Fig. 4.—Langstroth hive with two half-depth supers for surplus honey.
There being no patent on the Langstroth hive, and accurately made hives being obtainable at moderate prices from hive factories in various parts of the country, it is taken for granted that the enterprising beginner will adopt a simple form embodying this principle—the loose-fitting, suspended comb frame—as its main feature. The hive should not only be substantially built, but should have accurate bee-spaces and a close-fitting, rain-proof cover or roof. Factory-made hives, as a rule, best meet these requirements, as both lock joints and halved corners can only be made to advantage by machinery, and the expert hive builder understands, of course, the absolute necessity of great accuracy in bee-spaces, as well as the great desirability of good material and workmanship (figs. [4], [5], and [11]). Provision should also be made for winter protection. (See pages [39]-[41].)
Fig. 5.—The Langstroth hive—Dadant-Quinby form—cross section showing construction.
For comb honey, hives permitting the insertion in the brood apartment of any number of frames up to eight, or frequently up to ten, are most in use. In securing extracted honey, those with ten to twelve frames in each story are preferable, and as many stories, one above the other, are employed as the strength of the colony and a given harvest may require. A construction, therefore, which readily admits of expansion and of contraction, as occasion demands, is desirable.
Mention should be made of a hive of quite different construction, a prominent feature of which is this ease of contraction and expansion. It is the last hive which the late M. Quinby gave to the public—the Quinby closed-end frame hive ([fig. 6]). This hive is used with great success by certain American bee keepers of long experience and whose apiaries are among the largest in the world.
Fig. 6.—Quinby closed-end frames.