CONSTRUCTION OF HIVES. 



45 



this story for frames to make the front and rear double-walled. This 

 is easily done by tacking on the inside of each end two half-inch strips, 

 on which a half-inch board is then nailed. These inside end pieces 

 should be only wide enoagh to reach within three-fourths inch of the 

 top edge of the outer ends, and, like the lower storj-, should be finished 

 at the top with a metal rabbet for the frames to rest on, or the inside 

 piece maj^ be made to come within three-eighths inch of the top and its 

 upper edge beveled so the frames can not be greatly i)ropolized, an 

 arrangement which answers very well for this stor3\ 



As to the width of hives and consequent number of frames each 

 story is to hold, there has been of late much diversity- of opinion. 

 The original Langstroth hive held ten frames in the lower story and 



Fig. 29. — The Langstroth hi\ e— Dadant-Quinby lurm — cross sectiou showing cousliuction. 



(From Langstroth.) 



eleven frames in the second or top story. A demand for smaller-sized 

 brood chambers and uniformity of the stories having been created, the 

 larger hive-manufacturing establishments gave hives constructed to 

 hold eight frames the most i)rominent place in their catalogues, and 

 by many it was considered that those who adhered to the older, larger 

 form did so merely through conservatism. But after some years' trial 

 a reaction in favor of larger hives seems to have set in, especially 

 among producers of extracted honey. Many of the latter are tinding 

 that with carefully bred (pieens even twelve-frame brood apartments 

 give the best results. The author's experience of over twenty-tive years 

 with frame hives of various sizes and styles, both American and tbreign, 

 in widely differing climates, convinces him that to restrict a hive to 

 a capacity of less than ten frames for the brood chamber is, in most 



