86 THE BEE-KEEPER’S MANUAL. 
given here merely as offering a general idea for con- 
trivances of the kind. Of course when the super is 
not applied, the openings in the crown-board must be 
closed, either by slides as on page 58, or by any simple 
means that may suggest itself. 
Bars of this description can be fitted to any kind of 
hive whatever, if only it is provided with a movable 
top, and the accompanying cuts show 
one of Mr. Taylor’s straw hives so 
furnished, together with the method 
of affixing. For the purpose of sup- 
porting the bars, a well-seasoned hoop 
is introduced within, and on a level 
with, the upper edge of the hive— 
nearly two inches in depth and a 
quarter-inch thick; its imterior dia- 
meter being the same as that of the 
hive. The two upper straw bands of 
the latter are reduced in width sufficiently to form a 
recess equal to the thickness of the hoop—the outside 
of the hive remaining flush. The hoop is there 
retained by a few small brad-nails, driven through it 
and into the straw; and thus no impediment is offered 
on extracting the combs. 
Even a hive of this kind, however, might as well be 
fitted at once with the bar-frames as with bars alone 
—at any rate as regards the middle portion. This 
fact is so strikingly evident that it is wholly unneces- 
sary to pause over a further description of bar 
hives; for though the Stewarton must receive due 
notice, yet this is a structure of so highly complex a 
nature that we must defer it to a later section. 
