PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING 



terial all around the bees." In hives of this style it is better to have 

 the bottoms permanently fast with packing on the bottom as well as 

 on the sides. If single walled hives are used, winter cases may be 

 set over them and packed as before. The matter of winter hives 

 will receive fuller discussion in the section on wintering. 



Above this lower story, designed chiefly for the brood rearing 

 apartment of the colony and hereafter spoken of as the brood 

 chamber, comes some sort of a structure for the storing of surplus 

 honey. This may be another story similar to the lower one, when 

 one wishes to secure extracted honey, or a half depth story, taking 

 frames of just half the Langstroth depth, with thinner top bars. 

 These are usually spoken of as top stories and may be tiered up to 

 the number of three or four if the colony is strong enough. What 

 is known as a super proper is a half depth story, fitted up with 

 holders to the number of six, for an eight frame hive, or seven for a 

 ten frame hive, each arranged to take four and sometimes, in the 

 case of the deeper supers, five sections. Above the super or above 

 the frames, when the super is not on, a sheet of enameled carriage 

 cloth or oil-cloth, if placed with the glazed side down, will prevent 

 the bees from sticking the cover down and, in the case of the super, 

 will help to keep the sections clean. 



The cover serves its purpose best if made with a gable, so that 

 it will shed the water easily. Then is it easy to arrange for ven- 

 tilation by having an auger hole in each gable end covered with 

 wire cloth preferably. It is much more satisfactory to have a flat 

 board surface down on the quilt so that, if the gable is boarded up, 

 with auger holes in these boards covered with wire cloth, or left 

 with cracks between the boards narrow ^enough to exclude the bees, 

 a good system of ventilation can be had. Flat covers have been 

 extensively used but this necessitates tipping the hives forward and 

 also cuts off top ventilation. In the hottest weather the covers can 

 be propped up and so increase the ventilation. 



There are various styles of bottom boards, but the essential 

 feature is to have a wide alighting board. It is well if, in addition 

 to this, an additional board be provided and placed on an angle and 

 reaching to the ground, so that the heavy laden and tired bees, as 

 they drop down, will have no trouble to crawl up and into the hive. 

 There should be some way of contracting the entrance so that, after 

 the honey flow is over, the opening may be made smaller to guard 



