Bevan and some others have made a cross-bar hive, instead of nailing on
a top in the usual way; a half-inch board of the right length is cut
into strips, some over an inch wide, and half an inch apart, across the
top. It is plain that in such a hive a bee can pass into the box
whenever it arrives at the top, without difficulty. I will here repeat
the objection to allowing too much room, to pass into the boxes, that
you may see the disadvantages of the extremes of too little and too
much room. In these cross-bar hives, the animal heat rises into the box
from the main hive, making it as warm as below; the queen goes up with
the bees, and finding it warm and convenient for breeding, deposits her
eggs; and young brood as well as honey is found there. When we think it
full, it is then indispensable to return it, if taken off, till they
hatch, (otherwise they spoil it by moulding), which makes the combs
dark, tough, &c. Another objection to such open tops is, that open
bottom boxes must be used, which are not half as neat for market.

TO BE TAKEN OFF WHEN FILLED.

This advantage attends glass boxes: while being filled, the progress
can be watched till finished, when they should be taken off to preserve
the purity of the combs. Every day the bees are allowed to run over
them, renders them darker. Consequently, when our bees are a long time
filling a box, it is not as purely white as when filled expeditiously.

TIME TAKEN TO FILL A BOX.

Two weeks is the shortest time I ever had any filled and finished.
This, of course, depends on the yield of honey, and size of the swarm;
three or four weeks are usually taken for the purpose. I have before
said that the first yield of honey nearly fails in this section,
usually about the 20th of July; there are some variations, later or
earlier, according to the season. In other places it may be much later.

WHEN TO TAKE OFF BOXES PART FULL.

It can be ascertained by occasionally raising the cover to your glass
boxes. When no more is being added, all boxes that are worth the
trouble should be taken off; if left longer the comb gets darker, and
such cells of honey as are not sealed over, (and sometimes the majority
are such,) the bees generally remove down into the hive.

TOBACCO SMOKE PREFERRED TO SLIDES.

When boxes are to be taken off, if a slide of tin, zinc, &c., is used
to close the holes, some of the bees are apt to be crushed, others will
find themselves minus a head, l