THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



15 



evaporated in or(]er that the bees 

 may not waste time while tlio lioney 

 is ji()incr thi'ougli tlie process of 

 completion. 



To what extent the advice so nni- 

 versaliy an<l so innocently given, 

 viz. : ''Have all yonr combs of nni- 

 form depth, etc.," has injuied the 

 honey bnsiness I will not attempt 

 to say. Bnt I will say that nnder 

 a i)roper system of hive construc- 

 tion there is no advantage what- 

 ever in having all the combs of 

 uniform depth. All the brood 

 comlis should be exactly of the 

 same dimensions, bnt the store 

 combs should be just right to give 

 the best results in the tiei'ing sys- 

 tem. The tiering cases should not 

 be more than six inches in depth. 

 At the most, the store comb frames 

 should not be over six inches deep. 

 I make my store comb frames only 

 4^ inches deep in order that two of 

 them will go into a ten inch ex- 

 tractor reel, side by side so that 

 four frames are emptied at once. 



My frames are adjusted in the 

 eases so as to be immovable when 

 the supports are in position that 

 they may be handled in bulk. The 

 store frames are worked 1^ inches 

 apart from centre to centre while 

 the brood frames are kept but 1 g 

 inch from centre to centre. My 

 favorite hive for all purposes is 

 made as follows: The body is a 

 plain box, the right size to take the 

 standard " L " frame. The box 

 is rabbeted so as to hang the 

 frames just j^^- of an inch below the 

 top of the hive. The bi-ood-cliam- 

 ber sits on a rim bottom-board 

 which is supported by four stakes, 

 about two inches square, driven 

 firndy into the ground. The brood- 

 chambers are made to duplicate 

 each other, and the store comb 

 and section cases are the same in 

 length and breadth as are the brood- 

 chambers, so that the}^ tier on the 

 brood-chambers and on each other 

 with a square joint. The quilts 



used are cut from twilled bagging 

 just the size of the outer dimensions 

 of the brood-chamber and cases. 



The queen excluders are full 

 sheets of perforated zinc with a 

 rim i^g of an inch above the plane 

 of the zinc on both sides. The 

 cover is a flat painted pine board 

 cleated at both ends to prevent its 

 warping. Each cover has a shade- 

 board made of thin lumber and 

 will turn water. I have hives that 

 were painted ten years ago that 

 are now in good condition by rea- 

 son of the protection given by the 

 shade-boards. They are indispen- 

 sable in my apiary. Now let us 

 see how my favorite hive works. 



The brood-chamber sets on the 

 rim of the bottom-board which has 

 an elevation of ^ inch above the 

 plane of the board. The quilt 

 covers the entire top of the brood- 

 chamber, and an empty case rests 

 on the brood-chamber. The edges 

 of the qnilt lapping between gives 

 a close " packed " joint. The case 

 is partly filled with a good absorb- 

 ent and the whole is protected by 

 the hive cover and the storm- and 

 -shade board. With plenty of win- 

 ter stores, this is the present status 

 of my bees, and is what I call 

 " winter quarters." Were I situ- 

 ated farther north the hives would 

 be packed at their sides also, but 

 that is not necessary here. When 

 warm weather makes its appearance 

 in the early spring the absorbents 

 are removed and sheets of paper 

 are spread over the quilts to pre- 

 vent the heat escaping at the top 

 of the brood-nest, and the packing 

 is returned. If the bees have plenty 

 of stores nothing more is done to 

 them till the time arrives to adjust 

 the surplus cases. 



The weather being warm and the 

 honey harvest at hand the absorb- 

 ents are removed and the queen 

 excluder is placed on top of the 

 brood-chamber, and on its rim, is 

 set the section case — if comb 



