450 
HIVES 
25 to 35 frames. The dimensions of these 
hives would be more like those of a coffin 
or a trunk. The advocates of these hives, 
particularly 0. 0. Poppleton of Florida, 
who had always used them, claim that they 
are large enough so that no tiering up is 
required—no lifting on or off of upper 
stories, no manipulation of brood-combs 
from the lower to the upper story to hold 
back swarming—in short, nothing heavier 
to lift than a single brood-frame. They 
also claim almost entire immunity from 
swarming. 
The i;sual practice with such a long hive 
is to have the entrance on the side, the long 
way, and place the brood-nest in the center 
of the hive. This leaves room for ten or 
twelve frames capacity for more brood on 
either side. Mr. Poppleton argued that a 
queen would move sidewise from one brood- 
frame to another more readily- than from 
one brood-frame in a lower hive-body to a 
brood-frame in the hive above, and he was 
undoubtedly right. The argument was 
briefly this: That the average Langstroth 
frame will have a circle of brood running 
within about two inches of the top-bar. 
The general reason for this is because the 
comb will stretch near the top, making 
neither worker nor drone comb. The queen 
avoids this, and the bees fill it with honey. 
In a hive of two stories the queen is appar¬ 
ently slow about getting over this two 
inches of honey, % inch of a top-bar, % 
inch of a bee-space, ^4 inch of a bottom- 
bar and another bee-space before she 
reaches the comb proper in the upper hive. 
In the long-idea hive it is claimed that the 
queen can move from comb to comb on a 
horizontal line, because the brood surfaces 
are within % inch apart, the space between 
being filled with bees. When the queen ex¬ 
pands the brood-chamber in the natural 
way she moves from comb to comb. If the 
worker-cells are not stretched, and there 
are no obstructions, she will move vertical¬ 
ly as well as horizontally; but in the mod¬ 
ern tiered-up hive she may not move up¬ 
ward unless the brood is carried upstairs 
by the apiarist himself. It is for this rea¬ 
son that the old long-idea hive has been re¬ 
vived. 
Another advantage claimed for the long 
single-story hive is that it is adapted to the 
use of old men, and women, young and 
old, or any one else who, for physical rea¬ 
sons, can not lift a weight of a filled super 
of 40 or 50 pounds, but who can handle 
individual units of one comb at a time. 
Finally, it is argued that during winter 
or cool weather the brood-nests can be 
confined down to about twelve or fifteen 
frames, and the space on either end filled 
with packing material. If the cover of the 
long-idea hive is three or -four inches deep, 
and telescoping, additional packing can be 
put on top. The hive is, therefore, adapted 
for wintering as well as for summering 
bees. 
This hive is especially adapted to the 
use of beginners who either will not learn 
how to handle swarms in standard hives or 
have not time to do so. A colony in such a 
large brood-chamber that can expand lat¬ 
erally will require less attention than any 
other hive here shown. However, in locali¬ 
ties where brood diseases are prevalent, 
neither this hive nor any other should be 
left to itself without frequent examination 
during the breeding season. 
It should be understood, also, that the 
same objections that apply to especially 
large brood-chambers apply to this one. As 
a general rule, the ordinary beekeeper 
would do well to have everything standard. 
The Langstroth ten-frame hives described 
in these pages are more standard than any 
other hive in the United States if not in 
the whole world. None of these big hives 
are adapted to the production of comb 
honey in sections, and none of the advo¬ 
cates make any claims for them along this 
line. There are times when comb honey 
brings such good prices that it is advan¬ 
tageous to change over from the produc¬ 
tion of extracted honey to honey in sec¬ 
tions, and this is entirely practicable with 
the standard hives. 
Last, but not least, if one wishes to sell 
his apiary at any time he can get the best 
price for it, if it is in standard Langstroth 
hives. 
The author does not advocate the general 
adoption of any of these special hives in a 
large way. If the reader is interested, let 
him experiment with half a dozen or a 
dozen hives; and if the tests of the few are 
satisfactory he can use more. It is usually 
a safe policy for the average reader of this 
work, especially if he is somewhat of a be- 
