REQUISITES OF A COMPLETE ITIVE. 103 
48. It should enable the bee-keeper entirely to dispense 
with sheds, or costly Apiaries ; as the hive itself should 
alike defy heat or cold, rain or snow. 
49. It ought not to be liable to be blow down in high 
winds. 
My hives may be made so low, for very windy situa- 
tions, that it would require almost a hurricane to upset 
them. 
50. A complete hive should have its alighting-board so 
constructed, as to shelter the bees against wind and wet, 
thus facilitating to the utmost their entrance with heavy 
burdens. 
If this precaution is neglected, the colony cannot be en- 
couraged to use, to the best advantage, the unpromising 
days which often occur in the working season. 
51. A complete hive should be protected against the 
destructive ravages of mice in Winter. 
When cold weather approaches, all my hives may have 
their entrances contracted by the movable blocks, so that 
a mouse cannot gain admission. 
52. It should permit the bees to pass over their combs 
in the freest manner, both in Summer and Winter. 
While such easy intercommunication facilitates the 
Summer work of the hive, it is often, in cold Winters, in- 
dispensable to the life of the colony. 
53. It should permit the honey, after the gathering 
season is over, to be concentrated where the bees will 
most need it. 
If the latter part of the season has been unpropitious, 
the centre combs, in which a colony usually winters, may 
have very little honey, while the others are well supplied. 
In hives where this cannot be remedied, it often causes 
the loss of the bees. 
54. It should permit a generous supply of honey to be 
