J 86 FITTINGS AND APPARATUS. [Ch. iv. 



figure. Each section is about two inches wide, seven 

 long, and four and a half to five deep ; it will contain 

 about two pounds of honey in the comb. This is a con- 

 venient quantity for placing on the table or for purposes 

 of presentation. The fourteen sections occupy the same 

 space as the seven divisions of the preceding. Any 

 number can however be used according to the size of the 

 hive : the Philadelphia hive, for instance, has space for 

 eighteen. Again, any single section can be removed 

 when full, and another substituted. 



Each section has a saw-cut in the crown for the in- 

 sertion of wax strips. The queen-preventing zinc adapter 

 can also be used. Observe the caution given in the 

 second paragraph of the description of the divisional 

 super, just above. 



§ VII. EKES AND NADIRS. 



We allude to these for the sake of explaining the terms, 

 and as they are adjuncts sometimes recommended for tem- 

 porary enlargement. They are further contrivances for 

 the prevention of swarming, but they differ from supers 

 in being added below instead of above the stock hive. 

 Briefly, an eke is a half-hive so added, and a nadir an entire 

 one. An example of an eke is sometimes met with when a 

 common skep is cut horizontally in half, and the lower por- 

 tion placed beneath an entire skep hive. For an instance 

 of a nadir we have only lo refer to the Stewarton hive. 

 Ekes and nadirs give increased room to the bees, but 



