PUTTING ON AND TAKING OFF BOXES. 177 



cessity of covering or stopping the^lioles. Dr, Bevan 

 and some others have made a cross-bar hive, instead 

 of nailing on a top in the usual way ; a half-inch board 

 of the right length is cut into strips, some over an 

 inch wide, and half an inch apart, across the top. It 

 .is plain that in such a hive a bee can pass into the box 

 whenever it arrives at the top, without difficulty. I 

 will here sepeat the objection to allowing too much 

 room, to pass into the boxes, that you may see the 

 disadvantages of the extremes of too little and too much 

 room. In these cross-bar hives, the animal heat rises 

 into the box from the main hive, making it as warm as 

 below; the queen goes up with the bees, and finding it 

 warnrand convenient for breeding, deposits her eggs ; 

 and }• oung brood as well as honey is found there. When 

 we think it full, it is then indispensable to return it, if 

 taken off, tjjl they hatch, (otherwise they spoil it by 

 moulding), which makes the combs dark, tough, &c. 

 Another objection to such open tops is, that open 

 bottom boxes must be used, which are not half as neat 

 for market. 



TO BE TAKEN OFF WHEN FILLKD. 



This advantage attends glass boxes: while being 

 filled, the progress can be watched till finished, when, 

 they should be taken off to preserve the purity of the 

 combs. Every day the bees are allowed to run over 

 them, renders them darker. Consequently, wken our 

 bees are a long time filling a box, it is not as purely 

 white as when filled expeditiously 



8* 



