SIZE OF HIVES. 
329 
CHAPTER XX. 
SIZE, SHAPE, AND MATERIALS FOR HIVES—OBSERVING HIVES. 
Notwithstanding the almost innumerable experiments 
which have been made to determine the best size, shape, 
and materials for bee-hives, the ablest practical Apiarians 
are still at variance on these points. In most districts in 
this country, it is pretty generally agreed that hives hold¬ 
ing less than a bushel, in the main apartment, are not 
profitable in the long run. As regards, however, the size, 
both of the main hive and the apartments for spare honey, 
so much depends on seasons and localities, and on whether 
the bees swarm or not, that no rule, applicable to all cases, 
can be given. Every bee-keeper must determine these 
questions by reference to the hotey-resourees of his own 
district. As the plan of my hives admits of their being 
enlarged and again contracted, without destruction or 
alteration of existing parts, the size, either of the main 
hive or surplus storage room, may be varied at pleasure. 
Being able to remove any surplus, I prefer to make the 
interior of my hives considerably larger than a bushel. 
Many hives cannot hold one-quarter of the bees, comb, 
and honey which, in a good season, may be found in my 
large hives; while their owners wonder that they obtain 
so little profit from their bees. A good swarm of bees, 
put, in a good season, into a diminutive hive, may be com¬ 
pared to a powerful team of horses harnessed to a baby 
wagon, or a noble fall of water wasted in turning a petty 
water-wheel. 
A liive tall in proportion to its other dimensions, has 
some obvious advantages; for, as bees are disposed to 
