46 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



SIZE OF EXTRA XCE. 



\Miile the bees were in the cellar, they had an en- 

 trance 12}i X 2 inches, and during the cool days of spring, 

 after they are taken out of the cellar, it is no longer desir- 

 able to have so large an entrance. So as soon as the bees 

 are on their stands, the entrance is closed down to a 

 very small one by means of ^an entrance-block. Before 

 describing this I must tell you about the hive and bottom- 

 board. 



CLEATS FOR HIVES. >/ 



The hive is the ordinary 8-frame dovetailed, 

 only I insist upon having on each end a plain cleat 

 13%xl^x%. There are more reasons than one for 

 having this cleat, rather than the usual hand-holes. It is 

 more convenient to take hold of when one wants to lift 

 a hive. Latterly the manufacturers use a very short 

 cleat, which is a great improvement on the hand-hole, 

 but it does not allow one to carry the hive with the 

 weight resting on the whole forearm, as shown in Fig. 9. 

 This way of carrying a hive is one gotten up by Philo 

 Woodruff, the hired man who helped me for several years, 

 evidently to make the work easier for him. One day he 

 was carrying a hive that had no cleats, only hand-holes, 

 perhaps the only one of that kind he had ever carried. 

 He seemed disgusted with it, and as he set the hive down 

 he grumbled, 'T wish the man that made them hand-holes 

 had to carry them." 



Another advantage of the cleats is the strength it 

 gives to the rabbeted ends of the hive. Without the cleat 

 the rabbet leaves the hive-end at the top only -^q of an 

 inch thick for more than ^ of an inch of its depth, and 

 the splitting off of this part is unpleasantly frequent. 

 W^ith the added cleat the thickness is three times as much, 

 and it never splits off. 



These cleats, not being regularly made by manufac- 

 turers, can only be had by having them made to order, so 



