CONSTRUCTION OF HIVES. 47 
rear will answer, but a ventilated gable roof with the sides well slanted 
is far preferable. Above the sections or the upper set of frames a piece 
of carriage cloth, enameled side down, should be laid during the summer 
season to prevent too great escape of heat above and to keep the bees 
from getting into the roof or propolizing it. The cloth is more >uitable 
than a board, since the latter when propolized can not be removed with- 
out considerably jarring the bees. If the carriage cloth be weighted 
with a board which has been clamped with a strip across each end to 
prevent warping, there will be less propolization of the sections above 
or building of bits of comb on the tops of the frames when these have 
been used. To dispense with this extra piece and also to render the 
gable cover flat on the underside, the board which rests on the car- 
riage cloth may be nailed to the cover permanently. During very hot 
weather the quilt may be turned back and the cover propped up. 
The bottom board to the hive may be nailed permanently or the hive 
may be merely placed on it. In either case the sides and back of the 
hive should be wide enough to come down over the edges of the bottom 
board and thus shed all water that runs down the outside of the hive. 
A sloping board in front will facilitate the entrance of heavily laden bees 
and many that fall to the ground will crawl in if the hive is within 8 or 
1< i inches of the ground. Many persous place the bottom boards directly 
on the ground, and the majority have them but 3 or 4 inches above the 
surface. By arranging them farther from the ground, at least 6 or 8 
inches, dampness is avoided and the ease in manipulation is greatly 
increased. English manufacturers make the Laugstroth hive with per- 
manent legs some 6 or 8 inches long. This is no doubt necessary in 
the damj) climate of that country, and even here the free circulation of 
the air beneath the hive and the entrance of direct rays of sunlight at 
times are so beneficial that there might well be a return to this valua- 
ble feature, which was part of the original Laugstroth hive. 
Great accuracy of parts must be insisted upon in hives and frames. 
both because covers and top stories should be made to fit interchange- 
ably, and because the bees carry out their own work with great pre 
cision, so that ease in manipulation of combs can only be secured by 
nice adjustment. Hives cut by machinery are therefore greatly to be 
preferred, and though most of those kept in stock by apiarian manu- 
facturers do not include in their construction all of the features men- 
tioned above, they still answer in most particulars the requirements 
of bee life, aud, if proper protection for the winter be afforded, are very 
serviceable. 
IMPLEMENTS. 
BEE BMOKERS. 
~No well-appointed apiary in these days is without one or more bee 
smokers. The professional bee keeper who has once used a bellows 
smoker would as soon think of dispensing with this implement as a 
