EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN HIVE 219 
in bee-craft. The octagonal boxes of Wren had 
fixed tops with a central hole, much like the straw 
hive still used by the old-fashioned bee-keepers to 
this day. “Bee Robin’ did away with these 
fixed tops, and substituted a number of parallel 
wooden bars from which the combs were suspended, 
the spaces between the bars being filled by slides 
withdrawable at will. He could thus, after having 
added a story to his honey-chamber, allow the bees 
access to it by withdrawing his slides from the out- 
side: and when the super was filled with honey- 
comb, the slides were again employed in shutting 
off communication, whereupon the super could be 
easily removed. 
This, however, though it greatly facilitated 
the work of the bee-master, did not account for 
the large yields of surplus ‘honey, which the 
“Stewarton ’’ hive first made possible. In the 
light of modern bee-knowledge, it is plain that a 
big honey-harvest can only be secured by a 
corresponding large stock of bees, and Robert 
Kerr seems to have been the originator of what 
was nothing less than a revolution in the craft. 
Hitherto the bee-keeper had estimated his wealth 
according to the number of his hives, and the more 
these subdivided by swarming, the more prosperous 
their owner accounted himself. But ‘‘ Bee Robin ”’ 
reversed all this. He housed his swarms not singly, 
but always two at a time; and he made large stocks 
out of small ones by the simple expedient of piling 
the brood-boxes of several colonies together. In 
a word, it was the ‘‘ Dreadnought ’’ principle 
applied to the peaceful traffic of the hives. 
