On Rational Bee-Keeping, 
7 
standing the assertions to the contrary of those 
who favour the old system, rational apiculture 
will gain by adopting the new. 
The German hives of Dzierzon, Berlepsch, 
Blatt, etc., have not the advantage of supers of 
any kind, whereas our hives can be used with 
supers of any shape or size. 
Would it, then, be best to convert all old- 
fashioned hives into hives with moveable bars, 
by transferring the comb with the bees from the 
former into the latter, as has been done by some 
young, but by no means inexperienced bee- 
masters } We think not. There are in our own 
apiary old-fashioned hives which we have no 
intention of so converting. These hives will be 
useful to us, as they have been up to the present 
time, for the purpose of making artificial swarms, 
by placing under each of them, in the spring, a 
hive with moveable bars. 
When the upper and the lower stories are 
filled with bees and comb containing brood, the 
straw hive may be conveyed to another part of 
the bee-garden and our swarm is made ; nor 
does this prevent us, after the operation is com- 
pleted, from placing a fresh hive under each of 
these hives respectively, or upon each of them 
a super, as we think best. 
