34 Advanced Bee Culture 



preparatory to closing the hive, they can all be shoved over in a body, 

 by pressing against the outsi<le (ine; and if the hives arc to be moved, 

 as from one apiary to another, the frames are held in p isition without 

 any additional fastening. The moving of colonies from one location to 

 another is something that occurs only occasionally, in many cases not 

 at all, and it is better to fasten speciall)' all of the frames once or even 

 twice a year, should it become neccssar\ , than to be continually annoyed 

 b_\' objectionable attachments. In clnsiiiL;" up a hive there is some advan- 

 tage in being able to shove the frames over without taking up any time 

 in spacing them ; but, so far as exactness is concerned, there is no 

 necessity for self-spacing devices, as the combs may vary from I '4 to 

 iy2 inches from center to center without any serious results. The eye 

 and hand ver)' soon become trained to sufficient exactness in the matter 

 of spacing. The most serious objection to self-spacing is that it destroys 

 the most valuable feature of hanging frames — the lateral movement. 

 If frames hang free, it is an easy matter to press (.me over one wa\' and 

 another the other way, and then lift out the one that hung between them. 

 Self-spacing prevents this. Before self-spaced frames can be moved, a 

 division board, or "dummy," must be pulled out at one side of the hive, 

 and sometimes this board is glued fast and more difficult to remove than 

 would be an ordinary comb. Another objection to staples or other 

 metal attachments is that the honey-knife is likely to strike them, and 

 be dulled, when the honey is being uncapped ; and they also give trouble 

 by catching in the wire cloth forming the reel of the extractor. .-V few 

 men have tried and been pleased with the plan of supporting frames 

 upon nails driven into the centers of the ends of the top-bars. To illus- 

 trate : Take an ordinary Langstroth frame ; saw off the projecting ends 

 of the top-bar; then, into the center of each end of the top-bar, drive 

 a six-penny nail at such a point that its lower side will occup)- exactlv 

 the same point as the lower side of the wooden projection occupied 

 before it was sawed off. The nail is, of course, dri\-en in until it projects 

 exactly as far as the former wooden projection extended beyond the 

 end-bar. These nail-supporters may be used cither with or without 

 metal rabbets. In either case the points of contact are so slight that 

 there is little opportunit}' for gluing them fast, and the frames can 

 always be loosened with the fingers. 



Closed-end frames, in common with other stvles of self-spaced 

 frames, possess the advantage that thc_\' need no fastening when the 

 lii\es are moved from one part of the country to another; but, aside 

 from this, the advantages are all with the loose (or hanging) free- 

 swinging frame. 



,\ divisible-brood-chamber hive, one having two sets nf shallow 

 frames, thus allowing the hive to be divided horizontally, possesses 



