Experimenting with Hives

With hives of this construction, I experimented on a larger scale than ever, and soon arrived at very important results. I could dispense entirely with natural swarming, and yet multiply colonies with greater rapidity and certainty than by the common methods.

All feeble colonies could be strengthened, and those which had lost their queen furnished with the means of obtaining another. If I suspected that any thing was wrong with a hive, I could quickly ascertain its true condition, and apply the proper remedies. In short, I felt satisfied that bee-keeping could be made highly profitable, and as much a matter of certainty, as most branches of rural economy.

One thing, however, was still wanting. The cutting of the combs from their attachments to the sides of the hive, was attended with much loss of time both to myself and the bees. This led me to invent a method by which the combs were attached to , Movable Frames, so suspended in the hives as to touch neither the top, bottom, nor sides.

By this device the combs could be removed at pleasure, without any cutting, and speedily transferred to another hive. After experimenting largely with hives of this construction, I find that they fully answer the ends proposed in their invention.