wax. 83 



secure their desired spaces, but so thoroughly con- 

 necting them as to render it impossible to remove 

 any one frame, which entirely defeats the object of 

 the frame, and renders it useless. This has caused 

 more objections to their use than all other reasons 

 combined, but may easily be remedied, by so adjust- 

 ing the frames as to give the exact space which they 

 require ; and it is necessary to do this by measure- 

 ment, and not by guess work, as has usually been done. 



The first comb begun is always kept in advance of 

 the others, and is the first completed ; the one on 

 each side finished next, and so on, giving the mass 

 or bunch of comb an oval or oblong appearance (be- 

 fore any has reached the bottom), very much the 

 shape of a swarm when clustered in a bunch. 



The cells for drones are larger and more substan- 

 tial than those for worker bees, constituting two sizes 

 of comb in each hive. " The drone cells," says Be- 

 van, "are three and one-third lines in diameter, and 

 those of the worker cells two and three-fifth lines, 

 (the line is the twelfth part of an inch); these, says 

 Reaumur, are the invariable diameters of all the cells 

 that ever were or ever will be made." From this 

 uniform, unvarying diameter of the brood cells when 

 completed, their use has been suggested as a univer- 

 sal standard of measurement, which would be un- 

 derstood in all countries to the end of time. There 

 are particular circumstances, however, which induce 

 a departure from this exactness ; for instance, when 

 bees have begun a comb with worker cells, and after- 

 ward wish to change it to drone cells, as they occa- 



