160 THE farmer’s manual. 
;he success of the undertaking. My first object was 
to select those materials which 1 judged most suita- 
ble for the purpose, and, after repeated experiments, 
I was convinced that none were more suitable than 
straw. This I know is denied by Huber; but I must 
be allowed, in this instance, to differ from that cele- 
brated jipiarian. The shape of the hive was my 
next consideration. [ had been so often defeated in 
my expectations regarding the deprivation of the 
common straw hive, and especially by the sticks with 
which they are superfluously furnished, to keep the 
honey from falling, that 1 was persuaded it was a 
shape suited only to the use of those persons who 
suffocate their Bees ; but to the deprivator, it was the 
most inconvenient and unmanageable sort that could 
be devised, li was a flower-pot which first gave me 
an idea of the shape, and which appeared to possess 
peculiar advantages. It would, in the first place, su- 
persede the necessity of stidcs, for the comb then 
acting like a wedge, being larger at the top than the 
bottom, would not fall on to the board. One only 
method now presented itself of extracting the comb, 
and this was at the top; and this I knew could not 
be effected, it the combs were all constructed in one 
mass, upon one basis, which is common to the gene- 
rality of hives. I reflected that a Bee will never 
work upon an unstable foundation, and that my plan 
wouhl succeed, if I could insert some network be- 
tvyeen the pieces of wood. Having obtained seven 
pieces of well seasoned wood, about one and a half 
inch broad, and about a quarter of an inch thick, 
I laid them equidistant on the top of the hive; 
and having fastened them to the outer band which 
serves as their basis, and covered them with network, 
oyer which 1^ placed a circular board, the whole 
size of the hive. 1 then divided the circular board 
into five pieces, which are attached to each other 
by hinges ; each one can be opened; separately 
upon occasion. To obviate the objection of this 
