BEE-FARMER'S HIVE. 13 



"When bees are placed in hives adapted to their natural 

 wants, giving no excess of room, nor curtailing the use of 

 such space as they actually require, they then cast off their 

 first swarm of such numbers as nature teaches them are 

 best adapted to prove prosperous, and it matters not how 

 large your hive may be if a swarm be cast, which is sel- 

 dom in families with large hives ; it will not be in proportion 

 to the size of the hive but in accordance with the laws of 

 nature governing the bee. 



" I have found, from many years of close application to 

 the nature, economy, and general management of bees, 

 that hives about one foot square in the clear, that is, in the 

 inside, conform more to the natural habits and require- 

 ments of bees than any other size. 



"In 1842 I had a few hives made 12 by 18 inches in 

 the clear, that is 12 inches wide and 18 inches long. I 

 found that it took the bees two seasons to fill my large hives, 

 and, when filled, they did not swarm at all some seasons, 

 for the reason that, however great may be the quantity 

 of bees in the hive in the summer, they dwindle away 

 before spring to a certain quantity, and thus leave a vacant 

 space at the bottom of the hive of some six inches or more, 

 to be filled up with the increase of spring, while smaller 

 hives are full and are throwing off swarms in profusion. 

 Here lies the philosophy of adapting the hive to the natural 

 wants of the bee. I will illustrate this fact by a case. 



"An apiarian placed a swarm of bees in a hive about 

 14 inches in diameter by 2 feet in length : the bees 

 might possibly fill the hives with combs the second year, 

 but swarming is entirely out of the question with a stock 

 of bees in such a hive. The increase of every suc- 

 ceeding year disappeared before the spring following, since 

 all the bees existing in hives in the spring of the year, save 

 the queen, were the young of the preceding summer and 

 fall. Now ten years have past, and this hive is in pre- 



