HIVES.
I am more and more convinced, from experience, that Bees do much better in broad, shallow hives, than in any others. All the hives that I have used myself for the last three years, and those that I have had made for the last two, have been of this kind—namely, 7 inches deep, and 14 inches wide, measuring in the inside. The only inconvenience that can possibly arise from a hive of this shape is, that from the great weight of supers which year after year it will have to bear, the top will sink a little; therefore it should never be used without an adapting-board of 12 inches square; this will take the weight of the supers from the centre to the side of the hive; indeed, it would be better to let the adapting-board remain a fixture upon the hive when once fastened down by the Bees, and should the corners at all interfere with the cover, where the milk-pan is used, they may be rounded off a little to the size of the hive.