1870.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



9 



The brood chamber has an observing glass in 

 the rear. 



The outer case is made in two parts, which 

 can be lifted off the bottom board, as represented 

 in fig. 1. The grain of the wood all runs tlie same 

 way in this hive, and there is no shrinking and 

 opening of joints, to let in water every time it 

 rains. 



In making this style Langstroth hive it was 

 not my intention to alter in the least the princi- 

 ple of the Langstroth frame and any alteration 

 that I have seen or heard of has been a backward 

 step in the construction of movable frames. 

 How the Langstroth frame can be altered to 

 make it more simple or to answer better the pur- 

 pose of the bee-keei^er, I do not know. My hive 

 is simply a new style of Langstroth hive. The 

 frames do not rest on the bottom-bo;) rd, and 

 have no tin fixtui'es or any thing else about them 

 for the purpose of cheating Mr. Langstroth out 

 of his jiatent right. Any hive that does not 

 have the simple movable frame that Mr. Lang- 

 stroth claims as his invention, is only fit for fire- 

 wood ; and all other frames are worse than none 

 at all. 



What I claim for my hive is this: First. It will 

 winter a colony of bees as well as they can pos- 

 sibly be wintered, anywhere, on their summer 

 stands, and with but little trouble to prepare it 

 for winter. Second. It will allow of more room 

 for siirplus boxes, with less expense than any 

 other hive in use. Third. It needs no other 

 house, summer or winter. Fourth. The bees 

 can reach the surplus boxes in less time and 

 with less labor, than in any other hive yet de- 

 vised. Fifth. The boxes used for this hive, will, 

 when full of honey, sell moi"e readily and at a 

 higher price, than any other style of surplus box. 

 In fact, this kind of box is just what dealei-s 

 want to purchase. 



In the yeptember number of the Bee Journal, 

 I shall give my plan for wintering in this hive. 

 I will answer all inquiries made in regard to it, 

 through the Bee Journal. H. Alley. 



Winham, Mass, 



[For tlie American Bee Journal.] 



Tlie Shallow Langstroth Hive. 



Mr. Editor : — It is not probable that the 

 readers of the Journal have forgotten the ani- 

 mated controversy of 18H8, with reference to the 

 shallow Langstroth hive. 



I have used that form of the hive some eight 

 or ten years, and although there are some good 

 points connected with it, still for this latitude 

 (about forty-two and a half degrees, north), I 

 am becoming more dissatisfied with it the longer 

 I use it. It seems to me that any one, with even 

 a limited experience in bee-keeping, must be 

 aware that it is not a safe hive for wintering in 

 the open air. Neither is it good for the six oi* 

 eight weeks between the winter and warm 

 weather. My bees are always wintered in a dark 

 room or cellar, and I have sometimes thought 

 that the hives contained less bees, after being 

 out a month, than when first taken from winter 

 quarters. 



It occurred to me last season, that these hives 

 could be altered, and made not only deeper but 

 better in some other respects. If any one using 

 the shallow hive would prefer, and be satisfied 

 with one twelve inches wide and twelve inches 

 deep, holding eight frames instead of ten, he can 

 with small expense alter them to that form. I 

 mean small expense compared with laying aside 

 his present stock of hives, and beginning all 

 anew. 



I have altered some ten or twelve, and will 

 give a description of the process. My hives are 

 fourteen and one-eighth inches wide, and to re 

 duce the width to twe've inches, would take off 

 one and one-sixteenth inch from each side. A 

 board that tliickness set in on each side would 

 give just the width. But it is difficult to get 

 boards of that thickness, and besides I wanted 

 an air space between the two. The course de- 

 cided upon was this. The side partitions are cut 

 just the length of the inside of the hive and 

 twelve inches wide, planed to eleven-sixteenths 

 thick. A narrow ledge, three-eighths inch tliick, 

 is tacked around the edge on the side next the 

 outside of the hive to give the air space ; and 

 when these pai-titions are set in, firmly fastened 

 to the outside Avith screws and nails, they are 

 tAvelve inches apart and two inches higher then 

 the other parts of tlie hive. Strips, two inches 

 wide and of the length of the hive outside meas- 

 ure, are set edgewise on the original sides, nailed 

 down through with long floor nails, and fastened 

 to the inside partition sidewise with screws. The 

 ends, which are one and three-fourths inch 

 plank, are raised in the same way, nailed down 

 through, and also receive nails in the ends 

 through the side jjieces. A ledge is nailed around, 

 five-eighths from the top, for the cover to rest 

 upon as before ; I now have a hive containing 

 bout the same number of cubic inches, and two 

 inches deeper, without losing any top-room, for 

 the same honey-board is used as before. 



Instead of single sides, it is now double, with 

 a small aii--space between. The expense, aside 

 from furnishing new frames, is about one-eightli 

 the cost of the original hive — that is, the cost of 

 a new hive would alter about eighth. 



I have pieced down a few frames, making 

 strong woi'k ; although the expense is perhap, 

 more than the cost of new frames, still it is bet- 

 ter than transferring the combs. I will not oc- 

 cupy space, to describe the process of piecing 

 down, as probably no one will wish to adopt it. 



Perhaps I should not adojjt this form of hive, 

 if I should begin anew ; but think it is very good, 

 and far preferable to the shallow form, for this 

 latitude, and the only way to get rid of that 

 form without throwing away my whole stock of 

 about fifty hives. 



Calvin Rogers. 



West NeiDbury, Mass., May 29. 1870. 



All the choicest spare honey should be re- 

 moved from the hives, before the delicate white- 

 ness of the combs becomes soiled by the travel 

 of the bees, or the purity of the honey is im- 

 paired by an inferior article gathered later in the 

 season. — Langstroth. 



