430 SHAPE OF HIVES. 



existing parts, the size of the main apartment, as well as the 

 space for surplus stores, may be varied to suit the necessities 

 of every bee-keeper. 



Being able to remove any surplus, at pleasure, I prefer to 

 make the interior of my hives considerably larger than a 

 bushel. Many hives are so small, that they would not con- 

 tain one-quarter the bees, comb and honey, which, in a good 

 season, may be found in my large hives; while their owners 

 wonder that they are able to obtain so little profit from their 

 bees. A good swarm of bees, put, in a good season, into 

 such a diminutive hive, may be compared to a powerful 

 team of horses, harnessed to a baby wagon, or a noble fall 

 of water, wasted in turning a petty water-wheel. (See pp. 

 231-2-3.) 



Hives may be divided, as respects their shape, into Tall, 

 Low and Broad, and Long and Broad. A hive tall, in pro- 

 portion to its other dimensions, has some very obvious advan- 

 tages. As bees are disposed" to carry their stores as far as pos- 

 sible from the entrance, they will fill the upper part of such 

 hives with honey, and use nearly all the lower part for brood ; 

 thus e.scaping the danger of being caught, in cold weather, 

 among empty ranges of comb, while they still have honey un- 

 consumed. If the top of this hive, like that of an old- 

 fashioned churn, is made, (on the Polish plan,) considerably 

 smaller than the bottom, it will be still better adapted to a 

 cold climate, besides being more secure against high winds. 

 Such a hive is evidently deficient in top surface, for the pro- 

 per storing of surplus honey in boxes, and it would be im- 

 possible to use my frames in it, to any advantage; but to 

 those who prefer to keep bees on the old plan, I recommend 

 this shape, made to hold not less than a bushel and a half, 

 as decidedly the best. 



