bee-keeper's manual. 197 



the inside, half an. inch for each door, and being two on 

 each side, make three and three-quarters inches, as the 

 whole diameter of the frame, allowing that all the doors 

 are sunk into rabbets equal to their several thicknesses. 

 A joiner must be dull indeed, who cannot now make the 

 frame-work of an observatory hive, from the foregoing 

 illustrations. 



The outside doors, when closed, may be secured in 

 their places by a button at the top, on the frame of the 

 hive. 



In the foregoing cut, the outside doors are shown as 

 being thrown open. 



After this observatory hive is made as already de- 

 fined, the question arises, how is it to be supported in 

 its upright position? This is very easy to perform. 

 Take a board, say two and a half feet long and eighteen 

 inches wide ; plane and smooth it nicely ; nail, if you 

 please clamps across each end, to prevent its warping ; 

 then attach it to the under side of the frame of the hive 

 with screws, having the frame in the centre of the board, 

 lengthwise. The board may be narrower or wider than 

 the before-named diameter; but it should be of such 

 width as to prevent the hive from falling over. This 

 kind of hive should be placed entirely under cover, be- 

 yond the reach of rains and the rays of the sun, during 

 the heat of the day. 



There is yet another important consideration before 

 we finish with this hive. We have it finished except 

 the entrance for the bees, and that is quite necessary. 

 The- places of ingress and egress may be made by cut- 



