mon bee-box, as to capacity, cleanliness, and security against vermin, while, at the same time, it enables the cultivator to ascertain at all times the state of his colony, nay, of every individual comb, the progress of the brood, the quantity of provision, the existence and number of royal cells, and the probable period of swarming. It affords every facility, too, for making artificial swarms, and for discovering the exact period when that operation may be attempted with a reasonable prospect of success. The greatest drawback is its expense,[1] which is such as as to preclude any but amateurs from having recourse to it. A figure of this hive, as used by Huber himself, is to be found in his "Observations on Bees;" another of the same hive, as afterwards modified by him, has been given by M. Lombard, (Plate XI,, fig. 3.)
The leaf-hive consists of eight frames, each 18 inches high,[2] English measure, and ten inches wide, inside, having the uprights and top cross pieces 1½ inch broad and one inch thick, so that the eight frames, when placed close together, constitute a hive, eighteen inches high, twelve inches between end and end, and ten inches between back and front, all inside measure. The frames are held together by a flat sliding bar on each side, secured by wedges and pins. To the first and eighth of these frames is attached a frame with glass, and covered with a shutter. The body of the hive is protected by a sloping roof, and
