126 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the book. Thus you will have a hive that 

 will winter* any swarm of bees on. its sum- 

 mer stand. 



Second. Their liability to be infested with the 

 moth worm. From all the observations that I 

 have been able to make, either with my own 

 hives or those of my neighbors, this was owing 

 either to defects in construction, or the material 

 shrunk after the hives were made — allowing the 

 frames to touch either top or bottom or both. 

 In making new hives I would not have the 

 frames go nearer the bottom than one inch, nor 

 within five-eighths of an inch of the top. To 

 cure old hives infested with worms, nail strips 

 at top and bottom to make the inside of the 

 hive correspond with the above directions. 



You will find worms in every hive if the bees 

 have not free access all around the frames, par- 

 ticularly at top and bottom; and you very sel- 

 dom find any if they have — though not more so 

 than you will find in any other hive of any other 

 make, pattern, kind, or patent, under the same 

 circumstances. 



Third. The charge of some that bees will 

 not build straight combs. Last season my bees 

 filled nearly ninety frames with combs, every 

 one of which was straight. I melted some wax, 

 and waxed the under side of the tops of the 

 frames and the inner sides of the side pieces. 

 Some of the hives were tipped, and some were 

 not. 



Fourth. The trouble of getting frames out of 

 a full hive. Put in only nine frames; then, in- 

 stead of the tenth, put in a partition board 

 made so as to hang like a frame, but to fit close 

 to the top, bottom, and sides. To take out a 

 frame, cut the connections, if any, between the 

 frame and the partition board; take out the par- 

 tition board, and you can then easily move the 

 frames so as to take out the only frame you de- 

 sire to remove. 



The movable division board also allows you 

 to make the inside of the hive to suit a large 

 swarm of bees or a small one. 



Besides double hives form warm and comfort- 

 able quarters in comparison with the wretched 

 makeshifts provided for their bees by the gener- 

 ality of beekeepers. 



Let any one provide such a hive as is de- 

 scribed above, and test it by selecting two 

 swarms, the queens of the same age, and as 

 near alike as can be in regard to prolificness and 

 the working qualities of the workers also equal. 

 Let one of these be placed in the above de- 

 scribed hive in the beginning of March; and if 

 both swarms are small in numbers, the more 

 marked will be the difference between them at 

 the end of the month. 



The idea that single hives promote breeding 

 earlier in the season may be all right in theory, 

 but it is not so in practice and reality; for a 

 swarm that can cover five frames of brood in a 

 single hive can cover ten in a double one, and 

 it will only take seventy-two hours to prove it. 

 Just take a swarm that you know has a prolific 

 queen, and which can cover only five frames of 

 brood in the spring or the fall ; place it in a 

 double hive and alternate a frame of brood 

 with an empty one, and in three days every 

 frame will be full of brood — especially if they 



can have access to plenty of honey, or if one of 

 my bee-feeders containing two pounds of water 

 with four ounces of sugar dissolved in it, s 

 placed over a hole in the top, so that the bees 

 can have access to it. The bee-feeder is de- 

 scribed in the July and September numbers of 

 the Bee Journal. 



The double hive, moreover, more nearly ap- 

 proaches the natural home of the bee in the hol- 

 low of decayed trees, the walls of which are 

 usually pretty thick and still further protected 

 by the lining of decayed wood around the sides 

 aud top, absorbing the breath and moisture from 

 the bees. The double hive, with holes in the 

 top of inner hive, and with the space between 

 the inner hive and the outside case filled with 

 straw or other suitable material, accomplishes 

 the same thing, only better. 



A double hive ought always to be set so that 

 the sun may shine on it all or nearly all day. 

 Then the warmth will be pretty much equal, 

 day and night, in the breeding apartment, en- 

 couraging the early and abundant production 

 of brood. Whereas, in a single hive, the bees 

 are alternately roasted by day aud chilled 

 during the night — driving them every night to 

 a compact cluster to keep warm, and thereby 

 retarding the production of brood. 



The size of hives can only be determined by 

 each beekeeper according to the honey pastur- 

 age of his section of country, and whether he 

 collects his honey in surplus boxes, or uses the 

 honey-emptying machine ; and if the latter, 

 whether he empties the combs once a week, or 

 once in two weeks, or once a month, or only at 

 the end of the season. Each of these circum- 

 stances will require a different size of hive; or 

 by changing the frames, substituting empty 

 ones for those that have been filled, the same 

 result will be accomplished. 



The shape, whatever advantage the shallow 

 form possesses when surplus honey boxes are 

 used — is of double importance now, since the 

 introduction of the honey -emptying machine. 



I cannot close without asking whether spiders 

 are not the friends of the bee-keeper ? If they 

 are detrimental to bees, do they not, w r hen tak- 

 ing possession of the space between the inner 

 hive and the outer case, do the bees and the 

 bee-keeper a compensating benefit by the de- 

 struction of the millers, worms, and other nox- 

 ious insects ? At least I have come to such 

 conclusion from my observations this summer, 

 and do not now trouble them in my hive, 

 as I think the occasional appropriation of a few 

 bees is more than counterbalanced by the good 

 they do by destroying the millers that dodge 

 the bee sentinels at the outer entrance of a 

 double hive on chilly nights. The space be- 

 tween the inner hive and outer case forms a 

 convenient trap for the math, very few of 

 which, under any circumstances, find their way 

 into the breeding apartment. 



The dead air space, between the hive and the 

 outer case, retaining the heat acquired from the 

 sun during the day, preserves its warmth 

 throughout the night, and the bees are thereby 

 enabled to keep a better guard over the entrance 

 to the inner or breeding apartment. With the 

 use of the shallow frames it is more economical 



