§ IX.] WOODBURY FRAME HIVE. 137 



them, exhibited in the Austrian department of the Inter- 

 national Exhibition of 1862, suggested the idea of emplo)'- 

 ing that material for English frame hives. We have had 

 a machine made resembling the one exhibited, and suited 

 to the size in use by us, by which our hive-maker is 

 able to manufacture neat square hives in straw. These 

 have a wood frame at top, an inch deep, with the re- 

 quisite notches to allow the ten comb-frames to hang. 

 A similar frame forms the base, the straw being worked 

 between. An inch projection is left on all sides of the 

 floor-board beyond the exterior of the hive, from which 

 it is slightly chamfered down. An entrance, four inches 

 wide, is cut out of the substance of the board, beginning 

 at the edge, and continuing on the same level until inside 

 the hive, where it slopes upwards. This entrance is 

 about three-eighths of an inch high where the hive 

 crosses it. 



These straw hives have Iseen generally made without 

 windows, as Mr. Woodbury and other scientific apiarians 

 have so preferred them. They have considered glass 

 windows unsuitable for winter, because then moisture 

 condenses on the glass. There is no doubt that the 

 having a peephole or two in a hive adds very agreeably 

 to its value for amateur bee-keepers, and, to meet the 

 wishes of such, we have had straw hives constructed 

 with windows. It is not every one who would like to 

 lift out the frames as often as is necessary for an in- 

 spection of the state of the colony, nor perhaps is it 



