the direct 

 road to the box. This may be true, but when we recpl- 

 lect that all within the hive is perfect darkness — that 

 this path must be found by the sense of feeling alon^— 

 that this sense must be its guide in all its future travels — 



