MOVABLE-FRAME HIVES. 155 



comb, and honey which, in a good season, may be found in 

 large ones; while their owners wonder that they obtain so 

 little profit from their bees. A good swarm of bees, put, 

 in a good season, into a diminutive hive, may be compared 

 to a powerful team of horses harnessed to a baby wagon, or 

 a noble fall of water wasted in turning a petty water-wheel. 

 As the harvest of honey is always in proportion to the 

 number of bees in the hive, and as a large colony requires 

 no more labor from the Apiarist than a small one, the hive 

 should afford the queen sufficient space to deposit all the 

 eggs, which she is able to lay during twenty-one days, the 

 average time for an egg to be transformed into a worker. 

 Besides, it should contain a certain amount of food, honey and 

 pollen. It is unquestionable that the quality of a queen de- 

 pends on the quantity of eggs that she is able to lay. Then 

 why limit her, by using hives so narrow that she cannot de- 

 velop her fertility? 



310. We have seen before (97) that a good queen can 

 lay 3,500 eggs per day in the good season, so that 73,500 cells 

 may be occupied with brood at one time. If we add to this 

 number about 20,000 cells for the provisions needed in the 

 breeding season, we have about 94,000 cells as the number re- 

 quired for a strong colony. As every square inch of comb 

 contains about 55 cells (217), 27 to 28 on each side, the 

 combs of a hive should measure over 1,700 square inches. This 

 space must, of course, allow of contraction, according to the 

 needs of the colony by what is called movable division boards. 

 (349.) 



311. As a Quinby frame measures 189 square inches in- 

 side, a hive should contain at least 9 of these frames. 



As the Standard Langstroth-Simplicity frame measures 

 about 149 square inches, the hive must contain 12 frames. The 

 American frames must number 12, and the Gallup 14. 



312. We know that many Apiarists object to these fig- 

 ures, because they succeed, and harvest good crops, with 

 smaller hives. But figures, based on facts, cannot lie. Smaller 

 hives will do only in localities, where late Springs and short 



