PUTTING ON AND TAKING OFF BOSES. 177 
cessity of covering or stopping the holes. Dr. Bevan 
and some others have made a cross-bar hive, instead 
of nailing on a top in the usual way ; a half-inch board 
of the right length is cut into strips, some over an 
inch wide, and half an inch apart, across the top. It 
is plain that in such a hive a bee can pass into the box 
whenever it arrives at the top, without difficulty. I 
will here repeat the objection to allowing too much 
room, to pass into the boxes, that you may see the 
disadvantages of the extremes of too little and too much 
room. In these cross-bar hives, the animal heat rises 
into the box from the main hive, making it as warm as 
below; the queen goes up with the bees, and finding it 
warm and convenient for breeding, deposits her eggs ; 
and young brood as well as honey is found there. When 
we think it full, it is then indispensable to return it, if 
taken off, till they hatch, (otherwise they spoil it by 
moulding), which makes the combs dark, tough, &c. 
Another objection to such open tops is, that open 
bottom boxes must be used, which are not half as neat 
for market. 
TO BE TAKEN OFF WHEN FILLED. 
This advantage attends glass boxes: while being 
filled, the progress can be watched till finished, when 
they should be taken off to preserve the purity of the 
combs. Every day the bees are allowed to run over 
them, renders them darker. Consequently, when our 
bees are a long time filling a box, it is not as purely 
white as when filled expeditiously 
8 * 
