COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF WOODEN BOXES AND STRAW HIVES.
Most of the writers who have instituted a comparison between hives and
boxes, have decided in favour of the former. But it is to be recollected
that when forming this decision, these writers have always had in their
minds an out-door apiary, for which situation, on account of their
exposure to the variations of temperature and the alternations of drought
and moisture, straw-hives possess advantages over wooden boxes;--they are
not so soon affected by a hot and dry or by a moist atmosphere; they do
not part with so much heat in winter nor admit so much in summer, straw
being, in the language of the chemists, a bad conductor of heat. Being
much cheaper than any others, straw-hives are of course chosen by the
cottager.
Upon the storifying system, and with the advantage of a bee-house, I
think wooden boxes have a great superiority over straw-hives; they are
more firm and steady, better suited for observing the operations of the
bees through the glass windows in the backs and sides, and less liable
to harbour moths, spiders, and other insects; they permit the combs, at
the period of deprivation, to be more easily separated from the sides and
tops, and if well made, have a much neater appearance than straw-hives.