1804.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
201 
An Excellent Bee Hive. 
A patent bee liivc is a nuisance, as a general 
thing, and farmers always dread the announce¬ 
ment of a visit from “the patent bee hive man.” 
Fig. 1— MAINE STATE BEE DIVE. 
We have had such a visit, and now lay the result 
of it before the readers of the Agriculturist ; first, 
however, recounting some well known facts in 
regard to bees. Bees love to build in a hole 
about as large one way as another, so that in 
winter they may crowd together in a nearly 
round mass, and not have to go far for their 
food. They are well accommodated in a “square 
box,” say 12 in. square and a foot high, and in 
the'old-fashioned conical straw bee hives. The 
“ breath ” of the bees as it is called, like the 
omith of any animals, is highly charged with 
carbonic acid gas and vapor of vjater. In winter, 
unless the ventilation is good, this water is apt 
to freeze in the combs and shut off .the bees 
from their stores of honey, and so they starve 
to death. It is desirable for the health and com¬ 
fort of bees that the hive be ventilated in sum¬ 
mer as well as in winter, that the bees may have 
fresh air, and that their “ breath ” may be car¬ 
ried off. When bees can not store all the honey 
they can make in the cavity occupied by the 
brood, and in which the queen and the greater 
part of the family always dwell, they will store 
it in some adjoining cavity, or even outside; 
hence it is customary to provide them with a 
main hive, no larger than experience indicates 
their wants will require, and to furnish surplus 
honey boxes easily accessible through openings 
from the main apartment, and which may be 
removed when full. Bees build their comb usu¬ 
ally in sheets, which they will start if they can, 
from ridges or projections in the top of the hive. 
The great enemy of the hive is the bee moth; 
this deposits its eggs in the cracks or corners 
filled with comb scraps and dust which the bees 
trim off or which drop from brood comb. The 
eggs hatch into worms, which feed upon wax, 
at first living upon the scraps, afterward infest¬ 
ing the comb itself. The moth dislikes to trust 
herself within the hive unless the entrance is 
• very wide--her motions are very active and her 
vision good, while the bee has an imperfect vis¬ 
ion of near objects—so if the fly hole is wide, she 
can run in and out, while a narrow hole is easily 
guarded by the bees. The life of the worker 
bee is of short duration, so the queen mother is 
continually laying eggs to keep the number of 
the family good, and in spring she lays enough 
to overstock the hive usually, and therefore 
swarms are sent out. It requires considerable 
warmth as well as food to hatch the young 
bees, and so if the few bees that, live through 
the winter have to be absent gathering honey. 
and pollen all the time, there is a much less de¬ 
gree of heat kept up; therefore, it often pays to 
feed bees in their hives, for they will hatch more 
eggs and sooner increase in numbers. 
The hive, engravings of which we here pre¬ 
sent, is called the “ Maine State Bee-hive,” and 
it is the invention of II. S. Torry, of Bangor. 
Fig. 1, is a perspective view of the hive. The 
main chamber (4) is a box 101 x 124 inches, inside 
measure on the base, and 15 inches high. The 
surplus honey boxes, 5 in all, arc attached to the 
rear. They may be seen in fig. 2, (B,) and the 
entrances to them in fig. 3 (0). There is but 
one entrance or fly-hole, and that a small one, 
seen in tig. 1, and at C, in fig. 2, and to secure 
abundant ventilation, a wire gauze(B) is placed 
over a hole 6 inches square in the bottom board 
( D ) the space beneath which (E) communicates 
freely with the open air. A pane of 8x10 glass 
is set in the front, covered by a shutter. There 
are 8 comb-bars ( G ) at the top of the main hive. 
These are half-round on the bottom, and to them 
the combs are attached. All but the two outside 
bars are dug out to form little troughs, into 
which honey or syrup may be poured when it 
is desirable to feed the bees. These bars are 
held in their places by strips a quarter of an 
inch thick, resting upon their ends; and the top 
(K) of the hive, which is perfectly flat, is screwed 
down over these, leaving a quarter of an inch 
space over the bars. In this top piece, flush 
with the underside of it, are two panes of glass, 
and in the space between the glasses 6 tin tubes 
(J/,) are inserted which dip down into the bot¬ 
toms of the troughs in the comb-bars. These 
tubes contain slots at their lower ends sufficient 
Fig. 2—VRONT TO BEAK SECTION. 
to allow a free ventilation, and through which 
also the syrup may be poured into the troughs. 
The most remarkable feature of the hive is 
the condensing chamber, which is a cover to the 
whole. Its base is a flat board, seen in all the 
figures, and in this is a long slot through which 
the tubes project into a chamber ( L ). This cham¬ 
ber is enclosed by two end pieces and a top 
piece of wood, and two side pieces {N,) of glass, 
tin or zinc. It will be noticed that between the 
glass immediately over the comb-bars and the 
bottom board of the condenser, there is a dead 
air space (17) which prevents any chilling of the 
glass, consequently there is at this point no con¬ 
densation of vapor from the breath of the hive. 
There is at all times a good draught up through 
the tubes, into the condenser, and out through 
the grooves, (/’, fig. 2,) on each side, under the 
end pieces, seen also in tig. 1. In cold weatliei 
the glass or metal sides of the condenser pre¬ 
sent to the rising vapors cold surfaces whereon 
the moisture condenses. In freezing weather, 
ice forms, and when it thaws, the water flo ws off 
by the grooves (P). This will need watching 
to remove the ice and keep the grooves clear 
When the hive is set up, the bottom board is 
cleaned off and fine salt is sprinkled on it just 
where the hive rests; it is good for the bees and 
the moth will not lay in it. When preparing 
tuC family for winter, the bottom piece, (Z>, E, F,) 
r 
Fig. 3— CROSS SECTION. 
is simply inverted, and the slip ( S ) put in. The 
effect of this is simply to lower the floor of the 
hive, the fly hole furnishing air enough for win¬ 
ter, and this bottom piece becomes a receiver of 
all the dirt and dead bees which accumulate 
during the cold season, and which otherwise 
would pile up more or less among the combs. 
In the spring the bottom piece is turned up 
again, after being cleaned the movable strip is 
taken out, and a shingle is laid under the wire 
netting to catch the dirt that drops through. In 
this dirt the moths lay their eggs, and here, the 
shingle being drawn out, the worms may be 
found and killed. It is not difficult to remove 
any one or all the combs if this is desired, by 
dctatching the combs from their attachments on 
the sides by a bent wire, and lifting the bars. 
We are particularly interested in this hive, 
because it combines so many thoughtful contri¬ 
vances for the comfort and prosperity of the 
bee family, and is so very simple in all its parts 
Tobacco Culture. 
After the plants are set out and have got a 
good start, the tobacco planters’ labors are none 
the less critical. The cut-worms have to be 
fought, giving no quarter, and the well enriched 
ground will bring forth weeds with astonishing 
rapidity. The more the ground is stirred the 
better, for thus not only are weeds destroyed, but 
an open porous surface is worth a great deal to 
the crop. A point not to be overlooked in this 
connection is, that the soil close to the plant and 
soon to be covered by the rapidly expanding 
leaves, be crumbled as well as that between the 
plants, otherwise the caked surface is likely to 
be hid by the bottom leaves, and so remain com¬ 
pact and impervious to air all summer. 
Soon after the plants begin to grow well, 
small holes will be noticed in some of the leaves, 
