80 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



The Rhode Island Nellis Hive. 



Seveial years ago we illustrated and 

 priced in our Catalogue the VanDusen- 

 Nellis hive. The demand was some- 

 what limited, and we soon discontinued 

 offering them for sale, and have for a 

 long time only made them when order- 

 ed. This style of hive has been in use 

 quite extensively right along, however, 

 in many parts of the New EnglandStates 

 and elsewhere, and Mr. Sain'l Cushman 

 sometime since made some improve- 

 ments on it and adopted it in the Rhode 

 Island Experimental Station, where it 

 gives the best of satisfaction. He has 

 given it the name of the Rhode Island- 

 Nellis hive, and on account of its pop- 

 ularity and really superior merits we 

 have placed it in our '91 Catalogue. It 

 is very simple, has no mitre joints, can 

 be tiered up any desired height, is per- 

 fectly tight, has entrance at both ends 

 so that two colonies can be kept in one 

 hive simply by using division boards 

 and the entrance can be made anvsize 



cross-nailed, which greatly strengthens 

 the hive. The edges are all even at 

 the top. The bottom board is 20^ in. 

 long, 15^ in. wide by § in. thick, made 

 of two pieces. These are nailed at the 

 ends to two cleats 15£ in. long, 1J in. 

 wide by If in. thick. To prevent the 

 hive from sliding off strips ^x7-16x20^r 

 in. are nailed to the bottom board, so 

 that the rabbets in lower edge of sides 

 will fit on them. This gives an entrance 

 at each end \ in. deep and 14^ in long. 

 This can be made any desired size or 

 altogether closed by strips ^x-J in. and 

 of length io suit the size of entrance 

 desired. In hot weather an entrance 

 at each end is of great comfort to 

 strong colonies. 



The surplus case is made just like 

 the brood chamber above described, ex- 

 cepting that the ends are only 5 1 - 1 (> in. 

 wide. and the sides 5 1-16 in. wide. The 

 ends have a rabbet \ in. deep and | in. 

 wide, upon which the wide frame rest. 

 As these are not handled as much as 

 the brood frames, metal rabbets are 

 unnecessary. 



without trouble. It is described in de- 

 lail as follows : The ends are 14f in. 

 long, 9f in. wide and If in. thick. 

 These have hand holes and are rabbeted 

 9-16 in. deep and § in. wide along the 

 upper inner edge and take a metal rab- 

 bet. The sides are 20J in. long, 9$ in. 

 wide by £ in. thick, and are rabbeted 

 \ in. deep and 29-64 in. wide on outside 

 of top edge and on inside of bottom 

 edge, so that one will fit perfectly on 

 another. The ends are rabbeted out 

 4;xf in. thus allowing the corners to be 



The style of section holder can be 

 seen in the illustration. There are 

 seven, each holding 4 4^x4^x1 15-16 

 boxes. It is preferable to use a half 

 depth body like this for surplus honey, 

 as colonies are then able to occupy all 

 the space and retain their warmth and 

 energy, and it is better to give bees no 

 more room than they can occupy, and 

 then when the combs are well under 

 way elevate these boxes and place an 

 empty set under them, as the boxes 

 will be quickly filled, in order the better 

 to get to the ones already started. Two 

 of these surplus cases can be fastened 

 together and used as a brood chamber. 



