242 



TENTH CHAPTER. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT HIVES, DOMESTIC AND 

 FOREIGN, SPECIFYING THEIR ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS. 



FIRST MENTION" OP HIVES BY VARRO — THE FORESTS, THE NATURAL DOMI- 

 CILE OF THE BEES — COLONIES OF BEES IN POLAND, RUSSIA, &C. — STSTEM 

 OF KEEPING BEES IN POLAND — THE POLISH HIVE — THE COMMON COTTAGE 

 HIVE — OBJECTIONS TO IT — NUMBER OF HIVES INVENTED — FEW HIVES 

 INVENTED IN ENGLAND — HIVES INVENTED BY FOREIGNERS — THE HIVE 

 OF GELIEU — THE STORIFYING HIVE OF RICOUR — THE STORIFYING HIVE 

 OF L'AEBE ELOI — NUMEROUS MODIFICATIONS OF THE STORIFYING HIVE 

 — HIVE OF DUCOUEDIC — ADVANTAGES OF THE STORIFYING SYSTEM AS 

 LAID DOWN BY DUCOUEDIC — THEIR EXAMINATION AND REPUTATION — 

 THE WEIGHT A GOOD CRITERION OF A SWARM — THE GOODNESS OF A 

 SWARM NOT ALWAYS TO BE ESTIMATED BY ITS SIZE — REASONS THEREOF 

 — THE DISJUNCTION OF THE BEES INJURIOUS — INVESTIGATION OF THE 

 GENERAL MERITS OF STORIFIED HIVES — HIVE OF LOMBAB.D — HIVE OF 

 HUBER — HIVE OF HUBER MODIFIED BY MR. FEBURIER — THE OPEN HIVE 

 OF MESSRS. MARTIN OF CORBEIL — THE HIVE IN PORTIONS OR FRAGMENTS 

 BY MR. BEVILLE — THE HIVE OF MADAME VICAT — THE MIRROR OR EXPE- 

 RIMENTAL HIVE — THE HIVE OP WHITE — THE HIVE OF SIR CHARLES 

 WHITWORTH — THE SAME AS THE HIVE OF THORLEY — THE HUISH HIVE 

 — BEST MATERIALS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF HIVES — SINGULAR BEE 

 HIVE OF MONSIEUR BELIZE AT L1BEAU — NUMBER OP HIVES INVENTED — 

 NUMBER OF MODIFIED HIVES — GENERAL REMARKS ON HIVES. 



Varro is the first author, who mentions hives as the domi- 

 cile of the bee, but in his description of the particular one 

 adopted by him he is so vague and indefinite, that its exact 

 construction cannot be ascertained ; we have however good 

 reason to suppose that it was made of straw and of a circular 

 form. Since his time, hives of all kinds and dimensions 

 have been constructed, differing in their materials and pro- 

 perties, and varying as much in their comparative excellence 

 as in their utility. 



It cannot be doubted that the forests were originally the 

 natural domicile of the bee ; but the love of property influenc- 

 ing the minds of our ancestors, led them to the adoption of 

 the plan of appropriating to themselves the swarms, which 

 issued from the trunks of trees, and by the invention of a com- 



