SOUTHERN BEE CULTURE 25 



get them properly put together. As stated elsewhere, the hives are the 

 foundation of bee culture, and it is very important that we start it right 

 from the hive, and for the benefit of those who know nothing of their con- 

 struction I will try in the simplest manner possible to help you over this 

 obstacle by the use of engravings showing each part, how it is cut out, where 

 it should go, and how it appears after it has been properly placed and nailed, 

 and set in the hive. 



Carefully open the packages of hives and lay similar pieces together 

 around on the floor or bench, and proceed as follows: Take up this book; 

 turn to this page, and look over and over the. cuts or pictures showing the 

 different pieces, how they are cut out and where they go, then look over 

 your piles of similar pieces and see if they are not similar to the pictures of 

 those in the book. Continue thus until you have located every piece and 

 learned where it goes in the hive. Now with the hive clearly laid out in 

 your mind, don't start to. nailing until you have read and reread "The Con- 

 struction of Modem Hives," so that you may nail them right and they 

 will stay thus. 



First, nail the bottoms together. The hive manufacturers usually send 

 out two styles of bottoms with the standard hives, and you will have one 

 of the styles. 



Next put the hive-body together, nailing it well ; then nail the tin rab- 

 bets in it, using four nails from the top and four through the sides. Also 

 nail the little molded cleats on just above the hand-holds in the ends, and set 

 it on a bottom and then start to nailing the brood-frames together by first 

 nailing end-bars to the top-bar with two nails at each end. It will be seen 

 that these end-bars have a V edge, and in nailing them to the top-bar be 

 sure you turn the V edges opposite, or one on the right side of the top-bar 

 and one on the left, and nail all the end-bars to the top-bars just as you, 

 did this one. The object of this V edge is to keep the bees from gluing the 

 edges so tight together, and thus be a hindrance in handling them; and if 

 you do not put the end-bars on all top-bars, and the V edge extending in the 

 same direction, some square edges will come together and thus spoil the 

 good feature. Next nail the bottom-bars on with four nails. Now drive 

 the little staples, which you will find with nails, into the end-bars just under 

 the extending ends of the top-bars, using the little gauge which you will also 

 find somewhere among the hive parts. There will be found a bundle of 

 wedges, and also a bundle of long, narrow strips of foundation, and on the 

 bottom sid^ of the top-bars will be seen two grooves. Place a strip of foun- 

 dation in the tenter one, and press a wedge in the other one ; then driv6 it 

 down bekjw the surface of the wood or it may work out. Set the frame in 

 the hives as they are thus completed. Then put together the division-boards, 

 nailing them well, and set them in the open spaces between the last frame 

 set in and the side of the hive, and put a wedge in behind it. 



Now the brood apartment is finished, and we are ready to begin on 

 supers or top stories. We will first construct a super for comb honey as 

 on hive No. i. Carefully put together the bodies of the super and it will 



