42 
MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 
less difficult, and bees are brushed off a little more easily; but when 
combs cut from box hives are to be fitted into the frames it is not quite 
so easy to hold the pieces in the center of the frame by means of trans- 
ferring sticks and get the bees to fasten them securely at the bottom as 
it is with full seven-eighths- 
T inch bottom bars. Top bars 
have been made by some 
hive manufacturers from 
one-fourth-inch to three- 
eight h s - i n c h strips, 
strengthened somewhat by 
a very thin strip placed 
edgewise on the underside 
as a comb guide; but such 
bars are much too light and 
will sag when filled with 
honey or with brood and honey, and when section holders or other 
receptacles for surplus honey or sets of combs are placed above them 
more than a bee space exists between the upper and lower sets of frames 
or between the section holder and the frames below, and the bees will 
fill in Avith bits of comb between these, making it difficult to remove the 
top story or any of the combs from it ; indeed, an attempt under such 
Fig. 24. — Langstroth frame; size, 17| in. by 9£ in. outside; 
pn, projecting nail. (Original.) 
Fig. 25.— Form in which to nail frames : b, button ; db, double button. (Original.) 
circumstances to remove combs from the top story generally results 
in tearing the frames apart and breaking the combs, and if honey leaks 
out robbing may be induced at some times of the year, all because of an 
error in construction. To avoid this the top bar should never be less 
than five-eighths inch to three-fourths inch thick, while for long top 
bars seven-eighths-inch or 1-inch strips are x>referable. The side and 
bottom bars may be made of one-fourth-inch strips. A corner is taken 
from the end of the top bar by a cross cut made at exactly right angles 
on the underside of the top bar, reaching to within one-fourth inch of 
the top of the bar, and another cut from the end so as to meet the first- 
