590 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



A strip of buckwheat in A. I. Root's Florida home. See page 593. 



keep surplus removals covered and protect- 

 ed from robbers, with the sliifting found 

 in all apiaries. 



If more than two comb-honey supers 

 were stacked upon the hives there would 

 be danger that they would topple over; 



A. I. Root's i\ii)i.linill, tank, and tower in Florida. 



but bees do scarcely any work in a comb- 

 honey sujjer tljree stories high, and, be- 

 sides, such honey should be removed as 

 soon as finished, to be nice and white. 

 The extracting-super, instead of setting off 

 at an angle like the comb-honey supers, 

 stand vertical, so that any number of them 

 can be stacked up. 



The cover is a very substantial one, be- 

 ing made of % boards halved together, so 

 that they can come and go with the shrink- 

 ing and swelling of the wood, and covered 

 with tin painted on both sides. 



It can not be denied that a liive of this 

 ])attern would enable any foul-brood in- 

 siiector to make an examination very quick- 

 ly; and now that disease is creeinng over 

 the country at such an astonishing rate, 

 this feature alone Avould certainly be quite 

 an advantage. But there are always some 

 disadvantages connected with a radical de- 

 parture from standard lines. 



I may be wrong; but in my opinion 

 there are two serious disadvantages. One 

 is that such hives could not be used inter- 

 changeably with any other standard hive 

 on the market, as the covers, bottom- 

 boards, brood-frames, and, in fact, all the 

 accessones are either odd-sized or odd- 

 shai^ed. The second disadvantage is that 

 these hives, owing to the greater number 

 of parts, and the angular shapes, are not 



