74 



FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



HIVES AND FRAMES. 



Now that the apiary is all in running order, you may want 

 to take a look at it. You " don't think it looks remarkably 

 neat "? Neither do I. If I had only a dozen colonies and were 

 keeping them for the pleasure of it, I should have their hives 

 painted, perhaps ornamented with scroll work, but please le- 

 member that I am keeping them for profit, and I cannot afford 

 anything for looks. I suppose they would last longer if painted, 

 but hardly enough longer to pay for the paint. Besides, in the 



Fig. 25 — Home from the Out-apiary. 



many changes constantly taking place, how do I know that I 

 may not want to throw these aside and adopt a new hive? 



CHANGES IN HIVES. 



I have already changed five times, having begun in 1861 

 with a full-sized sugar-barrel, changing the next year to Quinby 

 box hives, then to a movable-frame hive made by J. F. Lester, 

 and afterward when J. Vandervort, the foundation-mill man, 

 came and lived perhaps a year in Marengo, I bought out his 

 stock of hives. I supposed they were the exact Langstroth 

 pattern, but they had frames 18 x 9 inches, not different enough 



