46 



DADAKT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



Hive Making 



The writer used to manufacture hives by hand. The fault 

 with such hives is that they are less accurate than those that are 



' I 



Fig. 29. The regular Langstroth body may be used as a super for the 

 Modified Dadant hive 



made by machinery. We remember vividly the annoyance 

 encountered, in the early days, from having employed a carpenter 

 who carelessly cut the hives a quarter inch shorter than the 

 pattern; so the frames of one kind would not fit in the other. 

 It is very important that everything be exactly of the same size 

 and, when we can afford it, we should use factory made hives, or, 

 if we cannot make the hives ourselves, at least employ careful 

 help. We made and used hundreds of hives, cut with a hand 

 saw and later with a foot-power saw. We painted our hives 

 ourselves, also, and did all this work in the dull season. We have 

 always given the preference to white pine for bodies and cypress 

 for bottoms. 



As for the frames, it has never paid us to try to make 

 them by hand. Some styles of frames, such as the Hoffman, can- 

 not even be manufactured in a small saw mill, for it takes special 

 machinery to cut them in a profitable manner. 



