HIVES. ‘ 29 
the form and size best adapted to the natural habits and wants of the 
bee, we find almost as many different opinions on the subject as there 
are persons engaged in keeping bees. Some are in favor of large 
hives, others of small ones. A. has his large hive for large swarms, and 
small hives for small ones. ‘B. contends that all should be of the same 
size and form under all circumstances. C. prefers the storifying plan. 
D. the collateral hiving. And an almost endless variety of forms and 
sizes might be named, and each has its advocates. That persons 
should disagree in regard to the peculiar form that hives should be 
constructed, is not a matter of surprise; or that there should exist a 
diversity of opinion, as to the size best suitetl to the actual wants of 
the honey-bee, so long as different colonies vary so much in the 
amount of honey they produce, and localities and seasons affect them 
so materially as they do here in the United States. But that prac- 
tical bee-keepers, who have paid a good degree of attention to the 
subject, should insist that “every bee-hive in the United States 
should be of one exact size and shape,” under all circumstances and 
all cases, and that no “additional room should be given” in any case, 
is in my opinion taking ground that it will be difficult to defend by ' 
sound argument, to say the least. 
For it is a fact, admitted by all apiarians, “that some queens are 
more fertile, and will produce a much larger amount of brood during 
a season than others, and that even the same queens will produce 
more bees in some seasons than in others, and consequently the popu- 
lation of the family will vary as the queen is affected by seasons and 
circumstances, and as a matter of course their wants, as regards amount 
of room, will vary as their numbers increase or diminish. It is also a 
fact that some colonies will store double the amount of honey during the 
season that others will, provided they have room afforded to accommo- 
date them. Now this being the case with each and every colony of bees, 
does it not appear both proper and necessary that hives should be so 
constructed as to afford means to increase or diminish the amount of 
room to accommodate the wants of the family, both at different seasons 
of the year, and also in different seasons; for as has been mentioned, 
it will enable the bees to gather more houey, and afford small colonies 
better protection against the moth, than hives that are so constructed 
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