MOVABLE-COMB IIIYE. 
15 
first, I used movable slats or bars placed on rabbets in 
the front and back of the hive. The bees began their 
combs upon these bars, and then fastened them to the 
sides of the hive. By severing these attachments, the 
combs could be removed adhering to the bars. There was 
nothing now in the use of such bars — the invention being 
probably a hundred years old — and the chief peculiarity 
in my hive was the facility with which they could be 
removed without enraging the bees, and their combina- 
tion with my improved mode of obtaining the surplus 
honey. 
With hives of this construction, I experimented on a 
larger scale than ever, and soon arrived at very important 
results. I could dispense entirely with natural swarming, 
and yet multiply colonies with greater rapidity and cer- 
tainty than by the common methods. All feeble colonies 
could be strengthened, and those which had lost their 
queen furnished with the means of obtaining another. If 
I suspected that any thing was wrong with a hive, I could 
quickly ascertain its true condition, and apply the proper 
remedies. Jn short, I felt satisfied that bee-keeping could 
be made highly profitable, and as much a matter of cer- 
tainty, as most branches of rural economy. 
One thing, however, was still wanting. The cutting of 
the combs from their attachments to the sides ot the hi\c, 
was attended with much loss of time both to myself and 
the bees. This led me to invent a method by which the 
comb^ were attached to movable frames, so suspended 
in the hives as to touch neither the top, bottom, nor sides. 
By this device the combs could be removed at pleasure, 
without any cutting, and speedily transferred to another 
hive. After experimenting largely with hives of this con- 
struction, I find that they fully answer the ends proposed 
in their invention. 
