bee-keeper's manual. 156 



of its honey, as I alluded to previously. I do not find 

 these supers to prevent swarming, unless it be second 

 and third swarms. I generally get one good swarm, 

 and sometimes two. I consider that one good swarm is 

 enough, and better than more. 



The foregoing hive, it will be seen, stands on a stool 

 about 18 inches from the ground. This stool will be 

 fully described when I speak of " bee-stands," in an es- 

 pecial chapter on that subject. 



The reader may observe, that this hive rests on small 

 pins or legs at the corners ; giving the bees an oppor- 

 tunity of entering, and sallying forth on every side of 

 the hive. This is one of the fundamental principles of 

 my management, which I discussed in. the American 

 Agriculturist, during the years 1846, '47 and '48; to- 

 gether with much other matter, as some of my readers 

 may recollect. The way in which these hives may 

 be raised is, by driving pieces of stout wire as thick 

 as a pipe-stem,- into the corners of the hives, so as to 

 leave just three-eighths of an inch of the pin projecting 

 from the wood. The ends of the pins should be filed off 

 smooth, or nearly so, that the weight of the hive may 

 bear alike on all corners, and not sink any one part into 

 the wood beyond another. These pins will support ten 

 times the weight of the hive, without sinking into the 

 bottom-board, if the ends be flattened. 



The reason why such iron pins are recommended 

 is, that the smaller the pin, the less liability there is 

 of the moth-worm, that leaves the combs in the spring 

 of the year, to find a convenient place to wind 



