THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



LSI 



page 10;5 of tlie Amkuican Tkk Jouk- 

 XAL, ill regard to over stocking tlie liolil. 

 Probably we in tlie West are diirerently 

 situated ill resjieet to bee pasturage to what 

 they are in the East. When ^Ye have good 

 honey llowers here, we never have bees 

 enough to gather all, until rain or dry 

 weatlier stops them from work, and we 

 should always bi; prepared with our 

 colonies, strong and largo enough, in case 

 of failure in llowers, to secrete honey ; for 

 such colonies will live when others will 

 starve to death, and more especially if they 

 be Italians. E. Listun. 



Cedar Co., 3Io. 



For the American Kcc Journal. 



Double Story Hives. 



WHiile bees are storing honey vapidly 

 they should have more room within their 

 hives than at other seasons. They need 

 this both to prevent sv/arniing and to 

 secure from them the largest yield of 

 honey. A given number of bees in one 

 liive will store much more surplus honey, 

 than the same number divided out into 

 Jieveral hives. One of the most important 

 rules to be observed, where surplus honey 

 is the object, is to keep tJie stocks strong. 

 The queen should have all the combs she 

 can supply with eggs, and the Avorkers as 

 many as they can till with honey. Yv'hen 

 the hive is in this condition, and the ex- 

 tractor is freely used, there is little if any 

 danger of swarming, and an abundance of 

 honey will be obtained. 



Ordinary single-cham'ier hives contain 

 about ;25UO cubic inches of space. For 

 mediu'u sized stocks in ordinary seasons of 

 the year, this Avill be room sufficient ; but 

 when the tlowers arc secreting honey pro- 

 fusely, and the queens are laying freely, 

 twice that space should be given them. 



Some intelligent bee-keepers hold that all 

 this room should be furnished iu a single- 

 story hive. Their theory is that the work- 

 ers will extend their construction of comb, 

 and the queen her deposition of eggs, from 

 the centre to either side, more readily than 

 above or below, this may, or may not, be 

 correct ; I am not jirepared to deny or 

 attirm. But 1 have aiiet with no difficulty 

 in getting either the queens to lay or the 

 workers to work in eitlier upper or lower 

 stories. I have had no experience with 

 these large single-story hives. It seems to 

 me, however, that whatever adviuitages 

 they may have in other respects, tiiey must 

 be very cumbersome and unwieldy A\iicu it 

 becomes necessary to move them. I should 

 think it would also be quite difficult to con- 

 tract the space within them to suit a small 

 stock, or to winter even a full stock. 



I have been using for several seasons a 

 double-story hive, which has given me 



entire satisfaction ; and b<'fore ;^iviiig a 

 brief description of it, I will say that I 

 liave no " axe to grind" in doing so, as 

 there is no jKitent o;i it, so far as 1 am con- 

 cerned and I keej) none for sale. It con- 

 sists of two bo.\es of the same si/(% set one 

 on top of the other, each tilled with \<-\\ 

 frames. It is clienply made and easily 

 liandled. Tlu; lees are wintered in the 

 lower story. When they Iccomc strong iu 

 the spring, the second or upper story is set 

 on, and to induce the bees to work above, 

 without any delaj'', a few of the frames of 

 brood are put in the upper box. The work 

 tiieir goes on iu both stories as well as in 

 one before. Ko honey brood or portion of 

 any kind is used between the stories. 



My hive is modilied after the Langstroth., 

 but, I think it is more convenient and ks^ 

 expensive. Each chamber or stol^>'^ is, Iiy 

 inside measure, 13 in. long, I4i- wide and 

 10 deep. I have a 4 in. portico in front of 

 the lower story, bat Avhile this answers 

 some good purposes it is not es.sential. I 

 use poplar lumber and have it dressed to I 

 of an inch in thickness. The sides arc 10 

 in. wide, the front eiid 8/} and the rear end 

 9i. Both end pieces are set with their tops 

 I of an inch below the upper edges of the 

 sides. On these ends are suspended tlie 

 frames. The upper piece of each frame is 

 made tirst 19 in. long, the ends of which 

 are beveled oft' to prevent interference Avith 

 the ends of the upper story. 



The upjier story is made without bottom 

 and tits nicely on the lower. Each end of 

 it also drops down i of an inch below tb« 

 edges of the sides. The inside lower edges 

 of these ends are beveled off' so as to lit 

 down over the ends of the frames in the 

 lower chamber. Strips are nailed accross 

 the entls of both stories to strengthen them, 

 and to furnish handles by which to lift them. 



A cap or cover is made to fit either story, 

 by nailing strips around and under the 

 outer edges of a l.'oard a'nnit bS in. wide 

 and 23 long. 



Anyone that can use a savr and hammer 

 can make these hives, and I consider them 

 as good as the best. I have never had a 

 swarm of bees from one of these hives 

 since I have been using them. This season 

 I have had 2(5 in use, and have taken from 

 them 110 gallons of honey. From one 

 hive I have extrticted 14 gallons, and taken 

 about a dozen full cords of 1 rood to build 

 up weaker hives. They iire all now in 

 good condition, and Avell supplied with 

 honey. I have already started 2(5 nucleus 

 hives, and as fast as <he queens become 

 fertile, will build them up to ten frames. 

 This will reduce all the double-hives down 

 to single chambers. I do this now because 

 the honey season is over with ns. We may 

 have a little in September, but caunot cal- 

 culate with any certainty on that. 



Charlestown, Ind. ^M. C. IIkstej; 



