OBJECTIONS TO THE COTTAGE HIVE. 



289 



will be obtained, the vacuum will soon be filled, and at the 

 appointed season, the hive may be deprived of that portion 

 of its store, which it may not require for its winter use. 



Another great advantage is, that by opening the flaps of the 

 cover, the whole interior of the hive is open to inspection ; 

 and as it is in general at the top of the hive, that the moth 

 commences its ravages, and other noxious insects take up 

 their habitation for the winter, the evil is discovered before 

 it has attained to that height, as to baffle every remedy that 

 may be applied. It is on this account, that we entertain so 

 decided an objection to the common cottage hive, and indeed 

 to all those hives, in which any operation with its interior 

 must be carried on from the bottom. The eradication of the 

 moth from the cottage hive amounts nearly to an impossi- 

 bility ; and in fact, the ravages of that destructive insect 

 seldom show themselves in the straw hive, until its ruin has 

 been completed. In all the hives on the storifying system, 

 the same insuperable objection prevails ; the stories or par- 

 titions are entirely closed from any interior examination, ex- 

 cept a very limited one from the bottom, and we do not con- 

 sider ourselves liable to the charge of exaggeration, when we 

 assert that the loss of the majority of hives is to be attributed 

 to the impossibility of a full interior examination. 



The make of our hive was originally round. It was how- 

 ever soon discovered, that that shape carried with it the 



