HIVES. 59 



and requiring so little honey for wintering bees, thafwhen 

 I read it, I found myself wondering if the English inch 

 and pound were the same as ours. Whatever his expe- 

 rience, I think this size too small for bees in any place. 

 We must remember that the queen needs room for all her 

 eggs, and the bees need space to store their winter pro- 

 visions ; for reasons before given, these should be in one 

 apartment. When this is too small, their supply of food 

 is liable to be exhausted. The swarms from such hives 

 will be smaller, and the stock much more Uable to acci- 

 dents. Yet I can imagine how one can be deceived by 

 such a small hive, and recommend it strongly, especially if 

 patented. Suppose you locate a large swarm in a hive 

 near the size of Dr. Bevan's ; the bees will occupy nearly 

 all the room with brood combs. If you put on boxes, and 

 as often as fuU, replace them with empty ones, the amount 

 of surplus honey will be great ; a very satisfactory result 

 for the first summer, but in a year or two your little hive 

 is gone. As we enlarge our hives, this result is modified, 

 until we reach the opposite extreme, which is equally un- 

 desirable. Ktoo large, more honey will be stored than is 

 required for their winter use, of which it is evident that a 

 portion might have been secured, had it been stored in 

 boxes. Swarms issuing from such hives will not be projjor- 

 tionably large, and issue but seldom. They are of but 

 little profit, in surplus honey or swarms, but have the ad- 

 vantage of being long lived. 



Between the two extremes, as in most other cases, is 

 found the correct medium. A hive 12 inches square inside, 

 containing 1728 cubic inches, has been recommended as of 

 the best size. This, I think is large enough in many sec- 

 tions, as the queen probably has all the room necessary for 

 depositing her eggs, and the swarms are more numerous, 

 and nearly as large as from much larger hives ; there also is 

 room for honey sufficient to carry the bees through the 



