OBSERVATORY HIVE. 
81 
the Leaf hive. There is the King hive, the Flanders hive, the 
Hood hive, the Lovett hive, the Harbison hive, the Lang- 
stroth hive, the Metcalf hive, besides a great many others. 
It would now be difficult to make any form of movable comb 
hive without running against some one’s patent. Most of 
these hives are good, but none of them perfect. None of 
them will be certain always to have their comb^ straight in 
the frames without having some empty combs put in for a 
guide; without this there will likely be one hive in ten or 
twenty that will have their combs more or less irregular and will 
have to be cut and straightened. In all of them the frames will 
be more or less attached to the sides of the hive by combs or pro- 
polis. The Leaf hive need not cost more than fifty cents above 
the box hive; they can be gotten up very cheap if desired. 
But bee hives should be made to correspond with the sur- 
rounding buildings. Any man who can afford to carry his 
family in a carriage instead of a spring wagon, or to live in a 
frame house instead of a log-cabin, can afford to have well got- 
ten up bee hives. 
OBSERVATORY HIVE. 
“ Long from the eye of mnn and face of dny, 
Involved in diirkness all their customs lay ; 
Until a sage, well versed in nature’s lore, 
A genius form’d all nature to explore ; 
Hives well conti iv’d in crystal frames disposed, 
And there the busy citizens enclosed.” 
Beyan. 
An observatory hive is necessary to one who is interested 
in watching the internal operations of a hive of bees. To make 
such a hive lift a frame containing honey and brood, and a 
quart of bees from a full sized hive ; if there is no queen with 
them all the better, as the process of rearing young queens 
can he seen if there are eggs or young larvaa in the combs. 
Have a narrow frame made to receive this frame ; set a sash 
containing glass at each side of the comb, so that both sides 
of the comb will be in full view. The glass should be near 
half an inch from the comb. Unless the bees be moved a 
mile or more to prevent them from going back to the old hive, 
it is best to shut them in two or three days — giving them air; 
then let them out a little before sundown, so that they will not 
go far from home that evening, but fly around the hive and 
mark the place. Such a hive could be set in a parlor with a 
tube for the bees to pass out and in, under the window. 
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