ury of the subjacent contents of the hive, and, like the common
straw hive or square box, the bees cannot be examined, except partially
through the windows made in the sides.

To remedy this evil, the further plan of _storifying_ hives or boxes,
was introduced, and by this method swarming may to an extent be
prevented, and the wax and honey can be taken without destroying the
bees; and with the same view was introduced the _collateral_ system,
which is adding room at the sides (of course preserving a free
communication between the boxes and hives). But there are objections to
the _collateral_ system, as it is now a very well established fact, that
partitions of any kind are detrimental to the prosperity of the bees;
and the same applies, though perhaps in an inferior degree, to the
_storied_ system, or hives and boxes divided into stories one above
another; besides that which holds good equally to all hives or boxes,
that it is not possible to proportion the hives in all cases to the
magnitude of the swarms, or the energy with which they labour.

In single hives the honey becomes bad and discoloured from being put
into the old breeding cells. In double storied, or collateral hives,
the bees are divided, and live in different families; while their own
preservation, and that of the brood, requires them to live in the
strictest union; the heat also necessary for the secretion of wax is
lessened by the division of the bees into different groups. And,
besides, all these different hives or boxes should have some sort of
protection from the weather, either in the way of eaves or covers,
or be placed in a shed or bee-house.

They require also centre boards and division tins, &c. to separate
one hive or box from another, floor boards for them to stand upon,
as well as stands or stools to raise them from the ground, &c., for
a description of which, and a full history of all hives and boxes,
I refer the reader to Dr. Bevan's "Honey-bee."

In mentioning the defects of these different boxes and hives, I do not
mean to condemn them as useless, for they will all answer to a certain
extent the purposes for which they were intended, rewarding the
attentive bee-keeper, according to the seasons, and enabling the bees to
send forth many swarms, and collecting and storing up their treasures of
honey; but my object has been to point out briefly to those anxious for
the better, more extended, and economical mode of bee-management, the
dif