MOVABLE COMB HIVE. 
79 
and read with the utmost delight the wonders of this little 
insect; I concluded I would quit school and go to keeping 
bees. This seems to have decided my occupation for life. It 
occuri'ed to me that if bees and their combs could be so hand- 
led, there was an opportunity for an indefinite amount of im- 
provement iu their management. And so I still view the 
matter. Although a large number of bee-keepers keep bees 
just because it is convenient to do so, without making any 
special effort to get all out of bees that can be had. Yet 
many who are lovers of nature and keep bees as much to see 
them do the be-t they are capable of as they do for the profits 
they yield, will do much to make bee-keeping one of the busi- 
nesses of the country. Such I believe will always want their 
bees, in part at least, in movable comb hives, although gen- 
erally in as simple and cheap style as possible. Soon after 
commencing keeping bees in the Langstroth and Harbison 
hives, the Leaf hive was invented and although I considered 
the hives I had been using excellent, I concluded this, on 
account of its simplicity, cheapness and ease of working, was 
everybody's hive! It seemed these would be almost universally 
wanted if they were known, and as some persons had to work 
to introduce them and perhaps make some money by so doing, 
it seemed proper that I might as well engage in it as any one 
else, and accordingly purchased the patent right of the Leaf 
hive for two States, and have had the satisfaction of seeing 
them pretty well tried. Some badly made hives and injudi- 
cious transferring in the out-set did the cause injustice, and 
some extremely bad seasons since have discouraged many 
ardent bee-keepers. The Leaf hive is just the box hive that 
has been ascribed with each of the combs made in a frame 
that can be taken out and put iu at pleasure. The frames 
stand on the bottom board, with stiff wire posts driven in the 
bottom and running up the side of each frame, to which they 
are secured iu wire loops like a gate on a post. The frames and 
posts are in no way attached to the body of the hive. One 
side of the hive instead of being nailed in, is set in loose and 
is held in its place by nails or wooden pins stuck in gimlet 
holes. This loose side can be taken away at any time, and 
the whole hive slid away from the bees. The combs can then 
be opened away from each other like the leaves of a book, to 
be examined, and if necessary can be lifted off the hinges and 
taken out, and if it is desired, empty ones can be put iu their 
