of which, holds
less than a Winchester bushel. If small colonies are placed in such a
hive, it must be temporarily partitioned off, to suit the size of its
inmates; for if bees have too much room given to them, they cannot
concentrate their animal heat, and are so much discouraged that they
often abandon their hive. I am aware that many judicious Apiarians
recommend hives of much smaller dimensions, and I shall now give my
reasons for using one so large. If a hive is too small, then in the
Spring, the combs are soon filled with honey, bee-bread and brood, and
the surprising fertility of the queen bee, can be turned to no efficient
account. If the honey-harvest in any year, is deficient, such a colony
is very apt to perish in the succeeding Winter; whereas in a large hive,
the honey stored up in a fruitful season, is a reserve supply, in time
of need. In very large hives, I have seen large accumulations of honey
which have been untouched for years, while on the same stand, stocks of
about the same age, in small hives have perished by starvation. A good
early swarm in any situation at all favorable, will fill, the first
season, a hive that holds a bushel: and if there is any location in
which they cannot do this, a doubled swarm should be put into the hive,
or bee-keeping may, as far as profit is concerned, be abandoned. But it
may be objected that if the swarm was not sufficiently strong to fill
their hive, the bees often suffer from the cold in Winter, and become
too much reduced in numbers, to build early and rapidly in the ensuing
Spring. This is undoubtedly true, and hence the great importance of
putting a generous allowance of bees into a hive at the first start,
unless, as on my plan, the requisite strength can be given to them, at a
subsequent period. The hive, if large, should be all the more carefully
protected from extremes of cold, in order to give the bees an
opportunity of developing their natural powers of re-production, to the
best advantage.

In such a hive, the queen will be able to breed almost every month in
the year, even in the coldest climates where bees flourish, and on the
return of Spring, thousands of young bees will be found in it, which
could not have been bred in a small, or badly protected hive. The Polish
hives described by Mr. Dohiogost, have already been referred to. Some of
these hold about three bushels, and yet the bees swarm from them with
great regularity, and the swarms are often of