16 MOVABLE COMB HIVE. 



on a larger scale than ever, and soon arrived at results which 

 proved to be of the. very first importance. I found myself 

 able, when I wished it, to dispense entirely -wiih natural 

 svirarming, and yet to multiply colonies with much greater 

 rapidity and certainty than by the common methods. I could, 

 in a_few minutes, strengthen my feeble colonies, and furnish 

 those which had lost their Queen with the means of obtain- 

 ing another. If I suspected that anything was the matter 

 with a hive, I could ascertain its true condition by making a 

 thorough examination of every part, and if the worms had 

 gained a lodgment, I could quickly dispossess them. In 

 short, I could perform all the operations which will be ex- 

 plained in this treatise, and I believed that bee-keeping 

 could be made highly profitable, and as much a matter of 

 certainty, as any other branch of rural economy. 



I perceived, however, that one thing was yet wanting. 

 The cutting of the combs from their attachments to the sides 

 of the hive, in order to remove them, was attended with 

 much loss of time, both to myself and the bees, and in order 

 to facilitate this operation, the construction of my hive was 

 necessarily somewhat complicated. This led me to invent 

 a method by which the combs were attached to movable 

 FRAMES, and suspended in the hives, so as to touch neither 

 the top, bottom, nor sides. By this device, I was able to 

 remove the combs at pleasure, and if desired, I could spee- 

 dily transfer them, bees and all, without any cutting, to 

 another hive. I have experimented largely with hives of 

 this construction, and find that they answer most admirably, 

 all the ends proposed in their invention. 



While experimenting in the city of Philadelphia, in the 

 Summer of 1851, with some observing hives of a peculiar 

 construction, I ascertained that bees could be made to work 

 in glass hives, exposed to the full light of day. A knowledge 



