flS'TY YEARS AMOKG THE BEES 



&a 



easj' thing- of removing the first eomb from a hive. With self- 

 spacing frames there can be no crowding together of the frames 

 so as to give one of them extra room as is the case with loose- 

 hanging frames, and if a hive be filled full of self-spacing 

 frames it would be about impossible to remove the first frame 

 after a fair amount of propolis is present. A dummy at onf 

 side is the thing to help out. 



An eight-frame dovetailed hive is 12V8 inches wide inside. 

 Eight frames spaced 1% inches from center to center will oc- 

 cupy 11 inches, leaving at one side a space of lYs inches, abund 



Fig. 29—Tool-hasket. 



ance of room to lift out the first frame easily. A dummy put 

 into that space will prevent the bees from filling it up with 

 comb, and it ought never to be difficult to lift out the dummy. 

 If a dummy a trifle more than a fourth of an inch thick be 

 put in, leaving a fourth of an inch between dummy and frame, 

 there will be left between the dummy and the side of the hive a 

 space little more than half an inch, a space that the bees will 

 never fill with comb in such a place. As propolis accumulates, 

 however, this space will become less. 



The dummy should be light and at t1ie same time quite 



