232 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE- 



doors are so made as to wholly fill the space, the one of the larger 

 chamber, and the other that of the smaller. They must be so 

 made that they can be inserted or removed without the least jar- 

 ring, and not so loosely as to allow the escape of the bees, but to 

 easily follow the last frame placed in position. 



Thus it is immaterial whether there are only two or the full 

 complement of frames in either chamber. The glass back will, by 

 pressing it against the last frame placed in the chamber, firmly 

 fix the whole in position. Sometimes additional grooves, one on 

 either side of the brood-chamber, are made in each side of the 

 hive, about mid-way between the fixed division board and the 

 floor-board. This is for the purpose of using two half-size or 

 short frames. 



The honey-chamber or super is in every respect a counterpart 

 of that of the brood-chamber, only the frames are of a shallower 

 construction. 



The only part of the hive proper that is movable is the back. 

 This is pierced for the purposes of ventilation. The piercing is 

 covered with perforated zinc and a sliding shutter, as shown in 

 diagram 1. 



The bee entrance is cut in the front of the hive, and is some- 

 times protected from the weather by a miniature verandah. 



The Berlepsch hive is always placed on a stand 2 or 3 feet 

 above the ground, and frequently in two tiers, one above the other. 

 F'or the reception of these hives a shed is necessary, open on all 

 sides, the tiers of hives occu,pying the two sides of the shed, so that 

 the manipulator is always under cover. 



One great drawback to these hives is the difficulty in manipu- 

 lating them. If there are eight or ten frames in a hive, and you 

 wish to remove the one nearest the entrance, all the others must 

 be lifted out and placed in a receptacle made for the purpose, and 

 again replaced in the same order as they were taken out, while 

 the bees that have been taken from the hive and have fallen from 

 the comb, must be swept back and gently returned. If twenty 

 hives have to be examined, this receiving-box has to be carried 

 from hive to hive, and the withdrawal and reinsertion of the 

 frames, and the sweeping up of the bees repeated at every hive. 



Some of my earliest experiences of bee-keeping in bar-frame 

 hives were with the Berlepsch, but I soon abandoned it for the 

 Langstroth. In my transition stage from Berlepsch to Lang- 

 stroth, I so altered the honey-chamber of the Berlepsch that I 

 could work the frame for extracting purposes from the top, as in 



