MATKRIAT.8 OF TIIVFS. 
The common Dzierzon liivo* is long and flat, but, as 
the combs run fom side to side, instead of from front to 
rear, the bees, unless the hive is uncommonly well pro¬ 
tected, will Bufler from cold in Winter. As the German 
Ai)iarian uses slats instead of frames, it would be incon¬ 
venient for him to remove any very long combs from his 
hive. 
The variety of opinions respecting the best materials 
for hives, has been almost as great as on the subject of 
their proper size and shape. Columella and Virgil recom¬ 
mend the hollowed trunk of the cork tree, than which 
no materi.al would be more admirable it it could only be 
cheaply procured. Straw hives have been used for ages, 
and arc warm in Winter and cool in Summer. Ihe difli- 
culty of making them take and retain the proper shape 
for improved bee-keeping, is an insuperable objection to 
their use. Hives made of wood are, at the present time, 
fast superseding all others. The lighter and more sjwngy 
the wood, the poorer will be its power of conducting 
heat, and the warmer the hive in Winter and the eooler 
in Summer.f Cedar, biiss-wood, poplar, tulip-tree, and 
soft pine, ailbrd excellent materials for bee-hives. 1 he 
Apiarian must be governed, in his choice of lumber, by 
the cheaj)ness with which any suitable kind can be ob¬ 
tained in his own immediate vicinity. 
1 have since preferred to make my hives eighteen and ono-cighth Inches fVom front 
to roar, fourteen and ono-elghth Inches from side to side, and ten Inches deep. Mr. 
Qulnby prefers to make my movnhle frames longer and deeper. 
• Dslerzon builds hives In structures for two, four, and even many mere colonies. 
On Plato XXII., Fig. 71 (the Frontispiece to the first edition of my work), I have 
given a representation of a triple hive. The llttlo that can bo saved in the llrst 
cost of such hives, seems to mo to be more than lost bv the groat luconve.deneo of 
hauullng them. 
t Mr. Wagner Informs me that Scholr., a German Apiarian, recommends hives 
made of atlobe—la which frames or slats may bo used—as cheaply constructed, and 
admirable for Summer and Winter. Such structures, however, cannot bo moved, 
lint In many parts of our country, where both lumber and saw-mills nio scarce, 
and where people are accustomed to build adobe houses, they might prove deslr 
Ohio. The material Is plastic clay, mixed with out straw, waste low, Ua. 
