Some objection has been raised against screws, as being occasionally troublesome to remove. The engravings annexed (drawn half size) show another mode of attaching the crown board by means of brass rings, elongated like the link of a chain, and held loosely at the bottom by the head of a screw, inserted at the side of the box. An aperture is cut in the projection of the crown board, through which the link passes to the top, into a recess made to receive it, and where it is fixed by a moveable lateral pin, leaving a flush surface. On removing the pin the link drops down upon the screw head, and the crown board becomes released. Instead of a ring, a similarly formed link can be cut from a piece of sheet metal.
It is not always that amateurs are possessed of the nerve requisite to perform, periodically, the operation of changing the cover immediately over a populous stock. The construction of my bar-hive renders this unnecessary. Through the cover are three openings, cut as a passage upward for the bees into a super. For convenience, two of these are placed within three inches of the front of the box (measuring inside), to the centre of the holes, which are one inch and a quarter in diameter at the outer end, lengthening towards the centre to three inches; there diminished to a point, and leaving two intermediate inches between them. I have found it well in this part to give an increased facility to the bees in passing over the bars, which otherwise too much intercept the passage. To accomplish this, let the crown board be turned bottom upwards, grooving out the central portion coming immediately underneath and between the two holes, for the space of six or seven inches long, one and a half inch wide, and three eighths of an inch deep. The third hole is made an inch and a half from the back of the cover (measured inside); of the same size and form as the others, but an inch shorter. This will be useful in working glasses and in feeding. The elongated form given to the holes is best adapted to prevent killing or maiming the bees in introducing the dividing slides. The latter are plates of stout zinc or copper, two inches wide, sliding within a recess or groove, cut their own thickness, across the top of the crown board, over the holes. The slides are long enough to meet in the centre, their outer ends being a little turned up for convenience. If the last inch is perforated with small holes, the slide becomes a ventilator, by drawing it out a little.
This hive may be used either for single or double hiving, or with any kind of super; but to render it complete for all purposes, there ought to be three boxes, forming a set, as seen in the engravings at [p. 56], in which the stock-box is the bottom one. In many seasons and localities, however, the third box might not be called for. For convenience of description, the numbers 1, 2, and 3, are used in reference to the stock-box, the first super, and the centre box; all to be of equal size as to the square. No. 2 should be fitted with bars and windows, like the first; but in height it may be one inch, or sometimes two, lower. Moreover, there must be no holes through its crown board, for whether two or three boxes are in use, No. 2 is always the upper one. A great convenience is given by the introduction of a loose centre board, placed on the top of the stock-box, and of the same dimensions; being in fact an adapter to the super, which can be lifted upon it, on removal. It is of half-inch wood, clamped, having openings cut through, corresponding in form and position with those of the stock-box, but without any recess. The slides move beneath the centre board, opening or shutting off the communication from box to box, as required. No. 3 box differs from the others in being still shallower, and having no moveable bars. Moreover, the central portion of its cover is cut through into the semblance of a grating, as shown in the illustration, with six bars, nine inches long, of an inch and an eighth in width, and with interspaces of half an inch. In certain very productive seasons, and when the super No. 2 is filled, No. 3 may be introduced between the two others; not removing the upper box till the bees have commenced working in No. 3. A temporary close cover must then be placed over the grated one of the latter. Many experienced apiarians, however, object to using more than one super hive, preferring to give any further room that may be required, at the bottom of the stock. The box No. 3 is equally well adapted for either alternative; for it may go as a nadir, beneath the stock-hive, taking its place on the hive-board, in which latter is the entrance for the bees, no other being permitted.
A hive-board suitable is either like the one shown at [p. 43], or that at [p. 44]; the boxes being placed upon it, with the bars ranging from front to back. Some persons are inclined, instead of one central entrance to the stock-box, to prefer two smaller ones, placed respectively at the outer extremities of the front, of course cut from the floor board; and it is probable that this departure from the general practice may not be without its occasional advantage, in winter especially, in a broad, shallow hive.
These boxes, like all wooden hives, should be placed in a house of some kind, if possible; but instances occur where such a convenience is not available. To meet these, I will describe a substitute, which gives effectual protection, though it would still be better standing under a shed. A recurrence to the engraving in the next page will show that our plan comprises an outer casing, in two compartments, and surmounted by a top cover or roof. They may be of half-inch wood, large enough in the square to drop loosely over the boxes, the lower compartment resting upon the rabbet of the hive-board, which may be made as shown at [page 44], and wide enough to leave, on three sides, an outside margin of an inch. On the front side a rather more extended margin may be expedient. The height of the lower compartment, measuring from the rabbet of the floor board, reaches to the top of the stock-box, except just as much as will allow the slides to pass over its edge. A good-sized elliptical opening faces the mouth of the hive; or increased to two, where there is a second entrance. The other compartment of the case should be high enough to enclose within it the two upper boxes. To its outer bottom edge, a band or fillet, about two inches wide, and nearly half an inch thick, is appended, half its width. The other half-width is intended to overlap the outer upper edge of the lower case, when placed one upon the other; and this part should be chamfered, so as to go on and off easily. For appearance' sake, another band is appended to the upper case, near its top; unless any other exterior architectural embellishment is preferred. A reference to the engraving will show the whole design is completed by a hipped roof or cover. Under the four projecting edges of the latter is a suspended cornice, about two inches deep, on its outer sides. When in its place, about three quarters of an inch of the cornice ought to overhang, dropping loosely over the upper outer edge of the case (a little chamfered); to regulate this, recessed at the four angles, within the cover, are attached cross corner blocks. For the purpose of ventilating the roof, long lateral openings are cut out on the four sides, from the upper part of the cornice, under the projecting edges of the roof. The total projection of this may be two inches, or a little more. The cover ought to fit equally well upon either compartment of the case; for in winter the edifice can be reduced to one story only.
The stand for the whole is simply an open frame, of the same outside dimensions as the cases; with inch-thick rails, four inches deep, framed at the corners to four posts or legs. These may be two inches square, and eighteen inches high; either sunk into the ground, or placed upon it, by means of cross-pieces, pinned or pegged down. The hive-board drops loosely down into the frame, and rests upon the rails, showing a projection all round of an inch; the cross bars on its underneath side retaining it steadily.
In a former edition, this kind of hive, when thus fitted up with an outer covering, obtained the name of the double bar-hive, by way of distinction from another mode of constructing it, which will now be detailed.
Whatever may be said about the inexpediency of placing wooden hives in exposure to the weather, the one we are now proceeding to describe was intended to meet the wishes of some bee-proprietors, who objected to the small degree of trouble, involved in using any kind of outer casing; obtaining from this circumstance the appellation of the single bar-hive.