^ J\)t /Ipiapy ^ 



THE MOST IMPROVED KIND OF HIVES. 



What kind of hives would you recommend for a beginner in bee-keeping ? — See 

 Qiieslioii Budtjet. 



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HE subject of hives has received a great deal of attention since the 

 advent of the movable frame hive. We all know how the straw 

 skep and the box hive were used for many years, and in the fall 

 the bees were smothered by brimstoning the comb cut from the 

 hive, and eaten either in the comb or the comb was crushed and 

 the honey strained from the wax, hence the term strained honey. 



The Rev. L. L. Langstock was one of the first who thought of putting the 

 combs in the hive and having them attached to movable frames instead of the 

 walls of the hive. This work led to great progress in the bee-keeping world, such 

 as the honey extractor and extracted honey, honey in sections instead of broken, 

 leaky pieces of comb, difficult to handle and market. It also lead to some dis- 

 advantages. It would almost appear to be treason to say that the invention of 

 the movable frame hive led to disadvantages, but such is, nevertheless, the case. 



It has led those too greedy and those without experience, those careless and 

 those having not sufficient time, to make too much honey from the bees, and as 

 a result the mortality in wintering has been much greater than it would have 

 been if the old box hive were still used. In other words, what has proved to be 

 a great blessing and benefit to the careful and advanced bee-keeper, has been a 

 detriment to the careless and badly informed. To impress this matter still 

 more upon our minds, let us put the case in this way : If we advance in the 

 direction of using better hives we must advance in the direction of being better 

 informed and taking more care of our bees. The two must go hand in hand. 



As to what is the best hive to use, the question has not the importance 

 that many a beginner would imagine, and not the importance that inventors and 

 supply dealers would often lead us to believe. Nearly every bee-keeper of any 

 extent has invented a hive. I am no exception. But the longer we stick to the 

 bee business the more likely we are to disregard our own ideas and tall bark 

 upon some standard already in use. Locality, management, experience, and 

 personal adaptation has much more to do with success in bee-keeping than the 

 hive — as long as it is a hive within reason. 



Perhaps the latest invention in the direction of a hive is the one in which 

 the brood chamber can be divided in two, horizontally ; that is, it consists of two 

 stories, half the depth of the Langstock frame, and the brood chamber can, 

 therefore, be manipulated tea greater extent than formerly. Tlic hive, although 

 for some years on the market, is meeting with but poor headway. True, it has 

 its warm advocates, but they are few. The advantages to men of experience are 



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