142 miner's AMERICAN 



shut off the opening when the supers are not placed in 

 position. The doors in front open to admit the apia- 

 rian to observe, through a pane of glass, the operations 

 of the bees. These glass windows may be dispensed 

 with, if one choose to do so. The opening or entrance 

 for the bees, as seen in front, was not in the original 

 drawing of this hive, in Bevan's work, but I have placed 

 it there as essential, as the reader will hereafter observe, 

 The glass windows may be in front or in the rear of the 

 hives, according to the desire of the apiarian. If the 

 hives be placed against a fence or wall, they should be 

 in front ; but should there be a passage-way between 

 the hives and such fence or wall, then the doors should 

 be on the backs of the hives, in order to observe the 

 labors of the bees, without the least disturbance of them. 

 There is a hive on this principle now in use in some 

 part of New Jersey, and perhaps in other States also, 

 with which some savan is deluding the good people, by 

 causing them to believe that it is original, and the very 

 best hive in existence, of course. 



HOBBY OF A PORTION OF THE ITINERANT BEE-HIVE 

 VENDERS. 



The hobby of a portion of the itinerant bee-hive ven 

 ders of the United States is, " an easy method of renew 

 ing the combs every third year." The idea has struck a 

 few of those geniuses, that in consequence of the difficulty 

 to the inexperienced bee-keeper attending the transfer 

 or change of families of bees, from old to new hives, 

 when the combs have become blackened- and vitiated 



