CHAPTER III 



TIERING BAR-FRAME BEEHIVE. 



TIERING hives are used to afford additional accom- 

 modation for brood-raising or honey-storing pur- 

 poses in cases where the brood nest or hive proper 

 is inadequate. They are made by adding extra 

 bodies above the brood nest. 



Beehives are usually made of yellow pine, merely 

 because pine happens to be plentiful in America, 

 and is there used for all common purposes as is 

 deal in this country ; consequently pine is used, 

 not because it is the best wood for hives, but be- 

 cause it happens to be cheap. America is the land 

 of bees, honey, and bee keepers, and in that coun- 

 try there are numerous factories exclusively em- 

 ployed, year in, year out, in making beehives and 

 apiarian supplies ; and nearly all the beehives 

 made in England aie imported from America in the 

 flat that is, the material is planed and sawn to 

 size on the other side of the Atlantic, and arrives 

 here ready to be put together at a cost very little 

 (if any) above the price at which rough-sawn board 

 of similar material can be purchased in England. 



As American winters are so severe, it is the 

 custom above a certain degree of latitude to place 

 the bees in cellars during the cold season say, 

 from November to March or April so that hives 

 are seldom exposed to much severe weather, so 

 seldom, in fact, that hive bodies are usually left 

 unpainted. Whilst pine may be employed for the 

 inside parts of English hives, good yellow deal 

 is far preferable for all exposed portions of a bee- 

 hive, and is considerably cheaper to buy than is 

 first or even second quality yellow pine. Even good 



