A Cheap Serviceable Hive. 847 



in position a notclied piece of wood, a quarter of an inch in thickness, 

 should be used as a guide (figure 10). 



The porch over the entrance, shown in figure be, is not absolutely 

 necessary, but it gives a finished appearance to the hive and also 

 affords some protection from the weather, so it is worth the little 

 troubio entailed in nailing it on. Two coats of white paint are now 

 all that is required to complete this portion of the hive. 



The " super " (figure be) is made in exactly the same way as 

 the brood chamber, only in this case the box has to be cut down to 

 the required width. The Hoffman extracting frame is only five and 

 three-eighths inches in depth, so the super must be made five and five- 

 eighths inches in depth, the extra c^uarter of an inch being allowed 

 for the bee space at the top. The ledges inside must be so arranged 

 that when the frames are in position the bottoms of the frames are 

 fiush with the bottom of the super, and the tops are a quarter of an 

 inch down from the top edge of the super. It is necessary to pay 

 careful attention to this spacing in the making of any hives, for if 

 spaces less than three-sixteenths of an inch wide are left anywhere 

 in the hive the bees are liable to fill them up with propolis, and if 

 spaces wider than three-eig^iths of an inch are left bur-combs may 

 be built in them and cause trouble. Thus, in providing for passage- 

 way's for the bees, it is usual to leave spaces of a quarter of an inch 

 in depth. Shallow extracting frames for the super cost 2s. 6d. a 

 dozen, and ten are required for each super. 



The lid can be made to any desired pattern, but that shown in 

 figure 5/ is simple in construction and aft'ords arhple protection from 

 the weather. It is double, slopes from front to back, and is covered 

 with malthoid or similar material. The bottom board is also double, 

 and so made that the floor of the hive slopes gently downward from 

 back to front. The sides of the bottom board must be made of wood 

 at least three-quarters of an inch thick in order to afford a firm base 

 to support the bodj- of the hive. They can be made from the ends 

 of paraffin boxes cut and joined as shown in figure 9. The stand 

 (figure 5a) is easily made and needs no detailed description. 

 Finally a sheet of queen excluder zinc must be purchased, cut to 

 fit the top of the brood chamber, and bound round the edges with 

 wood three-eighths of an inch thick (figure bd). In placing this queen 

 excluder on the hive, the wooden frame is placed uppermost ; thus 

 there is a space three-eighths of an inch wide left at the bottom of the 

 super when it is placed in position, and this forms the bee-way. If 

 the beekeeper intends to go in for comb-honey production only, the 

 queen excluder is unnecessary, as the queen rarely enters supers filled 

 with section-boxes and separators. 



The Journal aims at keeping farmers informed of what the 

 Department of Agriculture is doing, also of such matters affecting 

 their interests as come under its purview. The Journal contains 

 original articles for the guidance of the faimer on the many and 

 diverse problems which face him. Every farmer should read it and 

 keep it. 



