232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



ber of queens could be worked with com- 

 munication from one apartment to another, 

 by having- two excluders (with at least a 

 bee-space between them) at each division, 

 and nothing- has transpired to prove that a 

 greater number than has yet been tried would 

 not work in perfect harmony under these 

 conditions, though what effect an insuffi- 

 cient supply of stores might have is not 

 known. 



To make a perfect queen-rearing hive, 

 which is the main idea in the one herewith 

 illustrated, the bottom hives, as shown in 

 Fig. 1, are not at all essential. They only 

 serve the purpose of furnishing more apart- 

 ments, while it would be just as easy to 

 build them all side by side, as shown in 

 Fig. 2, and thus be able to get at the inside 

 by simply removing the covers instead of 

 having to slide them out as drawers, as 

 shown in Fig. 3. 



Fig. 2 shows the hive with these left off, 

 the covers to these bottom hives being used 

 as bottom-boards for the top chambers. 



As will be seen in Fig. 3, this is divided 

 into three apartments bj^ two tight-fitting 

 division-boards at each partition, with a 

 space of -'4 inch between them, from within 

 two inches of the bottom up. 



Fig. 3. 



The boards on which the bottom hives are 

 suspended extend up between these division- 

 boards two inches, and all are securely 

 nailed. The)' also extend below three inch- 

 es, and have small strips nailed to the low- 

 er edges on which corresponding strips 

 nailed to the sides, at the tops of the hives, 

 shown suspended in Fig. 1, rest while being 

 inserted or withdrawn, as an ordinary 

 money-drawer found in the stores, except 

 that they are not made close-fitting up and 

 down, but, instead, there is a space of 1>2 

 inches between in which to add queen-ex- 

 cluders or solid boards, as the case may re- 

 quire, between the upper and lower stories, 

 and still admit of some wedging-up. 



The two end-boards that support the low- 

 er hives are nailed to the ends of the main 

 hive, which can be seen in the picture; and, 

 while only two wedges are shown, still it 



takes four to each hive suspended (one at 

 each corner) , and whether or not there is 

 an excluder placed between to double the 

 excluders between upper and lower stores 

 (there being one made fast in the bottom of 

 each chamber), or a solid board to cut off 

 communication be placed between, still 

 there must be at least a half-inch addition- 

 al space allowed for wedging up, as close- 

 fitting slides will not work well when gum- 

 med with propolis, sa3nng nothing of the 

 certaint)' of crushing bees by their use. 



Fig. 4. 



When the wedges are withdrawn at one 

 end of a chamber it is allowed to settle 

 slowlj' without a snap or sudden jar, which, 

 when repeated at the other end, allows the 

 rests or flanges to come together, and the 

 hive is ready for withdrawal endwise, 

 which is easily done without crushing a 

 bee. 



When it is ready to be returned, simply 

 slide it under and wedge it up to a tight fit. 



Fig. 4 shows one bottom hive wedged up 

 without a cover or excluder; another partly 

 withdrawn with an excluder over it, while 

 the third one is withdrawn and shows the 

 queen-excluder in the bottom, which is a 

 bee-space above the main bottom, both being 

 securely nailed. It also shows covers to the 

 different upper apartments, one being re- 

 moved, as well as the narrow strips that fit 

 between them, and cover the spaces between 

 the double partitions shown in Fig. 3. 



By removing these narrow covers, the dif- 

 ferent division-boards, etc., shown in Fig, 

 3 can be removed or adjusted without open- 

 ing a single chamber, one of which is shown 

 elevated while the other is in place. 



As elsewhere referred to, the partitions as 

 shown in Fig. 3 are double walls with a f'4- 

 inch space between except within two inch- 

 es of the bottom, where they come into con- 

 tact with and are nailed to the boards to 

 which the bottom hives are suspended. 

 The openings in the partitions forming the 

 passages from one chamber to another are 

 5X10 inches, and neither reaches the ends, 

 bottom, or top, over which the zinc is nailed 

 on the sides next to the brood-chambers, 

 which leaves a space as wide as the difl'er- 

 ent boards used in making the partitions 

 are thick, between the zinc and the solid 

 division-boards used to cut off communica- 

 tion between the different chambers. 



In Fig. 3 is shown one of these boards 



