vl PREFACE. 
and poets of all ages, and whose mysterious operations are calculated 
to raise our thoughts to Him who creates and sustains all things. 
“The industrious Bee has ever been viewed by intelligent natural- 
ists as an interesting species of insects, and the fruits of its industry 
as among the choicest productions of nature,” and affording a most de- 
licious luxury to the human race. 
This treatise is intended rather as an accompaniment to the “ Ohio 
Combination Bee-Hive:” but while giving directions for constructing 
and using the Hive, the author has thought it might not be considered 
out of place to give his views on the general management of bees, and 
the construction of bee-hives, which are the results of more than twenty 
years’ experience, during which period he has devoted a large amount 
of time and expense in experimenting with hives of various forms and 
sizes, and improving every means in his power to gain all the infor- 
mation possible from others engaged in the culture of bees. And 
while studying the instinct and habits of the bee, to combine in one 
hive as many requisites as possible, suited both to the wants of the 
bee, and convenience of the apiarian. And the inventor has now 
the pleasure and satisfaction of knowing that the “ Ohio Combination 
Hive” does receive the unqualified approbation of ninety-nine out of 
every hundred bee-keepers that have given it a trial or examination. 
The inventor would here state that in bringing this hive before the 
public at this time, that it is no new untried experiment, but that it 
has stood the test of four or five seasons in several hundred instances, 
and that many that have used it during that period, have testified 
that the longer they use them the better satisfied they become of 
their great utility and superiority over every other hive known to 
them. In my remarks in the following pages on the physiology of 
the bee, I am indebted to a considerable extent to Huber and Dr. 
Bevan, both of whom stand high as Naturalists and Apiarians, where- 
