THE MODERN BEE-FARM 265 



On the question of the best hive to use in com- 

 mercial bee-keeping, on either a large or small 

 scale, it is hard to particularise. Generalisation, 

 however, is not difficult here. Every bee-master 

 has his own ideas as to details, but all are happily 

 agreed on the main constructive principles. Ex- 

 perience has fairly well decided that a good queen, 

 under the modern system of intensive culture, will 

 require for her brood a comb-surface of about 

 1,800 square inches. A brood-nest of smaller 

 capacity than this is liable to cramp her operations 

 at their highest, and anything in excess of it will 

 simply mean so much new honey lost to the super- 

 chambers, where alone the bee-master requires it. 

 Honey stored in the brood-nest, except during the 

 off-season, is loss instead of gain. The best hive, 

 therefore, will contain just as many brood-combs in 

 movable frames as will ensure the right capacity ; 

 and all comb-frames throughout the bee-farm must 

 be of the same size, so that they will be strictly 

 interchangeable among the various hives. This is 

 a vital point in successful bee-culture, because it 

 enables the master not only to equalise the strength 

 of his stocks by transferring combs of hatching 

 brood from one to the other ; but he can also give 

 to penurious stocks frames of sealed honey from 

 the abundance of their neighbours, and he can 

 unite the weak colonies, thus rendering all strong. 



For the rest, the hives must be so made that 

 heat will be perfectly retained in the cold season. 



