FRAME HIVES. 91 
perhaps the simplest expedient. Over the whole is 
placed the crown-board, which, if intended to be retained 
in use during the honey season, must be pierced so as 
to afford free passage between the super and stock-hive. 
The super here again admits of the usual choice, for 
it may either take the form of a counterpart of the 
hive, exactly fitting to it, but only about half its 
depth, or it may consist in as many bell-glasses as 
can stand on the crown-board (openings being of 
course required in this to correspond); or yet again it 
may be of the shape of the stock-hive, but composed of 
glass, in which case, if there is not a cover to the 
whole of the hive, the super must be slightly smaller, 
so as to leave sufficient room for one to stand over 
it. As there is not the same occasion in supers as 
in stock-hives for a withdrawal of the combs with a 
view to examination, it is most usual to furnish them 
with simple bars instead of frames; but the latter 
are to some extent coming into use even in their 
case. As bees usually construct the honey cells of a 
deeper form than those intended for worker-breeding, 
it is well to set these bars or frames in the super 
a little further apart than those in the stock-hive; 
indeed, by gradually increasing the space as the bees 
progress with the filling of the cells, they may be 
induced to add more and more to their depth till 
beautiful specimens of honeycomb are produced. If 
the full interspaces are given from the first, the bees 
will be likely to start intermediate combs, so that 
the course must be to allow only the regular inter- 
vals to commence with—say a quarter of an inch 
wider than those allotted in the stock-hive. This 
