In the first place, it must be borne in mind that every system which requires the slaughter of the bees for securing honey from them, is radically bad, and therefore _wholly_ to be discountenanced. At the same time, every bee-keeper expects, and rightly, that he should get honey; and this can be managed even with straw hives, if they have a flat top and a perforation in it sufficient to allow the population to go up into supers, wherein to store their produce. Fig. 44 shows such an adaptation. The lower and larger receptacle is for brood and the maintenance of the stock. The top one, much smaller, and not so high, is for the surplus honey, which the bees will carry up when the population is becoming crowded below. The middle and smallest is merely a covering for the other two, and for the sake of keeping all warm, dry, and snug. [Illustration: Fig. 44.--Flat-topped Hive and Straw Super.] An improved Cottager's Hive (Fig. 45) differs from the preceding chiefly in the substitution of a glass for a straw super, and the addition of a window at the back,[7] closed by a door, for observing the internal conditions of the stock portion. [Footnote 7: In the illustration the hive is turned round on the floor-board, to show the window.] [Illustration: Fig. 45.--Neighbour's Improved Cottager's Hive.] A still better modification is shown on the opposite page (Fig. 46), and is called, from the inventor and maker, "Neighbour's improved Cottager's Hive." In this the lower part has a stout wooden top with three perforations, which may be closed, at the will of the owner, by a metal slide. Over each opening is placed a bell-glass, and admission to these is given to the bees either singly, or by two or all three apertures. In use, the bell-glasses are encased with flannel, felt, or some other good non-conducting substance, and then the upper hive is let down over the glasses on to the board. There are three windows in the lower hive, each closed by a hinged shutter, so that inspection may be afforded at more points than one. [Illustration: Fig. 46.--Neighbour's Improved Cottager's Hive.] Each bell-glass is furnished with a ventilating tube of perforated zinc, and a ventilating cap is fitted to the top cover. There is also in the middle of the back window a thermometer fixed, for ascertaining the temperature of the stock-hive. By these arrangements the affairs of the community may, to a certain extent, be regulated by the master, and pure honey, free from bee-bread or brood, may be secured without the destruction of any of the workers. The three hives now described are, perhaps, the best for those who have not the requisite time and skill for the more approved methods of apiculture. But they should, in other cases, be looked upon as merely the stepping-stones to systems of bee-management of a really scientific character.