Apologies. I made a mess of sending my original letter and lost it and the quotation I was replying to. Briefly, a member wrote querying the demise of the deep Dadant comb. A reply came back to the effect that the combs were too heavy, leading to possible broken lugs and bottom bars. Having used this deep comb for some fifty years without damaged frames I thought I ought to write in its defence. Yes, the combs are heavy, around ten pounds when well filled with stores. I once had a comb, which I put on display, weighing fifteen pounds. It was, of course, a freak in that I had left a wide gap between it and the next combs and the bees had extended the cells to fill the gaps. Dadant combs are similar to the Langstroth, the only difference is the depth, which is 11.25 inches. The Dadant hive has external dimensions of 20 inches by 18.5 and holds eleven combs. Long ago I found it too large and switched to what we call Jumbo Langstroth. This has the same dimensions as the Langstroth, 20 inches by 16.25. Only the depth is different so all parts are interchangeable. Like the Langstroth it holds ten combs at a pinch. I prefer nine and a dummy board to fill the gap. This makes comb removal much easier. Only one brood chamber is required for the queen. We always use an excluder so brood and honey never mix. It would appear that the Langstroth is the most popular hive world wide but it has never taken off in England. We have several types of hive in general use. The National is popular but rather small for a prolific queen, requiring a second brood chamber or a shallow, the Commercial,with a much larger brood chamber and an excellent design in my opinion. Then we have the Jumbo Langstroth and the Dadant, both excellent to stay in one place but too heavy for migratory work. Sid P. Southern England.