92 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



ard frame will not be as near the top-bar as in a shallow frame, 

 but that will be no hindrance to the continuance of storing in 

 supers. 



Por a long iime it puzzled me to understand why others 

 should say that in a Langstroth frame a space of one or two 

 inches would be left under the top-bar where no brood would 

 be reared, while in my hives, in the height of brood-rearing, 

 frame after frame would be filled with brood clear to the top- 

 bar. It was urged that the trouble arose because the frame 

 was too deep. Finally it was suggested that horizontal wiring 

 allowed enough sagging so that the upper cells were stretched 

 just enough so they would not be used for brood. In my 

 frames, with foundation-splints, there was no chance for 

 stretching, and so the row of cells next to the top-bar and bot- 

 tom-bar could alike be used by the queen. 



Even if brood were not reared in the upper part of a 

 Langstroth frame, I should still prefer that depth for comb 

 honey, whatever might be true as to extracted honey. At one 

 time I had two hives with shallow frames, and the amount of 

 pollen in sections filled over those shallow frames was greater 

 than in all the other thousands of sections filled over the Lang- 

 stroth frames. 



Please do not misunderstand that all my combs look like 

 the four in Figs. 32 and 33. Many of them do, but more do 

 not, because so many of them were built in seasons of compara- 

 tive dearth. 



There is another way to get combs built down to the bot- 

 tom-bar. Suppose you have a comb with a passageway under 

 it more or less of its length. Cut it free from the bottom-bar, 

 and then cut straight across an inch or more above the bottom- 

 bar; then turn this piece upside down and let it rest on the 

 bottom-bar. The bees will immediately fasten this piece to the 

 bottom-bar (of course it must be at a time when bees are work- 

 ing freely), and very soon they will fill in the gap above the 

 piece. 



HIVE-DUMMY. 



A good dummy is a matter of no light importance. It is 

 handy to fill up vacant space, its chief use being to make an 



