26 
Beekeeping 
Hive stands. 
The arrangement of the hives will determine the character 
of the stand. A wooden frame, bricks, tile (Fig. 20), con¬ 
crete blocks or flat stones are equally 
good to raise the bottom board of the 
hive above the ground so that it will 
not rot. It is sufficient to raise it only 
a few inches to allow air to circulate 
freely under the bottom. In a perma¬ 
nent apiary, it is convenient to arrange 
the hive stands in the desired order 
and to number them by the system 
used in numbering the colonies for pur¬ 
poses of record. 
Hives and hive parts. 
The hive which opens at the top and 
in which the combs are built in freely 
movable frames is the one generally 
used in America. It was invented by 
Rev. L. L. Langstroth, the Father of 
American beekeeping, in 1851. From 
this date, the development of modern beekeeping begins. 
The original Langstroth hive has been somewhat modified as 
the result of the experience of later years, but as now used 
(Fig. 20) it consists of a plain wooden box holding frames 
hung from a rabbet at the top (Fig. 21) and which do not 
touch the sides, top or bottom. The box is usually dove¬ 
tailed and is commonly made of white pine dressed to l inch. 
The greatest advance of the Langstroth hive is not so 
much in the movable frames as in the free space (Fig. 21) 
all about them. The size of this space is of the greatest 
importance, it being such that bees pass through it freely 
but do not build wax nor deposit propolis in it. The manu¬ 
facturers of beekeepers’ supplies make this space a quarter 
of an inch. 
Fig. 20. — Ten-frame 
Langstroth hive 
with queen-ex¬ 
cluder, comb-honey 
super and telescope 
cover. 
