PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING 31 



to open by a door at the rear. The frames, made in varying dimen- 

 sions, on the average perhaps twelve inches long by nine deep, are 

 suspended from the top bars in tiers of a dozen or fifteen deep. 

 These are sometimes three deep and the frames are removed by 

 pliers. One advantage that this hive can have is that the brood 

 ^combs below are at once available without removing the upper 

 combs filled with honey. The slowness of the operation, however, 

 and the trouble in seeking out a queen, more than outweighs, this 

 slight advantage. 



In southern Austria where frame hives have not found a very 

 ready acceptance, another hive is in vogue. This style has evolved 

 from the custom of the beekeepers of migrating with their bees dur 

 ing the buckwheat honey harvest, this grain being grown as a staple 

 crop in the larger valleys. The hives are not fitted with movable 

 frames and the bees are allowed to build as they please. They 

 measure about six inches high, twelve inches wide and thirty inches 

 deep. The front is usually removable and the bottom is loosely at- 

 tached. These flat hives can be loaded in numbers on a wagon in 

 a very satisfactory' way and are also adapted to being shipped by 

 rail. They are tiered up with a roof over them thus protecting each 

 other from inclement weather. The peasants are fond of depicting 

 various scenes upon the fronts of their hives ; Bible scenes having 

 a prominent preference. One can trace sometimes the course of 

 Biblical history in one of these old apiaries by, the portrayal of well 

 selected events. 



In England, France and French Switzerland the movable frame 

 hive, invented and perfected in America, is in common use. This 

 invention, which revolutionized modern bee keeping, came out about 

 the middle of the last century and was given to the beekeeping world 

 by Rev. L. L. Langstroth. The distinctive feature of Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's hive is the movable frame. In brief, the hive consists of a 

 box somewhat longer than broad and still sh-allower, arranged so 

 that a series of frames can be suspended in it running lengthwise, 

 ten or twelve in number, the projecting ends of the top bars, resting 

 on a rabbet on each end piece of the hive body. The final dimension 

 of these frames, as settled upon by Mr. Langstroth is 17 5-8 inches in 

 length, by 9 1-8 inches in depth, outside measurements. This frame 

 has been universally adopted as the standard size. There are many 

 honey producers who use a deeper frame with marked success, yet 



