§ JtVIII.] 



WEIGHING HIVES. 



277 



live through the dreary winter. A knowledge of the 

 numerical strength of the colony is also useful in enabling 

 the bee-keeper to decide which hives will be benefited 

 by being joined together, on the method explained in 

 the article on " Uniting 

 Hives." 



A hive can very easily 

 be • weighed if a Salter's 

 spring balance be sus- 

 pended near the apiary. 

 The hive, having a strap 

 or cord passed under and 

 over it, crossing at right 

 .angles on the top, may be 

 hooked on to the balance, 

 so that the weight will be 

 indicated- on the dial. 

 The annexed illustration 

 represents a tripod stand, 

 with a weighing-machine 

 of the above-named con- 

 struction, to which a hive 

 with a super is attached. 

 Such an arrangement will be found convenient for those 

 bee-keepers who may not possess suitable sheds in their 

 gardens where a hive could be thus suspended from a 

 beam. To prevent the hive being swayed to and fro 

 by the wind, three cords (gear ropes) might be attached 



