THE PRODLXTION OF HONEY. 
495 
the floor-board by shallow blocks, so that ventilation 
is secured all round, being often desirable. 
Mr. Raitt,* whose advocacy for simplicity is always 
of the wiser sort, manages his entrances in such an 
ingenious way that I wonder it has not been largely 
adopted. It is, of course, necessary in tiering that 
the doorway remain in the lowest box, but in that one 
only. He rabbets both the sides and front and back 
of his hives, which are 14^0. square within, so that 
the frames may hang either way. The sides are 
double, the front and back single ; but when the 
frames run across the entrance, for wintering, dummies 
front and back practically make the hive double all 
round. For the working season the frames run from 
front to rear, to secure more perfect ventilation ; but 
the point lies in this — that the front, which is of equal 
depth with the sides and back, on nailing together, 
is kept up fin., leaving a doorway below, while its 
upper edge stands up from the sides so as to close 
the doorway of the exactly similar second storev, when 
that is placed upon it ; and so on in every tier, the 
lowest doorway being infallibly open, while all above 
must be infallibly closed. The rabbet of the front is 
necessarily made fin. deeper than that of the back, 
so as to bring the bearings of the ears of the frames 
to one level. These body boxes also act as super 
covers when working for comb honey. 
Doubling, as a favourite practice with many, demands 
some notice; it consists in removing all the combs from 
a strong stock, and placing them, filled as they are with 
Bee-keepers' Record, Feb. 15th, 1885, page 21. 
