dee-keei'er's manual. 151 



adapted to breeding ; and where the natural increase of 

 the bees is prevented, the prosperity of the family is at 

 an end. My method of effecting this change is by 

 driving out, and it is attended by no difficulty whatever, 

 and I consider it the only way that it can be done safely. 



REMARKS ON SUPER AND NADIR* HIVING. 



The reason why the combs built in a box placed un- 

 der or above the main hive, are not fit for a permanent 

 residence of the bees, is, that the bees in ascending into 

 a super, look upon such space in the light of a stoi-e- 

 room, and the combs built in such places are almost 

 always thick, and especially adapted to the storage of 

 honey ; being constructed in all manner of thickness and 

 shapes. The same may be said of hives placed under 

 the family to a certain extent. There is not so great a 

 deviation from regular brood-combs, in hives placed un- 

 der, as in those placed over the family ; yet the devia- 

 tion is enough to render such hives unfit for a permanent 

 abode. The bees, when originally hived, are actuated 

 by certain fixed principles in the construction of their 

 combs, — the production of brood-combs always being the 

 most prominent, since their prosperity lies wholly in the 

 certainty of a rapid and extensive increase. But when 

 bees are driven from their usual habitation into hives 

 immediately connected therewith, or rather, when such 

 extra, room is afforded them, they take possession of it, 

 and if there be a surplus population in the main hive, a 

 portion of the bees will commence comb-building in 

 * A hive placed under the stock. 



