28 THE HIVE AND THE HONEY-BEE. 



Secondly — The obtaining it in its pure and uncontaminated 

 form. • 



Thirdly — The means of enlarging their accommodation when 

 necessary, and the consequent prevention of swarming. 



These requisites have been recognized for a great many years 

 back ; and the humane system of management so enthusiastically 

 promulgated and insisted upon by the late Mr. Nutt, is by no 

 means novel, as it is identical in principle with that described by 

 bee-fanciers who lived more than half a century before him. As 

 Mr. Nutt's hive is in more fashionable repute at present than any 

 other with which I am acquainted, I shall give it the precedence 

 in order of description ; I shall quote Mr. Nutt's own descrip- 

 tion, from his very interesting work. 



" There has been some difference of opinion as to the mojst 

 suitable dimensions for bee-boxes. I approve of and recommend 

 those which are from eleven to twelve inches square inside, and 

 nine or ten inches deep in the clear. 



" The best wood for them is, by some, said to be red cedar ; 

 the chief grounds of preference of which wood are, its effects in 

 keeping moths out of the boxes, and its being a bad conductor 

 of heat. But of whatever kind of wood bee- boxes are made, it 

 should be well seasoned, perfectly sound, and free from what 

 carpenters term shakes. The sides of the boxes, particularly the 

 front sides, should be, at the least, an inch and a half in thick- 

 ness ; for the ends, top, and back part, good boards one inch 

 thick, are sufficiently substantial ; the ends that form the interior 

 divisions and openings must be of half-inch stuff, well dressed off, 

 so that, when the boxes and the dividing tins are closed — that is, 

 when they are all placed together, the two adjoining ends should 

 not exceed five-eighths of an inch in thickness. These commu- 

 nication ends, the bars of which should be exactly parallel with 

 each other, form a communication or division, as the case may 

 require, which is very important to the bee, and by which the 

 said boxes can be immediately divided, without injuring any part 

 of the combs, or deluging the bees with the liquid honey, which 

 so frequently annoys them, in extracting their sweets from the 

 piled or storified boxes. This is not the only advantage my 

 boxes possess : the receptacles, or frame-work, for the ventila- 

 tors, which appear upon each side of the end boxes — the one 

 with the cover off, the other with it on — must be four inches 

 square, with a perforated flat tin, of nearly the same size ; and 



