HIVES. 51 



one lost, gave rise to some very wild speculations. To 

 make a hive in two parts, and when full, separate them, 

 making two, and then put an empty half with each full one, 

 on the presumption that the portion without a queen 

 would rear one, was a theory that seemed very well until 

 put in practice. I made a hive of this kind, and a Mr. 

 Jones, a little later, did the same, and obtained a patent, 

 but when they came to be put to the test of practice, we 

 were taught a lesson. A medium-sized swarm put into such 

 a hive wUl first fill one side down with nearly all brood 

 combs, and this apartment will, most of the time, afford 

 all the room needed for breeding. When they commence 

 in the other, they will build store-combs, the cells being 

 too large for rearing workers. A swarm large enough to 

 fill both sides at once will do better, but it will construct 

 more store-combs than are profitable. In many cases 

 when the colony is divided, the result will be no brood in 

 one apartment from which to raise a queen, and a strong 

 probability that the old queen is with the brood, and the 

 part without her must therefore run down. If by chance 

 there is sufiicient brood from which to raise a queen, so 

 small a part of the comb is fit for breeding that they can 

 raise but few bees, and the colony will remain weak and 

 thriftless for a short time, and then die. I also, found that 

 a colony would often starve with abundant stores. Bees 

 take up their winter quarters among the brood combs, in 

 the apartment where there is but little honey ; if it is all 

 exhausted during protracted cold weather, they must 

 starve. Only frequent intervals of warm weather, or 

 warm winter quarters, can avert such a fate. 



CHANGEABLE HIVE. 



The very kind effort to prevent the bees from becoming 

 dwarfs, has given rise to many forms of the changeable 

 hive. "We all know that when the young bee first hatches 



