THE BAR-FRAME HIVE. 69 



The advantages of the bar -frame hive are found in 

 the fact that the combs, when accurately worked into the 

 frames, are movable. The disadvantages are manifold : 

 1. Loose bars in hives of bees are both unnatural and 

 obstructive. Bees are better architects than their masters, 

 and better house - furnishers. Ear - frames are, in the 

 nature of things, a hindrance to bees, by being in the 

 way of their operations. Man cannot teach bees anything, 

 but he can hinder them by placing complications in their 

 hives. All other things being equal, the best hives are 

 those possessing the least complications ; and the best bee- 

 master is he who takes the most hindrances out of their 

 way. The results from keeping bees in roomy but simple 

 straw hives have never, to our knowledge, been approached 

 by any kind of complicated hives. One straw hive and 

 its swarms reached the gross weight of 328 lb., another 

 373 lb. This last one was in 1874. 



2. Bar-frame hives have no cross-sticks in them to 

 steady and support their combs. There wiU therefore be 

 some risk run in removing them to the moors, where 

 strong hives gather from 30 lb. to 50 lb. of honey each 

 in favourable seasons. 



3. They cannot be eked or enlarged to prevent swarm- 

 ing. Most bar-frame hives are ready for swarming before 

 they are 50 lb. weight apiece, and often bees swarm rather 

 than go into supers. Advanced bee-keepers, whose swarms 

 in straw hives rise to 100 lb., 120 lb., and 150 lb. each, 

 cannot well be tempted to try bar-framers. 



But are the bar-frame hives not useful to the student 

 of bee-history ? Yes, very ; for he can take out a bar of 

 comb daUy, or as often as he likes, to examine the brood 

 in it. And this hive may be useful to those who want a bar 

 of honeycomb occasionally, though to us it would be easier 

 to cut honeycomb from a common hive, than to unscrew 

 the lid and remove it from a bar-framer. 



