Work that Educates. Twelve-year old boy tending bees under the direction of his father, John Spargo. Bennington, Vermont. There are three main types of modern hive in common use worldwide: Langstroth hive, Top-bar hive, and the Warre hive. The key innovation of the Langstroth hive was the use of vertically hanging frames on which bees build their comb. The Top-bar hive is so named because the bees draw their comb from a top bar suspended across the top of a cavity and not inside a full rectangular frame with sides and a bottom bar. The Warre hive is a modular and storied design similar to a Langstroth hive. The hive body is made of boxes stacked vertically, however, it uses top bars for comb support instead of full frames similar to a Top-Bar Hive, as a general rule. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive, to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers. Photographed by Lewis Hine, August, 1914. |