634 
OBSERVATORY HIVES 
destroyed the colony, and the shutters were 
again used. Matters improved, and the 
colony gained until another storm put them 
back again despite the shutters. Investiga¬ 
tion showed a sharp draft thru the hive 
from the entrance to the sundry ventilators. 
These were closed, but the entrance did not 
furnish sufficient air, and other troubles 
Miller’s observatory hive. 
appeared. Then followed long experiment¬ 
ing Avith ventilation until at last a relative¬ 
ly large area at the bottom of the sides of 
the hive was opened for ventilation, and 
screened to confine the bees. This was all 
below the combs, and the bees could have 
as much or as little air up among them as 
their instincts dictated. That was a suc¬ 
cess, but it developed another trouble, for 
every time the door of the room was 
opened or closed, or if the wind was strong 
toward the window, the bees were blown 
out of or into the entrance in a most 
troublesome way. A short passage or tun¬ 
nel considerably larger than the hive en¬ 
trance and having a wire-cloth top was put 
between the entrance and window opening, 
and that trouble stopped. 
This was not all done in one hive, or in 
one season, but extended over several years. 
The colony would seem thrifty for a time, 
then it would meet with some reverse, 
and it would often take a season or two to 
find the cause of the trouble. 
There came a day when eggs were seen 
in cells next to the glass, and in due time 
they hatched and the larvae were fed and 
greAV until they touched the glass, then the 
bees pulled them out. The shutters were 
tried but with not much advance. Then 
“storm sash” in the form of an extra pane 
of glass on each side were applied and the 
hive was a success. A quarter of an inch 
confined air space was left between the 
panes. 
From then on, the bees used the cells 
next to the glass as readily as the others. 
Almost every action was observable; the 
bees could be seen every way except face to 
face. Another hive Avas made and stocked 
and a piece of comb was put in which was 
less than half a comb, for it was only the 
cell walls from one surface of the comb. 
The glass Avail of the hive was to—and did 
—form its new base. The bees used it as 
readily as the other combs, and the queen 
laid in it and bees were raised in it. The 
book of nature had been opened at a new 
page. Thereafter the development of the 
hive was a matter of detail. As now made 
it has a base about six inches wide and 
deep enough for a grooved feeder block to 
be slid into it under the floor of the hive. 
Access to this feeder is obtained thru sev¬ 
eral holes bored in the floor and guarded 
with excluder metal to keep the queen from 
Miller’s observatory hive. 
wandering in. A similar guard is adjust¬ 
able at the hive entrance to prevent the 
loss of a swarm if the colony has to be left 
to itself for an extended period, for if 
thrifty it soon becomes overcrowded. The 
uprights are approximately three inches 
Avide and grooved for four panes of glass, 
the inner panes being about one inch apart 
and the outer ones a quarter of an inch 
