FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 4H 



are more reasons than one for having this cleat, rather than the 

 usual hand-holes. It is more convenient to take hold of when 

 one wants to lift a hive. Latterly the manufacturers use a very 

 short cleat, which is a great improvement on the hand-hole, but 

 it does not allow one to carry the hive with the weight resting 

 on the whole forearm, as shown in Fig. 9. This way of carrying 

 a hive is one gotten up by Philo Woodruff, the hired man who 

 helped me for several years, evidently to make the work easier 

 for him. One day he was carrying a hive that had no cleats, 

 only hand-holes, perhaps the only one of that kind he had ever 

 carried. He seemed disgusted with it, and as he set the hive 

 down he grumbled, " I wish the man that made them hand-holes 

 had to carry them.'' 



Another advantage of the cleats is the strength it gives to 

 the rabbeted ends of the hive. Without the cleat the rabbet 

 leaves the hive-end at the top only 7-16 of an inch thick for 

 more than % of an inch of its depth, and the splitting oft' of 

 this part is unpleasantly frequent. With the added cleat the 

 thickness is three times as much, and it never splits off.. 



These cleats, not being regularly made by manufacturers, 

 can be had only by having them made to order, so hives are 

 generally made without them, but quite a number of . experi- 

 enced beekeepers are quietly using them because of their dis- 

 tinct advantage, notwithstanding the inconvenience of having 

 them made to order. 



BOTTOM-BOARD. 



The bottom-board is a plain box, two inches deep, open at 

 one end. It is made of six pieces of y% stuff; two pieces 22i'2 

 X 2, one piece 12y8 x 2, and three pieces 13% x ly-i- When so 

 desired, the bottom-board is fastened to the hive by means of 

 four staples 1% in. wide, with points % inch long (Fig. 11). 



With such a bottom-board there is a space two inches deep 

 under the bottom-bars, a very nice thing in winter, and at any 

 time when there is no danger of bees building down, but quite 

 too deep for harvest-time. Formerly I made the bottom-board 

 rev;ersible, reversing it in summer so as to use the shallow side, 

 but latterly I leave the deep side up summer and winter. 



