230 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE- 



attention, and they are now wedded to the much plainer, simpler,, 

 and economical Langstroth. Once having tasted the sweets of the' 

 Langstroth, you never hear them even hinting that they are con- 

 templating a divorce, so that they may be in a position to return 

 to the old love. 



This hive is named after its inventor, Baron von Berlepsch, 

 of Seebach, Thuringia. The diagram 1 represents the hive closed 

 with the ventilator open, and two of the bar-frames used in con- 

 nection therewith resting against the side. In diagram 2 the 

 larger is the one used in the lower or brood-chamber, and the 

 smaller belongs to the super or honey chamber. It will be noted 

 that the larger differs but little in form from the Langstroth frame, 

 and from out to out contains about the same superficial measurement. 

 The chief difference in its construction is that the foundation comb 

 is attached to one of the two shorter sides, and its greater length 

 is used vertically, and not longitudinally, as in the Langstroth. 

 The smaller frame is the one used in the honey-chamber, and is 

 half the depth of the larger. The hives are worked from the back, 

 where the manipulator stands. The back is a movable door or 

 shutter ; in some cases it swings upon hinges, but more frequently 

 it can be detached and removed, as shown in the diagram 2. 



On removing the back for the purposes of operating, etc., two 

 glass-doors are seen, the smaller one in front of the honey-chamber 

 and the larger, which encloses that of the brood. These glass- 

 doors are not a fixture, and are used for a threefold purpose — 

 first, for confining the bees till subdued ; secondly, for observation 

 --but like all hives constructed for observation purposes, one 

 side only of a comb is visible, or the end bars of the whole of the 

 frame; thirdly, to keep the frames securely in position. Diagraan 

 2 gives a view of the internal fittings of the hive and of the con- 

 struction of the frames. The bars of the shorter sides project 

 beyond those of the longer. These shorter bars are not of equal 

 length, the one used for the top being about half an inch longer 

 than the bottom ones. The brood-chamber is separated from that 

 of the honey super by a fixed division board or floor, in which there 

 are one or more holes leading from one to the other for the pur- 

 pose of giving ingress and egress to the inmates of the hive. In 

 both sides of the brood-chamber, which is made of inch wood, a 

 groove is wrought half an inch wide and three-eights of an inch 

 deep, so as to allow bee-space between the top bar of the frame 

 and the fixed division-board. These grooves carry the frames in 

 the same way as the rebates in the Langstroth hive; the longer 

 projections of the shorter sides of the frame resting therein, but 



