HIVES. 05 



"When jars, tumblers, or other glass vessels are used, it 

 is absolutely necessary to provide as many guides as you 

 wish combs made, or secure a piece of wood inside, as 

 they seldom commence building on glass, without some 

 such inducement. The reader may have seen paraded at 

 Dur fairs, or in the public places in some of our cities, hives 

 jontaining tumblers, some of them neatly filled, others 

 3mpty, with the magic sentence written upon them " Not 

 to bejilled" as if they were pretending to govern the bees 

 by mysterious incantations, as a juggler sometimes per- 

 forms his tricks. 



I have termed the cap or box, a cover, but this 

 should also. be covered, with a board, if nothing else. 

 A good roof for each hive can be made by fastening 



two boards together 

 like the roof of a 

 building ; let it be 

 about 18x24 inches ; 

 being loose, its j)osi- 

 Fig. 8.— KooF. tion can be varied in 



accordance with the season. In spring, let the sun 

 strike the hive, but in hot weather let the roof project 

 over the south side, etc. The boxes described, can be used 

 on any of the hives yet to be mentioned. 



SOME DESIRABLE THINGS NOT POUND IN BOX HIVES. 



Every bee-keeper has found that there are several 

 things desirable in a bee-hive that the makers of many im- 

 proved hives never think of. He has seen stocks most 

 promising in spring, containing the brightest combs, just 

 the right amount of stores, and a strong colony of bees, 

 begin to dwindle without any apparent cause, and has 

 wished for some means by which he could inspect the in- 

 terior, and ascertain whether the queen was lost or barren, 

 or the brood diseased. He has often, in autumn, had col- 



