14 



ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



honey as in raising comb honey. Supers 

 filled with shallow combs may be tiered- 

 up and left on the hive for the honey to 

 ripen, when they can be cleared of bees 

 as readily as a case of sections, handled 

 as easilv , and when in the honey house it 

 is only necessary to invert a super, loosen 

 the screws, slip off the case, and there 

 stand the combs all ready for extracting. 

 These shallow combs are uncapped more 

 readily than deep combs. 



The dovetaii^sd hivk. 



After the new Heddon, my next choice 

 of a hive is the so-called "Dovetailed" 

 hive, which is simply the I/angstroth- 

 Heddon hive with a loose bottom and 

 the corners "Dovetailed, "or lock-joint- 

 ed, hence the name "Dovetailed." It 

 is really an excellent hive, and for using 

 the hanging, open-end Langstroth frame 

 it probably has no superior. 



Closed-end frames are having quite a 

 boom just now. Contrary to the belief 

 of those who have never tried them, they 

 can be handled even more rapidly than 

 the open-end frames. All kinds of 

 frames, unless it be those with metal 

 corners suspended upon metal rabbits, 

 must be pried loose with a knife or screw- 

 driver before they can be moved. After 

 they are loosened, one kind can be han- 

 dled, singly, about as fast as the other; 

 while three or four closed-end frames can 

 be taken up at one grasp. This cannot 

 be done with the open-end frames. Most 

 of bee-keepers call to mind the manner 

 in which the bees propolize the ends of 

 the top bars with open-end frames, and 

 then these bee-keepers proceed to im- 

 agine how much worse it would be if the 

 end- bars were in contact the whole or a 

 part of their length. They forget how 



completely the closed-end bars, compress- 

 ed with a screw or wedge, shut the bees 

 away from those parts that would cause 

 trouble if propolized. 



Muph has also been said of late in re- 

 gard to wide, deep top bars, placed at 

 fixed distances, for preventing the build- 

 ing of brace combs. While there is good 

 evidence that such arrangements accom- 

 plish the object for which they are used, 

 the fact still remains that queen exclud- 

 ers are needed, and the only satisfactory 

 manner in which they can be used is in a 

 honey board, hence I am inclined to the 

 belief that the honey board will hold its 

 own against the wide, deep top bars. 



There are some minor points in hive 

 construction that may be noticed. For 

 shipping bees, or moving them from one 

 location to another, a fast bottom board 

 is an advantage; aside from this, all the 

 advantages, and there are quite a number, 

 are with a loose bottom board. As some- 

 thing must be fastened over a hive when 

 it is shipped, it is but little more work 

 to have the same fastening come down 

 and hold on the bottom board, hence 

 there is but little to be said in favor of 

 fast bottom boards. Beveled joints, 

 either at the corners of hives or between 

 stories, are being discarded so rapidly for 

 the plain square joint, that it is almost a 

 waste of space to condemn them. Cloths 

 for covering the frames are being quite 

 generally discarded, the cover to the 

 hive being made flat and brought down 

 to within "bee space" of the tops of the 

 frames. 



While there will probably always be 

 users and advocates of large hives, of 

 chaff hives, and of hanging, open-end 

 frames, it is evident that the present ten- 

 dency is towards shallow, fixed frames, 

 small brood nests, and a system of man- 

 agement that requires but little if any 

 frame manipulation. With such hives 

 the bees must be wintered in the cellar, 

 or the winter protection be such that it 

 can be removed in summer. Such hives 

 allow the principle of tiering-up to be 

 carried to its highest perfection; con- 



