THE BAll- HIVE. 
79 
placed ou their edges so that the ends of the boards will not 
split, and no difference how much they swell and shrink with 
the weather, there are no cracks formed. Put one of the nar- 
row ends for a front ; make the front board one-fourth of an 
inch short below for an entrance. For a bottom use a board 
as wide as the hive and two or three inches longer, nail two 
pieces of scantling under it to keep it from warping ; this 
serves also tor the stand for the hive. Leave the ends of the 
hive rough where the bees have to attach their combs, as 
they can” fasten better; also the guide strips at the top are 
best to be rough. The advantage of this hive is that it is 
durable as well as cheaply made ; they admit of cleaning out 
and examination below. The honey boxes can be lifted off 
to examine above. It is more easy to hive in than any 
close-bottomed hive. They can be used as a movable comb 
hive by cutting the combs loose from the ends and lifting 
them out by the strips ; this plan is now adopted by some of 
the best of bee-keepers instead of using a full frame. And 
if oue does not wish to use a movable comb hive, he can call 
it a common box hive. [By a box hive is meant the simplest 
form of a box for bees, or any arrangement for bees in which 
the combs are stationary, in distinction trom movable comb 
hives.] The arrangement of the honey boxes is of great im- 
portance. We find that bees will make more honey if it is 
all made in the main chamber of the hive instead ot having 
to pass through small openings into separate apartments. 
The way our honey boxes are made and applied makes more 
free communication with the main chamber of the hive than 
most any arrangement I know, as the bees can go up be- 
tween any two combs immediately into any of the honey 
boxes; so that they are more certain to commence working in 
them, and will make more honey than they will in ordinary 
hives, [the hive takes on three twelve-pound boxes.] These 
honey boxes suit for the Leaf hive, the Langstroth, and many 
others. Honey should be taken as soon as the boxes are 
full, as it becomes darker the longer it stands on. Empty 
boxes should bo put on immediately to he filled, if the bees 
are still making honey. To take the honey, remove the boxes 
and carry them to a cellar or dark room, and leave them bot- 
tom up, and the bees will generally all come out and go to 
their|hive within a few hours. If the bees will not leave, 
there is reason to believe that the queen is with them, and 
she should be looked for. 
