HIVES AND BOXES. 87 



pearance, and as affording convenience for lifting. On the top, 

 a two-inch hole should be cut in the centre, for placing a bell- 

 glass, and for the purpose of feeding ; and another hole to re- 

 ceive a ventilator may be made near the back window, that posi- 

 tion being better for inspection, and less in the way of the bees, 

 than the centre of the hive, which is, or ought to be, the seat 

 of breeding, and should not be disturbed. A window may be 

 placed at the back and front, five inches high, and six or seven 

 inches wide. The best and neatest way of securing the win- 

 dows, that I have seen, is by a sliding shutter of zinc. Round 

 the window, there must be a projecting moulding, mitred at the 

 corners. On one side, the piece of moulding is movable, and to 

 the back of this is screwed a plate of sheet zinc. This passes 

 into a rabbet to receive it, cut, on the remaining three sides, at 

 the back of the lower edge of the moulding. To prevent any 

 wet from lodging at the bottom moulding, an opening or two 

 may easily be cut through, on the under side, to allow its es- 

 cape. For the sake of uniformity of appearance, blank win- 

 dows may be made opposite to the real ones. Hives of this 

 kind require to be placed under some cover or shed, as a pro- 

 tection from wet, and a hot sun." 



It will not, I am sure, be deemed amiss that I here supply my 

 readers with an account of the " Leaf Hive" invented by the cele- 

 brated Huber, and designed by him to furnish all the requisites 

 for which Mr. Nutt produced his collateral boxes : — 



" This hive," says Huber, " consists of eight frames, each 

 eighteen inches high and ten inches wide inside, having the up- 

 rights and top cross pieces one and a half inch broad, and one 

 thick, so that the eight frames, when placed close together, con- 

 stitute a hive eighteen inches high, twelve inches between end 

 and end, and ten inches between back and front, all inside measure. 

 The frames are held together by a fiat siiding-bar on each side, 

 secured by wedges and pins. To the first and eighth of these 

 frames is attached a frame with glass, and covered with a shutter. 

 The body of the hive is protected by a sloping roof, and the en- 

 trance is made through the thickness of the floor-board. We dis- 

 like the sliding-bars, with their pins and wedges, which are so 

 far inconvenient, that, in drawing them out, all the frames are 

 liable to open, and the observer is exposed to some hazard of 

 annoyance, from the bees issuing out at every joint : and we have 

 substituted for them hinges on one side, and a hook-and-eye on 



