FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 51 



are more reasons than one for having this cleat, rather than the 

 usual hand-holes. It is more convenient to take hold of when 

 one wants to lift a hive. Latterly the manufacturers use a very 

 short cleat, which is a great improvement on the hand-hole, but 

 it does not allow one to carry the hive with the weight resting 

 on the whole forearm, as shown in Fig. 9. This way of carry- 

 ing a hive is one gotten up by Philo Woodruff, the hired man 

 who helped me for several years, evidently to make the work 

 easier for him. One day he was carrying a hive that had no 

 cleats, only hand-holes, perhaps the only one of that kind he 

 had ever ean-ied. H^ seemed disgusted with it, and as he set 

 the hive down he grumbled, "I wish the man who made them 

 hand-holes had to carry them." 



Another advantage of the cleats is the strength- it gives to 

 the rabbeted ends of the hive. Without the cleat the rabbet 

 leaves the hive-end at the top only 7/16 of an inch thick for 

 more than % of an inch of its depth, and the splitting off of 

 this part is unpleasantly frequent. With the added cleat the 

 thickness is three times as much, and it never splits off. 



These cleats, not being regularly made by manufacturers, 

 can be had only by having them made to order, so hives are 

 generally made without them, but quite a number of experi- 

 enced beekeepers are quietly using them because of their dis- 

 tinct advantage, notwithstanding the inconvenience of having 

 them made to order. 



BOTTOM-BOAED. 



The bottom-board is a plain box, two inches deep, opien at 

 one end. It is made of six pieces of y% stuff; two pieces 22^2 

 X 2 , one piece 12% x 2, and three pieces 13% x 7%. When so 

 desired, the bottom-board is fastened to the hive by means of 

 four staples 1% in. wide, with points % inch long (Fig. 11). 



With such a bottom board there is a space two inches deep 

 under the bottom-bars, a very nice thing in winter, and at any 

 other time when there is no danger of bees building down, but 

 quite too deep for harvest time. Formerly I made the bot- 

 tom-board reversible, reversing it in summer so as to use the 

 shallow side, but latterly I leave the deep side up, summer and 

 v/inter; 



