EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS 109 



which is twice, not to say three times, as great as that of an ordinary 

 -single wall hive. There is plenty of room, of course, for this bulk in most 

 .apiaries, but when transportation by wagons or cars becomes necessary, 

 one half or two-thirds of the space it requires will be greatly begrudged. 

 After that, but first in importance, is the item of cost of construction. 

 It will be said that the cost is not great and this in a certain sense is no 

 •doubt true, for one making large numbers with special machinery adapted 

 to the purpose, and buying material at wholesale rates, could turn them 

 out surprisingly cheap, but when he came to sell them each one helps 

 pay for his special machinery and his special market advantages, so I 

 say that, in a comparative sense, they are costly. I think, my estimate is 

 quite within bounds that the bolts, screws, castings and other metal 

 of this hive would equal an entire plain L. hive in cost; that the lumber 

 would cost twice as much, and the labor of making more than twice as 

 much, so that the cost would be at least one hundred and fifty per cent in 

 excess of the L. hive, or two and one-half times as much, and all this 

 without considering the device for prevention of swarming which is the 

 chief and important distinguishing feature of the hive. These present 

 times of low prices, short crops, slow sales and small profits speak too 

 ■eloquently in the ears of the producer, of the necessity of curtailing ex- 

 penses to the last possible mill, to require dissertation here on the virtue 

 or necessity of economy. Then comes the nicety of the work required 

 in reproducing some of the fine points of the hive, as, for instance, the 

 somewhat eccentric character of the ends of the brood frames, without 

 any compensating advantage. As a rule, bee-keepers cannot afford to 

 purchase hives, they must make them, hence the necessity of simplicity of 

 construction. 



Fortunately, none of the points to which exception is taken, are, in 

 my view, necessary to the employment of the crowning device of the 

 invention without diminished effectiveness. By this device, viz., that 

 for the prevention of swarming, a large percentage is added to the 

 roominess of the brood chamber, without increasing the space which 

 can be occupied by comb. This is accomplished, roughly speaking, by 

 alternating, at the approach of the swarming season, the combs of the 

 brood chamber with frames of w^ooden comb, which has no septum, and 

 in which, consequently, nothing can be stored. This comb appears as if 

 it had been made in this way: sections one-half inch in thickness taken, 

 from the end of a basswood plank, which has first been perforated length- 

 wise with a set of one-fifth inch bits set as closely together as could safely 

 t)e done without endangering the stability of the walls between the 

 perforations, are treated with some substance to make them proof against 

 the bees and the weather and then fitted into appropriate frames. It 

 will at once be seen that this arrangement must give the bees the feeling 

 that they have an abundance of room, since, if the ordinary combs are 

 filled with brood and honey, in addition to the cells of the wooden combs 

 which must remain continually empty, and which yet probably give the 

 bees the impression that they are to be filled, the vacant space in the 

 brood chamber is nearly or quite doubled. It is claimed that this not only 

 prevents swarming but contrary to what might be expected, there is a 

 decidedly less inclination to store honey in the brood combs and conse- 

 •quently much more is secured in the supers. 



As already said, in the two season's use, I have had no swarms from 



