39 
to ascertain the gradual expenditure by the family, and to’ 
afford it timely aid, should it run short of provisions. 
An early spring swarm, may produce a new swarm in 
the course of the summer; and the latter may be vigorous 
enough to amass a sufficiency of provisions for the winter. 
However, if it be a little too late in the season, it would 
be better to force them back into the hive whence they 
came, or to associate them with another swarm, than to 
keep them in a pannier which has not a supply of provi- 
sions for winter. 
~—e 
CHAPTER XII. 
THE MANNER OF PROGRESSIVELY AUGMENTING A PYRA= 
MIDAL HIVE. 
The pyramidal hive, with the dimensions of ten, eleven, 
or twelve inches interior diameter, with a height to each, 
equal to its diameter, according to the number and 
strength of the family, which occupied the first pannier,— 
has in its combination, a height of thirty, thirty-three, or 
thirty-six inches.* . 
These dimensions in the hives ought to be regulated, not 
only by the number and the strength of the family occu- 
pying them, but also by the vegetable riches of the country, 
best suited to their subsistence.t 
It is better to give a less, than greater extent to the box, 
- which is for the first time put under the simple hive, to 
make it a Scottish. This observation is not to be neglected, 
if the family appears weakly populated. And when it is 
proposed to improve this into a pyramidal hive, the third — 
box must not exceed the dimensions of the first. 
This establishment once made, the periodical produce 
is, each year, one pannier or box full of wax and honey, 
without bees or couvain, regularly weighing from thirty~ 
* It will be observed in the sequel, that boxes of sixteen inches’ 
diameter, are recommended.— Translator. 
+ M. Ducouédic is perhaps too precise in these rules. He has said, 
that the whole secret of his theory is taken from nature, by a careful 
study of the habits of wild bees. The trees and rocks in France must 
differ very much from those in America, if their hollows and clefts be 
so nicely proportioned. —J2. 
