COMB FOUNDATION. 



»? 



pKffchaser to get a stand after he has bought the hive. A 

 proper supply of quilting is also provided for, and the super 

 cover is to be deep enough to take in a doubling box, with 

 duplicate set of frames, when the hive is worked for ex- 

 tracted honey, or a second crate of sections when comb 

 honey is desired. The frames are plain, or open-ended, and 

 instead of a staple as distance-keeper, a screw-eye is screwed 

 into the top bar, so that the distance between the frames 

 can be regulated to the smallest fraction of an inch. The 

 hive has an unoccupied space of about two inches at one 

 end, into which, when manipulating, a frame can be lifted 

 and room given to move the others as desired. This will 

 be a great convenience to novices. Existing hives can be 

 altered to take the Irish standaird frame by placing a half- 

 inch strip of wood along the sides, and existing frames can be 

 made to go into the standard hive by cutting half an inch oJF 

 each end of the top bar. 



The general adoption of this hive will undoubtedly serve 

 the interests of bee-keepers, as the frames of a hive in Cape 

 Clear will be interchangeable with those of one at the Giant's 

 Causeway. At present there is a great variety of both hives 

 and frames, from different makers, the result of which is that 

 the advantages of the bar-frame system are in a great measure 

 lost. 



Next in importance to the hive are the combs, which, for 

 reasons to be given hereafter, should be straight and evenly 

 built. It is generally believed that the wax in the combs 

 of an ordinary-sized common hive weighs about one pound, 

 to produce which the bees must consume between fifteen 



Fig. 3.— Comb Foundation, with B.ises of Worker Cells, natural sh* 



