110 ONE YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 



7, leaning against the front of the hives, in dimension is seventeen and 

 five-eighths inches long, and nine and one-eighth inches deep. The 

 body of hive is designed to hold eight of these frames and is a box 

 without top or bottom, nine and a half inches deep, thirteen and seven- 

 eighths inches wide, and twenty inches long, outside measure. The 

 inside top edge of the end pieces are rabbeted out, thus letting the 

 top bar of frame drop down one-fourth of an inch lower than the up- 

 per edge of hive. To facilitate handling, metal rabbets should be 

 used for the frames to rest on, by cutting the rabbet One-fourth of an 

 inch deeper than actual measurements, and then tacking in place a 

 piece of folded tin to the required height. The entrances to these 

 hives are made by nailing slats three-eighths of an inch thick to the 

 bottom board, at the sides and at the back end, the front being left 

 open. 



In the illustration (fig. 9) 11 is a hive equipped for extracted 

 honey, and 12 is one rigged out for comb honey. Having just arrived 

 at the honey season, we will first take up the subject of comb-honey 

 production. . As previously stated, in order to reap a rich harvest of 

 honey it is absolutely necessary to have colonies of bees in proper 

 condition, by being strong in numbers, having a large amount of 

 brood in the hive, and the queen laying eggs at the rate of from 1000 

 to 3000 a day. 



To raise comb honey, and have it in good marketable shape, we 

 must use the section box. And right here the question may arise, 

 Will it pay the small bee-keeper or the beginner to go into all these 

 little details and bring into use all these fixtures we have here brought 

 out ? In answer to this, I will say emphatically that it will, and it is 

 only necessary to test the matter once to convince you fully. We 

 have simply here shown a few articles, what we consider actually 

 necessary for the small bee-keeper, and nothing more. The preserv- 

 ing qualities of comb honey lies in the section box exclusively, and 

 in no other manner can it be retained any length of time in perfect 

 condition. The section boxes in general use are made to hold one 

 pound of comb honey. They are four and one-fourth inches square 

 and one and seven-eighth inches wide. These section boxes, and 

 crates holding the same on the hives, are shown at 12 5 is the 

 brood chamber, or lower story of hive ; ,, just above it, is the first 

 crate of sections, and 3 is the second crate of sections, and what we 

 call a hive with two tiers of sections. Each crate holds twenty-four 

 sections, and two tiers will make forty-eight one-pound boxes occupy- 

 ing the hive at one time. We do not use less than one tier of sec- 

 tions, and scarcely more than two tiers. 



The amount of storage capacity used depends upon ihe strength of 



