46 



MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 



Fig. 



.—The Nonpareil bive. \From Bee-Keeping for 

 Profit.) 



localities, undesirable, but it will frequently be found advantageous 

 to contract temporarily tlie space occupied by tlie bees. For extracted 

 honey alone, especially in any region having a short flow of honey, 

 twelve- frame capacity is preferable. Thin, movable partitions, known 



as "division boards," enable 

 one to contract the space at 

 will, and the addition of su- 

 pers or top stories giv^es stor- 

 age room for surphis honey. 

 Some prefer to have the hive 

 in one story holding twice 

 the usual number of frames 

 and contractible with a divi- 

 sion board. The entrance is 

 then usiiall}^ at one end, par- 

 allel with the combs, and the 

 surplus honey is obtained from the rear part of the hive, either in sec- 

 tions held in wide frames or it is extracted with a machine from ordi- 

 nary frames. This plan renders access to all of the frames somewhat 

 easier than Avhen two or more stories are used, but as the methods now 

 most followed" involve on 

 the whole less manipula- 

 tion of individual frames 

 than was formerly deemed 

 advantageous this supe- 

 riority can not count for 

 much — hardly enough in 

 fact to balance the limita- 

 tion as to the number of 

 frames and the inconven- 

 ience of larger and more 

 unwieldy hive bodies, cov- 

 ers, and bottom boards. 



Small hives may yield 

 excellent results in the 

 hands of a skillful bee- 

 master, but an equal de- 

 gree of skill will, in gen- 

 eral, give as good, if not 

 better, returns from large 

 hives, and the novice who may not know just when or how to perform 

 all oi)erations will find himself much safer with hives holding ten or 

 twelve frames in each story, and far more likely to secure good returns 

 from them than from smaller ones. 



A good, tight roof or cover is indispensable, well painted, so that no 

 drop of water can get in from above. A flat roof slanting from front to 



Fig. 31. — Dadant Quinby foini ot Lm„■^tloth hive, open: a, 

 front of brood apartment , h. alighting board , c, mo\ able en- 

 trance block; d, cap; e. straw mat;/, carriage-cloth cover 

 for frames ; g, g, frames with combs. (From Langstroth.) 



