52 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



almost all writers on bees, ancient and modern, have re- 

 commended for use hives tmprofitably small, we have the 

 hard and painful task to perform of nullifying, in some 

 degree, the influence of their opinions, ere we can success- 

 fully recommend the general adoption of hives profitably 

 large. 



The Materials of Hives. 



Straw hives, well sewed with split canes or bramhle- 

 briers, are incomparably better for bees than any other 

 kind of hive yet introduced. Nothing better is needed, 

 and we believe nothing better wUl ever be found out. 

 On the score of cheapness and neatness, lightness and 

 convenience, suitability and surpassing worth, we advise 

 aU bee-keepers seeking large returns in honey to use noth- 

 ing but straw hives as domiciles for bees. 



Hives made of wood, at certain seasons of the j-'ear 

 condense the moisture arising from the bees, and this 

 condensed moisture rots the combs. The walls of a 

 wooden hive are often like the walls of a very damp or 

 new-plastered house. The outside combs, and sometimes 

 the inside combs too, perish before the wet walls of 

 wooden hives. They perish in this sense, that their 

 nature or adhesive power goes like mortar in walls, and 

 becomes as rotten as burnt paper. All such combs are 

 worse than useless in hives; for bees cannot use them for 

 either honey or brood, or even as the foundations for 

 fresh combs. They have to be taken down and new 

 ones put in their places. There is in this work of the 

 bees a waste of both time and honey. 



But how can you account for the use of boxes as bee- 

 hives in this country at all ? Well, the great bulk of 

 straw hives of English make are exceedingly small and 

 ill made ; they are unsightly, and comparatively not 

 worth one shilling a dozen. Many bee-keepers, finding 



