Whether my inventions may merit and may meet with a similar or with a better fate, it is not for me to predict,--time will show. I feel warranted, however, in asserting of my COLLATERAL-BOX-HIVE, which I am now about to explain,--of my INVERTED-HIVE, and of my OBSERVATORY-HIVE, of which in their proper places minute descriptions will be given,--I feel, I say, warranted in asserting that these--my inventions--possess such conveniences and accommodations both for Bees and Bee-masters, that the pure treasure stored in them by those industrious, little insects may at any time be abstracted from them, not only without destroying the Bees, but without injuring them in the least, or even incommoding their labours by the operation;--that they afford accommodations to the Bees which greatly accelerate the progress of their labours in the summer-season;--and that the Bees never leave them in disgust, as it were, as they not unfrequently _do leave_ other hives, after being deprived of their stores; but, as if nothing had happened to them, continue day by day to accumulate fresh treasures, the quantity of which has astonished the beholders, and not only the quantity, but the quality also.
That my boxes do not, admit of improvement is more than I assert; but having worked them most successfully for many years, and knowing that several other persons, following my directions, have succeeded with them as well as myself, and far beyond their most sanguine expectations, I do flatter myself that the principle of managing Bees after my plan is right.
The plates here presented to my readers exhibit a set of my collateral Bee-boxes open, and every compartment exposed to view, especially to the view and for the examination of experienced workmen. I make use of the word _experienced_, because the better the boxes are made, the more certain will the apiarian be of success in the management of his Bees in them.
There has been some difference of opinion as to the most suitable dimensions for Bee-boxes. I approve of and recommend those which are from eleven to twelve inches square inside, and nine or ten inches deep in the clear.
The best wood for them is by some said to be red cedar; the chief grounds of preference of which wood are--its effects in keeping moths out of the boxes, and its being a bad conductor of heat. But of whatever kind of wood Bee-boxes are made, it should be well seasoned, perfectly sound, and free from what carpenters term _shakes_. Good, sound, red deal answers the purpose very well, and is the sort of wood of which most of my boxes have been made hitherto. The sides of the boxes, particularly the front sides, should be at the least an inch and a half in thickness; for the ends, top, and back-part, good deal one inch thick is sufficiently substantial; the ends, that form the interior divisions and openings, must be of half-inch stuff, well dressed off, so that, when the boxes and the dividing-tins are closed, that is, when they are all placed together, the two adjoining ends should not exceed five-eighths of an inch in thickness. These communication-ends, the bars of which should be exactly parallel with each other, form a communication, or a division, as the case may require, which is very important to the Bees, and by which the said boxes can be immediately divided without injuring any part of the combs, or deluging the Bees with the liquid honey, which so frequently annoys them, by extracting their sweets from the piled or storified boxes.