THE EVOLUTION OF THE BEE-HIVE. 203 



LANGSTKOTH'S HIVE. 



Langstroth, in thinking out the pros and cons of his valuable 

 system of bee-keeping, appears to have well weighed the various 

 details of the advantages or difficulties that bee-keepers of the 

 future would be most likely to meet with. Judging from what 

 he then wrote it would seem that the pros would largely out- 

 balance the cons. In studying what both mankind and beekind 

 would require, he has given upwards of sixty necessary requi- 

 sites that, in his opinion, go to make up a complete hive — a hive 

 that shall be a protection against all climatic changes, and both 

 workable and profitable — i.e., profitable as in labour-saving for 

 the bees and honey production for the bee-keeper. 



Out of the sixty odd points he enumerates as the requisites 

 of a complete hive, experience has taught us that the whole of 

 them have not worked as the great bee-master had anticipated. 

 In the majority of his points he is undoubtedly right, and ex- 

 perience has taught that many are wrong, or need to be greatly 

 modified. Let us look at the various points in the order he has 

 given them. He says: — 



1. A complete hive should give the apiarian such perfect 



control of all the combs that they may be easily taken 

 out without cutting them or enraging the bees. 



The Langstroth hive of to-day can be so worked by the 

 merest amateur, and with ordinary care with the more docile 

 bees, frequently few, if any, will rise on the wing with that well 

 known sharp note indicative of rage. 



2. It should permit all necessary operations to be per- 



formed without hurting or killing a single bee. 



In removing and replacing frames when examining bees, 

 more are killed by carelessness than in any other way. Hives 

 that are constructed so that the frames come flush with the top 

 of the hive, and where flat covers are used, are one of the causes 

 of the destruction of bees, and another is in placing the quilt over 

 while the top bar is covered with bees. With the bellows drive 

 all the bees below before covering them up. 



3. It should afford suitable protection against extremes of 



heat and cold, sudden changes of temperature, and 

 the injurious effects of dampness. 



