No. 10. MilhoUand Sf Crane's Patent Endless Bee-Hive. 



313 



2nd, front elevation. Figure 3rd, the perfo- 

 rated slide. Figure 4th, the tube. Similar 

 letters refer to corresponding- parts. 



The nature of the invention is in con- 

 structing the Bee-house in horizontal, rec- 

 tangular sections, or boxes, without tops or 

 bottoms, placed upon a base, — supported by 

 four spreading legs — on which base is a 

 double inclined bottom, for the discharge of 

 all offensive matter. The sections are 

 placed upon the base, and upon one another, 

 until the house is raised to a sufficient 

 height, and the upper box is covered with a 

 horizontal top. The said boxes are secured 

 to each other, to the base and to the top, by 

 means of ears fastened to the sides of the 

 said parts, with screw bolts passing verti- 

 cally through them ; or the several sections 

 may be secured together in any other con- 

 venient way. The boxes or sections are 

 provided with two windows on one side of 

 each box or section, three inches wide by 

 ten inches long, through which to see the 

 operation of the bees or to examine the in- 

 terior of the hive ; and slides to close over 

 them. The apertures in the ends are for 

 the passage of the bees to a new hive placed 

 against the old one, in colonizing the bees 

 when their return is prevented by inserting 

 horizontal plate L, and shutting down the 

 vertical slides over the entrances to the 

 hive. The top is also provided with an 

 opening for introducing a swarm of bees in 

 the usual manner. The Bee-house A, may 

 be made of any convenient size. We gene- 

 rally make them about two feet ten inches 

 high, two feet long, and one foot three 

 inhes broad, of inch poplar or pine boards, 

 or of any suitable stufl^ The base B, should 

 be about seven and a half inches deep, the 

 sides to be glued at each end, and the ends 

 cut off square and well glued and nailed at 

 the corners, having the ends grooved on the 

 inside at right angles, as represented in the 

 drawings, to receive the inclined bottom, C, 

 which should be made in two parts, each 

 part inclining upwards towards each other, 

 at an angle of about 4-5 degrees with the 

 horizontal plane. Their upper edges to 

 meet together at the centre of the interior 

 of the base in the manner of a roof of a 

 house, so as to discharge the offensive mat- 

 ter from the hive on either side where the 

 openings, Z), are left for that purpose, and 

 for the entrance of the bees, also for a free 

 circulation of air which takes place in hives 

 with two entrances, one opposite the other, 

 more freely than in hives with only one en- 

 trance on a side. The said entrances for 

 the bees are marked ZJi, D~. The slides 

 for closing them are marked E^, £2. The 

 slide £1, is open, the slide E~, is closed. 



These slides are not to be shut so close but 

 that they will admit air when the ingress 

 and egress are shut off in colonizing the bees. 

 The superstructure of the Bee-house as be- 

 fore stated, consists of a series of horizontal, 

 rectangular boxes, ,4, each from five to six 

 inches deep, and glued and nailed at the 

 corners, the same as described for the base, 

 having mouldings, F, around the lower 

 edges outside, to prevent the entrance of 

 air or water, and cross sticks inside near the 

 upper edges, running crosswise or length- 

 wise, so as to cross the comb in the usual 

 manner. VVhen the sections are put toge- 

 ther they should be arranged so that the 

 windows with which they are provided 

 should be in alternate order. The fasten- 

 ings may be such as those before described, 

 and represented in the drawing. Or they 

 may be of any suitable kind. The roof, or 

 top G, is a plain rectangular board, having 

 an opening in the centre, through which a 

 swarm is introduced in the usual manner. 

 At other times it is closed by a lid, H. The 

 roof G, is secured to the top of the upper 

 box by screw bolts, and ears made like those 

 used for fastening the boxes together, or in 

 any other convenient way. 



The base or bottom has no cross sticks, as 

 the bees are never suffered to rench it with 

 the comb. K, handles, or knobs for the con- 

 venience of handling the boxes. The slide, 

 or plate, L, inserted at the joint J, when 

 colonizing the bees, is perforated to admit 

 air to the old hive, and cause them to work 

 through the new hive or house. These 

 hives may be commenced with three or 

 four boxes, or it- may be full size as the 

 owner thinks best. 



To remove the honey the following pro- 

 cess is pursued : — Take out the screw bolts 

 of the top; at the first joint raise the first or 

 upper box sufficiently high to admit a fine 

 wire or any other suitable instrument, which 

 draw slowly through: then insert the thin 

 rectangular nietalic slide, L, between the 

 first and second box. Then remove the 

 upper box and take the top G, from the 

 same and put it in the place of the slide 

 over the top of the second box, which will 

 now be the upper box. Then empty the 

 box A, of its honey and put it between the, 

 lower box and the base. In this manner all 

 the boxes are treated, and tlius a perpetual 

 draught of honey is obtained without de- 

 stroymg the bees or driving them from the 

 hive. When the bees become too numerous 

 and ready to swarm, which will soon be the 

 case, prepare another Bee-house in the man- 

 ner above described ; — then provide a tube, 

 M, about two inches square or round, five 

 or six inches long, and insert it in the aper- 



