§ X. NEIGHBOURS' NEW FRAME HIVE.
I. Wood.—Since the former editions of this work were published, several alterations and improvements have been made. We find, in the first place, that a deeper hive than the Woodbury is desirable for the better concentration of heat, and also to admit of more honey being stored above the brood, so that the food shall be easier of access to the bees in winter. Our new frame hive measures accordingly twenty-one inches from front to back, sixteen inches in width, and twelve in height, thus allowing the sides to be constructed of the original breadth of the planks, viz., eleven inches (the other inch being made up by the thickness of the floor-board). The frames, of which there are nine, are ten inches deep and thirteen wide; they rest on strips of zinc, which prevent the bees from propolising them down so firmly, and, as the outsides of the hive are so enlarged as to leave galleries from side to side beyond the ends of the bars, there is easy access allowed to the fingers in removing. Another noteworthy improvement is the addition of a "dummy frame," which is merely a thin piece of board of the same size as a frame, and whose use is either to contract the dimensions of the hive according to the population, or to make room, by its removal for the extraction of the first comb.
The frames are held firm and kept at their correct distances apart by means of small staples, and a slit is formed lengthways for the insertion of impressed wax sheets or guide-strips cut from these. The crown-board rests on the thin edge of zinc, in order that it may be replaced more quickly, with less danger of crushing a bee than on a broader surface. There is a feeding-hole in the centre of the board, which in some hives is closed by a zinc slide running in an opening cut out of the wood, and in others is covered by a wooden block. In the more highly finished hives two long openings are cut for admitting bees to the super. Two slides for each opening are supplied—one pair being of plain zinc for closing them entirely, the other with slits cut of three-sixteenths of an inch in width for the purpose of queen-preventers (see [Chap. IV. § xvii.]). The supers are similar, but not so deep, and have eight frames instead of nine; they are, however, frames, and not mere bars as ordinarily. The sides and top are of glass, with baize-lined shutters.
A hive intermediate between this and the Philadelphia ([§ xii.]), and which may be called "The Cottager's Improved Frame Hive," is shown inside the opened cover on [page 179]. It has a straw crown-board and a larger window, and is designed to admit a zinc adapter with queen-preventing perforations; in other respects it is identical with the above hive.
2. Straw.—The figure overleaf exhibits "Neighbours' New Straw Frame Hive," with super attached. It is of exactly the same size and construction as the foregoing. There is a straw crown-board with feeding-hole in the centre, and two slits of zinc with queen-preventing openings as above. The supers of the straw hive are made of its own material, but have three windows instead of one. The advantages of straw for hives are described under the Woodbury straw hive, above.
3. Glass.—A representation of this same hive in glass, with its super, is given inside the opened cover figured on [page 177]. Nothing need be added here, as the construction is the same with that of the wood hive. See the description of the Woodbury glass hive in the previous section for general remarks upon hives of that material.