REQUISITES OF A COMPLETE HIVE. 
107 
offered in the shape of a patent bee-hive, as a worthless 
conceit, if not an outrageous swindle. 
So deleterious has been the influence of the so-called 
“Improved Hives” that, as a general thing, only those 
who have used hives of the simplest form, have derived 
much profit from their bees. They have wasted neither 
time, money, nor bees, upon contrivances which can secure 
nothing in advance of a simple box-hive, with an upper 
chamber. 
A hive of the simplest possible construction , is a close 
imitation of the abode of bees in a state of nature ; being 
a mere hollow receptacle, where, protected from the 
weather, they can lay up their stores. An improved hive , 
is one which contains an additional, separate apartment, 
where bees can store their surplus honey for man. Most 
hives in common use are only modifications of this latter 
hive, and, as a general rule, are bad, exactly in propor- 
tion as they depart from it. While they tempt the com- 
mon bee-keeper to ruinous departures from the beaten 
path, they furnish him no remedy for the loss of the queen, 
or the casualties to which bees are exposed. Such hives, 
therefore, form no reliable basis lor any improved system 
of management; and hence, the cultivation of bees, in 
this country, has declined for the last fifty years, and the 
Apiarian is as dependent as ever upon the caprices of an 
insect, which more than any of his domestic animals, may 
be completely subjected to his control. 
I would respectfully submit, that no hive which does not 
furnish a thorough control over every comb, can give that 
substantial advance over the simple improved or chamber 
hive, which the bee-keeper’s necessities demand. Of such 
hives, the best are those which best unite cheapness and 
simplicity, with protection in Winter, and ready access to 
the spare honey-boxes. 
