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 halt-inch board is then nailed. These inside end pi< 
should be only wide enough to reach within three-fourths inch of the 
top edge of the outer ends, and. like the lower story, should be finished 
at the top with a metal rabbet for the frames to rest on, or the inside 
piece may be made to come within three-eighths inch of the top and its 
upper edge beveled so the frames can not be greatly propolized, an 
arrangement which answers very well for this story. 
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 
FlO. 29. — The Langstroth hive — Dadant-Quinby form — cross section showing construction. 
(From Langstroth.) 
eleven frames in the second or top story. A demand tor 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 prominent place in their catalogues, and 
by many it was considered that those who adhered to the older, largei 
form did so merely through conservatism. But after some years' trial 
a reaction in favor of larger hives seems t»> have Be1 in. especially 
among producers of extracted honey. Many of the latter are finding 
that with carefully bred queens even twelve-frame brood apartments 
give the best results. The author's experience of o\ er twenty-five years 
with frame hives of various sizes and styles, both American and foreign, 
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 
