REQUISITES OP A GOOD HIVE. 113 



up the surplus portion of their stores, for the use of their 

 owner. All the various hives in common use, are only 

 modifications of this latter hive, and, as a general rule, they 

 are bad, exactly in proportion as they depart from it. Not 

 one of them oflers any remedy for the loss of the Queen, or 

 indeed for most of the casualties to which bees are exposed : 

 they form no reliable basis for any new system of manage- 

 ment ; and hence the cultivation of bees, is substantially 

 where it was, fifty years ago, and the Apiarian as entirely 

 dependent as ever, upon all the whims and caprices of an 

 insect which, more than any of his domestic animals, may 

 be made completely subject to his control. 



No hive which does not furnish a thorough control over 

 every comb, can be considered as any substantial advance 

 on the simple improved or chamber hive. Of all such hives, 

 the one which with the least expense, gives the greatest 

 amount of protection, and the readiest access to the spare 

 honey boxes, is the best. 



Having thus enumerated the tests to which all hives ought 

 to be subjected, and by which they should stand or fall, I 

 submit them to the candid examination of practical, common 

 sense bee-keepers, who having the largest experience in the 

 management of bees, are most conversant with the evils of 

 the present system ; and are therefore best fitted to apply 

 them to an invention, which, if I may be pardoned for using 

 the enthusiastic language of an experienced Apiarian on 

 examining its practical workings, " introduces, not simply an 

 improvement, but & complete revolution in bee-keeping." 

 10* 



