HIVES FOR BEE-KEEPERS, 
57 
the stock grows, the division-board is driven to the 
hive side, so that the lingers cannot get behind it ; 
and when it is crowded out altogether, it must be 
removed by perpendicular lifting — often a matter of 
no little difficulty^ — and a space is generally left, in 
which the bees build comb against the hive side. 
But the main utility remains to be considered : it is, 
that, by giving flight from the removable dummy {d'), 
the hive may be opened without touching the supers 
that may be upon it ; the front combs are thus always 
at immediate command. To those acquainted with 
Mr. Simmins’s system,* the immense advantage here 
is at once evident, as, so fast as the bees build up 
the space left at the entrance, their combs, with a 
minimum of labour and disturbance, can be displaced, 
and frames with starters only supplied ; and thus swarm- 
ing is at once efficiently prevented — a matter of the 
highest moment, to which we shall have to return. 
This style of hive, in addition, admits of a variation 
in structure many would find highly useful, and possibly 
preferable, to the one figured. The front {/) is 
omitted, and that which is really a division-board is 
permanently nailed in or near the centre, so that the 
ground plan resembles a capital which the up- 
rights are the sides, and the cross-piece the permanent 
division. As the colonies retire upon their stores in 
the winter, they aid one another in sustaining tem- 
perature, and in the spring this mutual assistance 
facilitates the drawing-out of sections or foundation. 
The movable fronts may be supplied with handles, if 
desired, and there is no occasion for them to reach the 
* See “ Original Non Swarming System,” by S. .Simmins. 
