52 HIVES. 



from the egg it is nothing but a worm, that it is fed a 

 few days, and the cell containing it sealed over with a 

 waxen covering. It then spins a cocoon, or lines its cell 

 with a coating of silk, inconceivably thinner than the thin- 

 nest paper, which remains after the bee leaves the cell. It 

 is evident, therefore, that after a few hundreds have been 

 reared in a cell, each one leaving its cocoon, such cell 

 must be somewhat diminished in size, and after a time be- 

 come so small that the young bee cannot attain to its 

 proper size. It therefore needs to be removed that the 

 bees may replace it with one of full size. This is all very 

 consistent, and were it not that the patent-vender takes 

 advantage of the bee-keeper, through ignorant or design- 

 ing misrepresentation, I might have but little to say on 

 this point. 



The most simple form of this class of hives consists of 

 several stories one above another, with holes or cross-bars 

 for communication, each section or story forming a hive 

 five or six inches deep. Every year a full one is taken 

 from the top, and an empty one added at the bottom. As 

 there are usually about three, they are changed every 

 three years, consequently none of the combs are over 

 three years old. The one taken off usually contains the 

 most honey. But of what quality is it ? It is even in- 

 ferior to some pieces that may be selected from the box 

 hive. Every comb and nearly every cell must, at some 

 time, have been used for breeding, consequently they con- 

 tain either cocoons or pollen, and are not desirable or fit 

 for the table until strained. A hive of this class is one of 

 the worst in which to winter bees. It is objectionable on 

 the same score as the dividing hive — bees in one part and 

 honey in another. Every hive on this principle is open to 

 the same objection, whether the sections are placed one 

 above another, or upright, side by side. Hives of this 

 kind may be considered the most pernicious of any. They 



