HIVES. 113 



very nigh disappeared, and will ere long be number- 

 ed amongst the things that were. 



We might here inquire, what has brought about 

 this great and important change? The invention 

 and introduction of surplus honey boxes, or small 

 boxes (with glass arranged to view the contents,) to 

 put on the top of the hive, either in a chamber hive 

 or covered with a cap. In these boxes the bees would 

 store the most beautiful honey, in nice shape for mar- 

 ket. This was, perhaps, the leading feature in a 

 majority of hives invented and introduced to the 

 public for several years, though in various forms and 

 combinations. But still there was a difficulty in 

 managing bees properly, not being able to get full 

 control over them ; having no facilities for examin- 

 ing the interior of the hive or of applying a remedy 

 for any defect that might exist there, and no know- 

 ledge of the mode practiced centuries before for divid- 

 ing and increasing them. 



It was well known by the Greeks in ancient times, 

 that bees would start and build their combs very 

 readily from slats or strips put across the top of the 

 hives at proper spaces, which, together with the 

 combs, could be lifted out by simply cutting loose 

 the combs when fastened to the sides of the hive. 

 A knowledge of these facts led Huber, a celebrated 

 naturalist and one of the most renowned apiarians 

 of either ancient or modern times, to invent a hive 

 composed of frames, each frame capable of holding 

 a single comb, eight of these frames. being put to- 

 gether side by side, fastened by hooks, and closed 

 10* 



