244 DISADVANTAGES OF THE COMMON HIVE. 



It is well known that the hives in this country are generally 

 made of straw in the form of 

 a bell, and although no im* 

 mediate objection can be made 

 to the shape, yet in many of 

 the necessary operations with 

 the bees, and especially in the 

 act of deprivation, it is a decided obstacle to any successful 

 result ; and we are thoroughly convinced that as long as 

 the bell hive is in use, the system of suffocating the bees will 

 be persevered in. There are few persons possessed of the 

 necessary courage or presence of mind to undertake the 

 deprivation of the common straw hive ; and even when it 

 is done, the side combs are so very small, arising from the 

 contracted segment of the circle, that they are scarcely worth 

 extracting. As to the immediate difficulty of depriving the 

 hive, it is by no means so great as is generally imagined in 

 relation to the bees, for a little smoke will soon drive them 

 away from the combs intended to be extracted ; but the 

 cottagers in general appear to entertain so great a dread of 

 turning up a hive, that they deem the man but little removed 

 from a lunatic, who attempts it. Perhaps under no circum- 

 stances is the bell-shaped hive attended with more injurious 

 consequences, than when the combs are suffering under the 

 depredations of the wax-moth. With the knowledge that 

 these destructive insects are carrying on their ravages in the 

 interior of the hive, as well as the certainty that inevitable 

 ruin must befal the hive, unless those ravages be stopped, the 

 proprietor sees it impossible, on account of the make of the 

 hive to cut out the combs, which the moths have begun to 

 perforate, and in which they are about to lay their eggs. No 

 possibility whatever exists of penetrating to the upper parts 

 of the hive ; and, thus, the proprietor is very often deceived 

 as to the health and prosperity of his bees ; for as no imme- 



