34 



ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



per comb. Where the honey-flow is short, or comb honey is pro- 

 duced, a smaller hive, one holding- only eight Langstroth combs, has 

 its advantages. 



The hive body for holding the frames need be nothing more than 

 simply a box, with plain, square corners, without top or bottom, 

 having rabbets on the upper, inner edges of the end-pieces, for sup- 

 porting the frames. If a hive is nailed up with the heart side of the 

 lumber out, it is less inclined to warp. A plain, simple board, 

 cleated at each end, upon the under side, to prevent warping, with 

 half-inch strips nailed along the two sides and back end, upon its 

 upper surface, to support the hive, is the equal of any bottom-board. 



A "Dirt Cheap" Bottom-Board. 



It may not be amiss to say that hives may be used with no bottom- 

 board except the earth. The hive sits upon a rim made of rough, 

 cheap lumber, an entrance being furnished by making the front, end- 

 piece of the rim an inch narrower, and the rim filled with earth or 

 sawdust to within an inch of the top. At first thought this seems 

 like a very rough, primitive affair, as though using simply the earth 

 for a bottom-board would not answer, but it is difficult to say why. 



A coyer after the same style, simply a plain board cleated at the 

 ends to prevent warping, is a model of simplicity and desirability. 

 If it is difficult to obtain boards wide enough for covers, they may be 

 pieced, even made of narrow strips, then the upper surface covered 



