fitlVE-MAKlNG 
43d 
if they are not so well made; and there 
are some rainy or wintry days in the year, 
when, if one is a farmer, for instance, he 
can as well as not, and at little or no ex¬ 
pense for time, make a few hives and other 
equipment. Again, if one lives in a for¬ 
eign country, he may not be able to get the 
hives here recommended. 
REQUISITES OF A GOOD HIVE. 
While it is very important to have good 
well-made hives for the bees it should be 
clearly understood that the hive will not 
insure a crop of honey. As the veteran 
Mr. Gallup used to say, “A good swarm of 
bees will store almost as much honey in a 
half-barrel or nail-keg as in the most elab¬ 
orate and expensive hive made, other things 
being equal.” This is based on a good 
colony in the height of the honey season. 
If the colony were small, it would do much 
better if put into a hive so small that the 
bees could • nearly or quite fill it. This 
would economize the animal heat so that 
they could keep up the temperature for 
brood-rearing and the working of wax. 
Again, should the bees get their nail-keg 
full of honey, unless more room were given 
them they would have to cease work or 
swarm, and either way a considerable loss 
of honey would be the result. The thin 
walls of the nail-keg would hardly be the 
best economy for a wintering hive, nor for 
a summer hive either, unless it were well 
shaded from the direct rays of the sun. 
P. H. Elwood of Starkville, N. Y., who 
owns over 1,000 colonies, said in Gleanings 
in Bee Culture some time ago, “A good 
hive must fill two requirements reasonably 
well to be worthy of that name. 1. It must 
be a good home for the bees. 2. It must in 
addition be so constructed as to be conven¬ 
ient to perform the various operations re¬ 
quired by modern beekeeping. The first of 
these requirements is filled very well by a 
good box or straw hive. Bees will store as 
much honey in these hives as in any, and in 
the North they will winter and spring as 
well in a straw hive as in any other. They 
do not, however, fill the second require¬ 
ment; and to meet this, the movable-frame 
hive was invented.” 
Under A B C of Beekeeping, subhead, 
The Modern Hive, are shown the general 
features of the hive, and under Hives and 
Frames will be shown styles and the spe¬ 
cial features that belong to each. But 
there is only one hive that is used largely 
thruout the United States, and that is the 
Langstroth—that is, it embodies the Lang- 
strot.h dimensions. The frame is 17% long 
by 9% deep, outside measure. This estab¬ 
lishes the length and depth of the hive. As 
to width, that depends upon the number of 
frames used. It is the rule to allow 5-16 
bee-space between the ends of the frames 
and the inside ends of the hive. This will 
make the inside length of a Langstroth 
hive 18i/4 inches, or the outside length 20 
inches if made of %-inch planed lumber. 
It is the rule to make the depth of the hive 
% inch deeper than the frame—% inch 
under the frame and % inch on top. For 
dry climates a greater allowance should be 
made on account of shrinkage. The selec¬ 
tion of the frame, the number to the hive, 
and the distance they are spaced apart 
determine the dimensions of the hive it¬ 
self. 
As stated, the Langstroth is the standard 
thruout the United States; but there has 
been a tendency on the part of a very few 
toward a frame of the same length, but two 
inches deeper. There is also a tendency to 
go to the other extreme in adopting a 
frame of Langstroth length, but two or 
three inches shallower, using two stories of 
such a hive for a single brood-nest. 
On account of the diverse notions of 
beekeepers and the peculiarities of locality, 
it would hardly be worth while to give gen¬ 
eral directions for the manufacture of any 
one hive; and, besides, no printed direc¬ 
tions will give as good an idea of the con¬ 
struction of a hive as the very thing itself. 
For these and other reasons it would be far 
better for the one who intends to make 
hives to send to some manufacturer foi a 
sample in the flat, all complete. With the 
several pieces for patterns he will then 
know exactly the shape and dimensions, 
how to make rabbets, and in general how 
the hive is constructed in every detail. If 
one does not find on the market just such a 
hive as suits his notion, of course he sees, 
or thinks he sees, “in his mind’s eye” some¬ 
thing better; but in that case the author 
would strongly urge him to make a sample 
or two before he makes very many of 
them; for nine times out of ten—-yes, 
