98 
THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
20 The bottom-board should admit of being easily 
cleared, in cold weather, of dead bees. 
If suffered to remain, they often become mouldy, and 
injure the health of the colony. In dragging them out, 
when the weather moderates, the bees often fall with them 
on the snow, and are so chilled, that they never rise again ; 
for a bee, in flying away with the dead, frequently retains 
its hold, until both fall to the ground. 
21. No part of the interior of the hive should be below 
the level of the place of exit. 
If this principle is violated, the bees must, at great dis- 
advantage, drag, up hill , their dead, and all the refuse of 
the hive. 
22. It should afford facilities for feeding bees, both in 
warm and cold weather. 
In this respect, the movable-comb hive has unusual ad- 
vantages. In warm weather, sixty colonies may, in less 
than an hour, receive each a quart of food, without any 
feeder, and with no risk from robber-bees. 
23. It should permit the easy hiving of a swarm, with- 
out injuring any bees, or risking the destruction of the 
queen. 
24. It should admit of the safe transportation of the bees 
to any distance whatever. 
The permanent bottom-board, the firm attachment of 
each comb to a separate frame, and the facility with which 
air can be given to confined bees, admirably adapt my 
hive to this purpose. 
25. It should furnish bees with air, when the entrance 
for any cause, must be entirely shut. 
26. It should furnish facilities for enlarging, contracting, 
and closing the entrance, to protect the bees against rob 
hers, and the bee-moth ; and when the entrance is altered, 
