DESCRIPTION OF THE HIVE OF DUCOUEDIC. 



253 



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accompanying plate and it is 

 then known by the name of 

 the pyramidal hive. These 

 three hives or compart- 

 ments are plastered with 

 mortar or clay at their 

 junction, from which they 

 form but one individual 

 hive, the ingress and egress 

 of the bees being by a 

 single aperture made in the 

 lower story. The apertures 

 in the straw hive and the first box being closed up, 

 in each box or story, 

 there is a hole made 

 in the top of it, which 

 serves as the channel 

 of communication for 

 the bees from one story m 

 to the other. H 



The colony is supposed to exist as a two storied hive, 

 from the 21st March, to the 21st September of the same 

 year. Its age will then be twenty-seven months, but the only 

 advantage which has hitherto been gained from it, are the 

 swarms which are described to be very great, some weighing 

 from twelve to twenty pounds * ! ! ! 



The harvest of honey in this hive does not commence 

 until it is nearly three years old, when the combs must be 

 blackened by age, and therefore of no further use, than to 

 be put into the press for the honey to be squeezed out. 



* This is according to the calculation of Mr. Ducouedic, but it sets all cre- 

 dibility at defiance : 5360 bees weigh a pound, a swarm therefore of twenty 

 pounds must contain 107,200 bees. Even a swarm of twelve pounds must 

 contain 6'4, 320 bees, and the whole of them the produce of one mother. 



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