ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 33 



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^ARLY in every bee-keeper's life must come the choice of a 

 hive — and a perplexing question it often proves. Probably 

 there is no "best hive" for all persons, locations and uses; 

 in fact, a choice is usually more or less of a compromise; 

 the relinquishing- of certain advantages for the sake of securing 

 others considered more desirable. The tastes of a bee-keeper, his 

 system of management, the kind of honey produced, the method of 

 wintering, the location, etc., all have a bearing upon the kind of hive 

 that is most desirable; but the inducements must be great, indeed, 

 that would lead a man to s-dopt a.n odd sized hive or frame. As to 

 size of frame, it is probable that the Langstroth is the most widely 

 used, is well-adapted to the production of both comb and extracted 

 honey, and its choice cannot be a serious mistake. With the choice 

 of a frame, a decided step has been taken towards the choice of a 

 hive; in fact, the most important question left to be settled, is the 

 number of frames to be used in the hive. In those parts of the 

 country blessed with a long honey-flow, or if extracted honey is to 

 be produced, hives holding 10 Langstroth frames are desirable. If 

 bees are to be managed in out-apiaries, or upon any plan where they 

 are not to receive close and constant attention, large hives possess 

 the advantage of containing sufficient stores to avoid danger from 

 the bees starving in times of scarcity. The argument sometimes 

 used in favor of large hives, that they give the queens more room to 

 lay, is decidedly fallacious. We do not keep queens simply to "give 

 them a chance to lay," but to secure the prompt and thorough filling 

 of the brood-combs with eggs, and this is more surely accomplished 

 by using a hive of moderate size, one below rather than above the 

 laying capacity of the average queen. It is true that larger yields 

 per colony may be secured with large hives, but not any larger yields 



