112 KEQUISITES OF A GOOD HIVE. 



having devised a " perfect bee hive." Perfection can belong 

 only to the vi'orks of the great Creator, to whose omniscient 

 eye, all causes and effects with all their relations were pres- 

 ent, when he spake, and from nothing formed the Universe 

 and all its stupendous wonders. For man to stamp upon any 

 of his own works, the label of perfection, is to show both 

 his folly and presumption. 



It must be confessed that the culture of bees is at a very 

 low ebb in our country, when thousands can be induced to 

 purchase hives which are in most glaring opposition not only 

 to the true principles of Apiarian knowledge, but often, to 

 the plainest dictates of simple common sense. Such have 

 been the losses and disappointments of deluded purchasers, 

 that it is no wonder that they turn from everything offered 

 in the shape of a patent bee-hive, as a miserable humbug, if 

 not a most barefaced cheat. 



I do not hesitate to say, that those old-fashioned bee-keep- 

 ers who have most steadily refused to meddle with any 

 novelties, and who have used hives of the very simplest 

 construction, or at least such as are only one remove from 

 the old straw hive, or wooden box, have, as a general thing, 

 realized by far the largest profits in the management of bees. 

 They have lost neither time, money nor bees, in the vain 

 hope of obtaining any unusual results from hives, which, in 

 the very nature of the case, can secure nothing really in 

 advance of what can be accomplished by a simple box hive 

 with an upper chamber. 



A hive of the simplest possible construction, is only a close 

 imitation of the abode of bees in a state of nature ; being a 

 mere hollow receptacle in which they are protected from the 

 weather, and where they can lay up their stores. 



An improved hive is one which contains, in addition, a 

 separate apartment in which the bees can be induced lo lay 



