MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 45 



without it. I find it especially valuable in winter and spring, and useful at all 

 seasons. This is made the same form as the frames, though all below the top 

 bar— which consists of a strip 12f ' by 1' by f, and is nailed firmly to the board 

 below— is a solid inch board which is exactly one foot square, so that it fits 

 closely to tlie inside of the hiTC. When this is inserted in the hive it entirely 

 separates the chamber into two chambers, so that an insect much smaller than 

 a bee could not pass from the one to the other. 



BOXES. 



These are for surplus comb honey in the most salable form. They may be 

 of any size that best suits the taste of the ajDiarist, and the pulse of the market. 

 It is well that the sides of these be of glass. Such (Fig. 18) may be made as 

 follows : For top and bottom procure soft wood boards I inch thick 

 and of the size desired, one for the bottom and the other for the 

 top of the box. Take four pieces -J inch square, and as long as 

 desired height of the honey-box. In two adjacent sides of these 

 FIG. 18. saw grooves in which may slip common glass. These are for corner 

 pieces. N"ow tack with small brads the corners of the bottom board to 

 the ends of these pieces, then slide in the glass, and in similar way tack the 

 top board to the other ends. Through the bottom board holes may be bored so 

 the bees may enter. Another form which I find very desirable, and which I 

 used in California more than ten years ago, is made as follows : Dress ofE com- 

 mon lath so that they are smooth, cut off two lengths the desired height of the 

 box and one the desired width, tack this last piece to the ends of the other two, 

 and to the other end tack a similar strip only half as wide. We now have a 

 square frame. Place such frames side by side till a box is made of the desired 

 length. To hold these together, we have now only to tack on either side one or 

 two pieces of tin, putting a tack into each section, thus forming a compact box 

 without ends. The end frames should have a whole piece of lath for the bot- 

 tom, and groves should be cut in the bottom and top laths, so that a glass may 

 be put in the ends. Of course there is ample chance for the bees to enter from 

 below. Now by placing small pieces of comb, or artificial comb foundations, 

 which rank as a discovery with the movable frame hive and honey extractor, on 

 the top of each frame, the bees will be led to construct a separate comb in each 

 frame, and each frame may be sold by the retail dealer separately, by simply 

 drawing the tacks from the tins. Barker and Dicer, of Marshall, make a very 

 neat sectional honey-box, which is quite like the above, except that paper pasted 

 over the frames takes the place of the tins. The honey-boxes may be placed 

 directly on the frames, or in case the queen makes trouble by entering them to 

 deposit eggs, — a trouble which I have seldom met, perhaps because I give her 

 enough to do below, — we can place strips ^ inch square between the frames and 

 boxes, thus placing that much space between them. In case we work exten- 

 sively for box honey, we should have a rack so attached to the cover, that when 

 we raise the cover, we shall remove all the boxes. Thus to examine the bees we 

 would not have to remove all the boxes separately. 



StXBPLUS COMB HONEY IN^ FKAMES. 



For our market, here at Lansing, we find a more ready sale for comb honey in 

 frames. These frames sell best when about six by twelve inches in size and 

 weigh about three pounds. In this case the piirchasor sees all of the honey, and 

 if nice it is very tempting. Mr. John DaA'is, of Delhi, Michigan, secures all of 



