MOVABLE-COMB LIVES. 187 
otherwise. As well might the farmer seek for some kind of 
wheat which will yield an enormous crop, in any soil, and 
in every season. 
It could not enable the cultivator, while rapidly multiply- 
ing his stocks, to secure the largest yield of honey from his 
bees. As well might the breeder of poultry pretend, that 
in the same year, and from the same stock, he can both 
raise the greatest number of .chickens, and sell the largest 
number of eggs. 
MovasLe-Coms Hives. 
282. The bee-keepers of Greece and of Candia seem to 
have been the first to provide their hives with movable bars, 
under which bees suspended their combs. Della-Rocca men- 
tions these and gives engravings of them in his work, pub- 
lished in 1790. In 1838, Dzierzon revived this hive and 
improved it. In spite of the difficulty of its management, 
since the combs not being attached to movable-frames, but 
A J 
E D 
Fie. 52, 
DIVERS MOVABLE BARS TO SUPPORT THE COMBS, 
to top bars (fig. 52), cannot be removed without cutting them 
loose from the sides of the hive, Dzierzon succeeded in 
making discoveries, in bee physiology, which rank among 
the most important (132). His success was marvelous for 
the epoch. Mr. Wagner wrote of him in 1852: 
