HIVES MOVABLE FRAMES. 
41 
Fig. 22— Ancient Greek 
movable comb hive. 
(After La Mauon rtu- 
tique, published in 1742.) 
honey, will very materially affect the net profit of an apiary. This 
being the case, the original cost of a hive, whether a dollar or two more 
or less, is of small importance compared with the desirability of secur- 
ing convenience and simplicity in its management and of promoting 
the welfare of the bees in winter and summer. Frame hives managed 
with intelligence and skill are essential to the greatest success. Inac- 
curately made frame hives, neglected, as is too 
frequently the case, so that the combs are built 
irregularly between or across the frames, are not 
one whit better than box hives. Even an accu- 
rately built frame hive, if no attention ,s given to 
the spacing of the frames when combs are being 
built, will soon present no advantages over a box 
hive of the same dimensions and having the same 
space for supering above the brood apartment. 
The frame and hive most in use in this country 
is the invention of Rev. L. L. Langstro f h, and this 
hive, with slight modifications, has been generally 
adopted in England and her colonies. It is also becoming known and 
appreciated on the continent of Europe. The patent on the frame 
the essential feature— expired many years ago, so that anyone who may 
wisli to do so is now free to employ the invention. It is still used by 
many in the same form in which it was brought out in 1852. Others 
have changed the dimensions of the frames and given them different 
names, while retaining the 
special feature of the inven- 
tor's principle, namely, the 
loose-fitting frame suspend- 
ed by the projecting ends 
of its top bar on a contin- 
uous rabbet. The outside 
dimensions of the Lang- 
stroth frame most in use 
are 17| inches long by 9j 
inches deep (tig. 24 . Mr. 
M. Quinby, one of the most 
practical and successful 
beemasters of our century. 
preferred frames 12 inches 
deep l»y IS inches Long, and 
and these are still used by 
many large honey raisers. Other sizes are also used somewhat. 
The bars composing frames are usually made seven-eighths inch wide, 
although some prefer to have the top bar 1 inch or even L| inches wide, 
and the bottom bar is made by some as narrow as live-eighths inch or 
even three-eighths inch square. The narrower bottom bar. at least 
down to a width of five eighths inch, renders the removal of the frames 
Fi(i. 2:i.— Dadant-Qninby form of Langstroth hive, with cap 
and gable roof. (Redrawn from Langstroth on the I lone v 
Bee.) 
