244 rORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



the bees finding a passage from one compartment to an- 

 other, but my latest nucleus hives have not troubled in 

 that way. They are made from ordinary 8-frame hives 

 together with the 2-inch-deep bottom-board. First two 

 pieces are nailed on the inside of the bottom-board, each 

 piece i8^xi%x%. One piece nailed 4j4 inches from 

 one side, the other 4%> inches from the other side. These 

 pieces do not lie flat in the bottom, but stand on edge, 

 with 1% inches between them. Then the hive is fas- 

 tened on the bottom-board with the four usual staples. 

 Two division-boards, each i8'4x9%x5-i6, are now put 

 in place and crowded down tight upon the two pieces in 

 the bottom-board. These two division-boards are 4% 

 inches from each side, leaving 2j4 inches between them. 

 The four spaces at the top, at the ends of the division- 

 boards, are closed by blocks J4>^\' 2x5-16 whittled enough 

 to allow them to be wedged into place. Light ij4 inch 

 wire-nails are driven through from the outside to hold 

 the division-boards in place. A block iox2xJ/^ is pushed 

 into the entrance centrally, and held there by a nail light- 

 ly driven in front of it. That leaves an entrance at each 

 end of the block for the two side compartments, but no 

 entrance for the middle compartment. For this purpose 

 an inch hole is bored in the back end of the hive midway 

 between the two corners, its center being about three 

 inches from the upper surface of the hive. Three boards 

 of half-inch stuff cover the three compartments, and over 

 this is an ordinary hive-cover. 



At Fig. 90 will be seen a bottom-board for a nucleus 

 hive. You will notice that the two pieces that run length- 

 wise through the center of the bottom-board are a quar- 

 ter of an inch shallower than the rim of the bottom- 

 board. If they were 2 inches deep instead of 1-^4. the 

 bottom-bars of the frames would rest directly on them. 

 Of course the division-boards are deep enough to come 

 clear down upon these two pieces. 



