102 
THE AUSTRALIAN' BEEKEEPERS’ .JOURNAL. 
called “surplus” honey. It is usually the 
urest honey, and often quite free from any 
rood or bee bread, in fact, virgin honeycomb. 
If the super is the same size as the brood 
chamber, the same frames may be used as 
below for the bees to build their combs in, or 
if it be a half-storey, that is, a box of the same 
size, but only five 5 inches deep instead of 10 
inches, shallower frames may be used ; but it 
is more usual to use what are called section 
boxes for the half-storey and often for the full 
storey super as well, instead of frames, unless 
the beekeeper works for extracted honey, as 
will be explained further on. 
If, therefore, we take a box of the dimen- 
sions named (but without bottom or top,) and 
place it on a bottom board with an entrance 
provided, and place above a roof or cover to 
keep out the rain and weather, we have a one- 
storey hive ; by lifting off the roof or cover 
and putting on a shallow box 5 inches deep, 
andplacing the cover on this, we have a “storey 
and a-half” hive; but by using a box the 
same depth as the brood-box, and putting the 
cover on this, we have a two-storeyed hive. In 
very strong colonies we can sometimes add a 
third, fourth, and even fifth full storey , the hive 
is then said to be ‘‘tiered up” two, three, 
four, or five storeys, as the case may be. 
The section boxes referred to, are little 
square frames, made of very thin strips of 
wood of a size that when filled with coml) and 
honey weigh just about lib. They are called 
lib. sections, and a half-storey will hold twenty- 
eight, or a full storey fifty-six of such boxes. 
An important point in the construction of such 
hives is, they should be all of exactly the same 
dimensions, and so made that one will fit on 
the top of another exactly ; and in order that 
it may be weather-tight at the junction, the 
boxes are rabbeted outside all round, then 
top edges and inside all round the bottom 
edges. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Langstroth and Berlepsch Hives 
Compared. 
(To the Editors of the Australian Beekeepers' 
Journal.) 
Gentlemen, — Having replied to the first 
letter of “Apis’” criticism of “The Lang- 
stroth and the Berlepsch Hives Compared,” 
it is now my wish to say a few words in reply 
to his second letter, in which he tried to show 
that the Langstroth hive is the easiest to 
manipulate, and adds — ‘‘ How is it with the 
Berlepsch hive ? ” Well, that the Berlepsch is 
easy manipulated is proved by the fact that 
I worked 250 hives last season ; and while 
“ Apis ” is moving the frames laterally a little 
in order to be able to take one out of the hive 
so as to get room to move and examine the 
others, I can do the examination as quickly as 
he, by taking the frames out and placing them 
on the frame-holder ; it matters little, if the 
frames must be moved, whether they are 
moved a little or taken out altogether, and in 
order to get at the frames in the brood-room, 
I have nothing to do nor to remove any of the 
supers, so that actually the Berlepsch hive 
has the facility which “Apis” thinks by far 
the most valuable. As to propolising, ‘‘Apis” 
himself admits that the bees propolise the 
ends of the frames and “bridge” the combs 
even in the Langstroth hive, and he asks : 
“ ITow can the propolis be removed and the 
frames loosened in a Berlepsch hive?” He 
kr.ows how to do it in the Langstroth. but as 
the Berlepsch hive is new to him, he thinks 
that that which he cannot understand no one 
else can, and that ought to settle the matter. 
The grooves of each hive are cleaned once or 
twice a year, with a tool made for that pur- i 
pose, and the frames are taken out with anot her 
special tool, aud there is no jarring and no 
comb breaking at all. No queens and no bees 
are lost by getting the bees otf the comb: first, 
the queen is not on a comb full of honey, and 
second, there are no young bees either — queens 
and young bees are on brood- combs. “Apis” 
should know that. Moreover, what is a pro- 
blem to him, is not so to everyone. 
In the Berlepsch hive, the outside of the 
frame facing the operator intercepts all the 
light, and if the queen is on this side, it is 
taken out before she has time to run away ; 
and if she is farther inside, she will not be 
disturbed at all until the other frames are 
taken out to the one she is on ; while, in the 
Langstroth hive, if one of the middle frames 
is removed, there are two sides exposed to the 
light, and if the queen is on either of the two 
sides, she cannot be seen, and has ample time 
to run inward. 
What “ Apis” says about the bee-shed, and 
so forth, is sufficient in itself to prove that his 
knowledge thereof is limited, and he is jump- 
ing from one extravagance to another, that it 
would be useless to say more about it, and I 
give him to understand that I esteem it an 
honour to be allowed to argue in this journal 
on any point concerning beekeeping, but I do 
not feel called upon to fight with everyone 
who propounds such nonsense as “ Apis ” 
does. 
In this long argument with “ Apis,” I have 
felt at a disadvantage, because I am not a 
master of the English language, and because 
my antagonist hides himself and his nonsense 
behind a noth de plume. I shall in future 
decline entering into a controversy with any 
correspondent who is afraid to let iiis name be 
