s in this way, even if glass boxes were never used; the
rabbeting prevents light as well as water from passing under the cover;
imagine a box set on a plain board nailed on for a top, without the
rabbeting; the warping or bending admits the light and water,
especially when hives are out in the weather, (and I shall not
recommend any other way of keeping them.)

COVER FOR HIVES.

I have termed the cap or box a cover; but this should also be covered
with a board laid on, if nothing else. A good roof for each hive can be
made by fastening two boards together like the roof of a building; let
it be about 18 by 24 inches; it being loose, can be changed in
accordance with the season; in spring, let the sun strike the hive; but
in hot weather let the longest end project over the south side, &c. You
can ornament this hive, if you choose, by mouldings or dentals, under
the top, where it projects over the body of the hive, also the cap can
have the top projected a little and receive the same addition.

JARS AND TUMBLERS--HOW PREPARED.

When jars, tumblers, or other vessels, that are all glass, are used, it
is _absolutely necessary_ to fasten as many pieces of combs as you wish
made, in the top, for a beginning, or fasten a piece of wood there; as
they seldom commence building on glass, without a start.

Some of you may have seen paraded at our fairs, or in the public parts
of some of our cities, hives containing tumblers, some of them neatly
filled, others empty, and this meagre sentence written upon them, _not
to be filled_! Pretending to govern the bees, as the juggler sometimes
does his tricks, by mysterious incantations! I once encountered an
agent of this humbug, and modestly suggested to him that I had a
counter charm: that I could put a tumbler on his hive and it would be
filled if the others were, however much he might forbid it by written
charms! He saw at a glance how the matter stood; I was not the customer
he wanted, and intimated that the show was only intended for the
extreme verdancy of most visitors. It no doubt assisted in displaying
his profound knowledge in bee management, which he wished to establish,
as he had a little work on the subject to sell, also hives, and bees.
The reader no doubt will guess as I did, the reason that those tumblers
were not filled, was because no combs were put in for a start.

PERFECT OBSERVATORY HIVE DESCRIBED.

There are many things pertaining to bees that cannot be pro