m), to close the 1-1/8 of an inch openings. And three or four
sheets of perforated zinc are laid upon the tops of the bee-frames,
resting on the fillets. Thus, then, when a swarm of bees has been
introduced into this box, the bees have to build their combs within
the fifteen bee-frames, or whatever number may have been run into the
grooves for that purpose. The bees cannot escape from above the frames,
as the sheets of perforated zinc prevent them, nor from the 1-1/8 of an
inch openings at the backs of the frames, as they have been closed with
the slips of tin; the only open part being the long narrow slip, just
above the alighting board, which was originally left for their ingress
and egress.

The division-frame is made of half inch mahogany, twelve inches high,
9-1/2 long, and half of an inch broad. So that it will run into any of
the grooves formed for the bee-frames; but made to fit close to the box
at the end, by means of a slip of wood, C C, fig. 2, to prevent the bees
crawling between the frame and the outer-box, as they can do round the
bee-frames.

[Illustration: _Fig. II._]

The division-frame itself is closed by having two sheets of zinc run
into it as shown in fig. 2, the one marked _b b b b_, and partly drawn
out, being of solid sheet zinc; and _a a_, the other in the frame, of
perforated zinc; _d_, being the screw-nut (like those in the bee-frames)
by means of which it can be drawn out into the observation-frame, &c.
Thus, wherever this division-frame is run into the bee-box, (except of
course at No. 1, and No. 15 grooves) it cuts off all communication with
the bee-frames on the right or left of it; and two colonies of bees may
be kept in the same box, and still have distinct frames to work upon,
and separate entrances, &c.

If then bees have been put into one of the bar-and-frame-hives, and
sufficient time has been given them to build their combs within "the
bee-frames," the frames with their contents can be drawn out into the
"observation-frame," (which will be more fully described) whenever it
is wished to examine the bees, &c., as the 1-1/8 of an inch spaces
between the grooves will allow of a sufficient distance to be preserved,
between the lateral surfaces of the perpendicular combs formed in the
"bee-frames," and thus permit them to slide by each other with facility.

[Illustration: _Fig. III._]

The "observation-frame," fig. 3, is a mahogany frame, fourteen inches
high, eleven inches long, a