June 27, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOUKNAL, 



405 



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Contributed Articles. 



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Thick vs. Thin Brood-Frame Top-Bars. 



BY S. T. I'ETTIT. 



IWOUL,D like to reply to Dr. Miller and Editor Root, who 

 seem to be not a little excited over my article on top-bars 

 (see Gleanings in Bee-Culture, pages 227 and 380.) In 

 the first note the editor says, " We first tried top-bars that 

 were wide and only '+-inch thick. We had trouble from 

 such bars sagging, and the building of burr and brace 

 combs." In reply I wish to say, had these V-inch thick 

 and 9 8 wide top-bars been kept straight by some means, 

 they would have remained as clean as the cleanest the edi- 

 tor ever looked upon, I haven't the shade of a doubt about 

 it. 



I can not understand how it possibly can be that the 

 editor's experience shows him that brace-combs are more 

 plentiful with the use of top-bars ;s-inch thick than with 

 %-inch thick. Can it be that the length of the Langstroth 

 top-bar allows it to sag when only --s-inch thick ? With all 

 due respect to the editor, I firmly believe he is mistaken in 

 that. My experience with ^s-inch top-bars covers a period 

 of IS or 16 years, and it is altogether difi^erent from his. I 

 have made many tests with the different kinds, so it is not 

 theory but long experience from which I speak. 



On page 380, Dr. Miller says, " His strong point is that, 

 by having '4 -inch more depth, the space of IbOO to 2000 cells 

 is lost." Yes, that is my strong point, which I will take 

 further notice of later. 



No, I did not make the mistake of reckoning that the 

 same number of bees were occupied brooding those sticks 

 as would be occupied in brooding '4 -inch depth of comb. I 

 neither thought it, nor said it, but this is what I did say, 

 "The saving of that space in each hive is a matter worthy 

 our best consideration." I think most bee-keepers will 

 agree that 1600 to 2000 cells in a hive are of more value 

 than useless lumber, adding weight and unnecessary 

 expense. I hope after due consideration the Doctor will 

 agree with this also. 



Then the Doctor proceeds to use about half a column, 

 and proves nothing, except that he "don't know " what he 

 is talking about — it's all wasted energy. Further on he 

 says, " So if the prevention of burr-combs by deep top-bars 

 be all a delusion (which I do not believe)" — well, I suppose 

 I can show the reason why he does not believe it. He did 

 not make personal, practical experiments for himself and 

 for the benefit of the public for whom he writes ; but — well, 

 perhaps I can do no better than to give the words of Edi- 

 tor Root, as follows : 



" Dr. Miller was greatly struck with the idea, and after 

 some extended correspondence with the Doctor we decided 

 that we would launch forth, for the ensuing year, the new 

 top-bar." 



Then later he said that he and Dr. Miller had evolved 

 the new top-bar, by revolving around each other by the 

 coat-tail — a clear case of conviction and prejudice not 

 founded upon personal, practical experience, hence the 

 Doctor's complaisant "which I do not believe." 



I quote from a letter sent me from the U. S. A., dated 

 April 4, 1901 ; " I have read with much interest your article 

 in CJleanings for March IS, and want to say that I endorse 

 all you say in regard to Zi'ide and t/tin top-bars ; and bot- 

 tom-bars '4 -inch wide. For a number of years I have been 

 using a top-bar '4 -inch thick, and 1 's-inch wide, and not a 

 burr-comb on a single frame in 8 jears' use." I may add 

 that a few days ago Mr. Cruikshank, who takes Gleanings, 

 and lives near me, called upon me, and in alluding to this 

 discussion said : "I use js-inch thick top-bars, and have no 

 bother with burr or brace combs." 



But Doctor Miller says, "I still want the % top-bars for 

 the sake of having the sections so far from the brood- 

 combs that the bees will not find it convenient to carry up a 

 lot of black wax to spoil the snow-white sections." This 

 statement reveals the fact that the Doctor has not yet 

 learned all the valuable uses to which the queen-bar or per- 

 forated metal queen-excluder may be put. My practice is 

 to get the sections just as close to the brood as I can, pre- 

 serving all the necessary bee-spaces. To this end I want 

 thin top-bars. Then, to prevent the bees from moving up 



dark wax, and to bar the drones with their filthy habits, 

 and the queen from the sections, and to restrain pollen, I 

 use a queen-bar, or, if you please, an all-metal perforated- 

 zinc queen-excluder, which has a '4 -inch thick rim and two 

 cross-pieces. This arrangement gives the same distance 

 between the top-bars and sections as he wants, with all the 

 advantages enumerated. But I would bring the sections 

 closer down if I could and not dispense with the queen-bar. 



On page 380, Editor Root says, " It seems to me that 

 Mr. Pettit assumes, or indirectly assumes, that those 1600 

 to 2000 cells are lost because of the brood that might have 

 been reared in them." Exactly so, and that is what hurts. 

 Continuing, he says, "but it is very seldom that brood is 

 reared any closer than within an inch of the top-bar, with 

 ordinary Langstroth frames." If that be so then the man- 

 agement is faulty ; yes, very bad. Eet me explain by giv- 

 ing my practice : 



All colonies, whether weak or strong, are kept warm by 

 a warm cushion over each. Then when the early flow sets 

 in, a super filled with comb is given to all the strong colo- 

 nies, with that warm cushion on top, and a queen-bar to 

 keep the queen down. Then the surplus honey will go into 

 the super, and the brood and pollen will generally fill every 

 cell to the top-bar, and of course the thinner the top-bar 

 the less the burr-combs and the more the brood. While the 

 weather is cool a few cells along the top-bar, especially 

 when the bees are not in the best condition, will contain 

 unsealed honey and pollen ; but as the heat increases brood 

 will come to the top-bars. About 25 or 26 years ago I com- 

 menced to use a cushion on top of my hives, and when the 

 comb or extracting super goes on, the cushion goes up. It 

 stays right on, summer and winter. 



Mr. Root is just now finding out the benefits of a warm 

 cushion, and so mill it be with the thin top-bar; but I hope it 

 will not take a quarter of a century. Ontario, Canada. 



Cross Bees at Swarming-Time, Etc. 



BY WM. M. WHITNEY'. 



SOME one asks why bees are sometimes cross when 

 swarming. Tell him to examine the hive they came 

 from, and if he finds little or no honey, the question is 

 easily answered. Who wouldn't be cross, crowded out of 

 home with the whole family in a starving condition ? Or, 

 possibly the swarm has been clustered a long time. Pull 

 one of the crossest ones in two, and see how little honey it 

 has in the honey-sac. If they have plenty of honey, they 

 are gentle as kittens — wouldn't sting if they could, and 

 couldn't if they would. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



The communication on page 311, entitled. " Introduc- 

 ing a Queen-Bee," etc., is really amusing. The gist of the 

 whole article seems to be a posteriori attempt to show that 

 the honey-bee is actuated by pure, unadulterated selfishness. 

 Now, it occurs to me, that, taking the effects indicated in 

 the communication as causes, and reasoning a priori, it 

 would not be a difficult matter to show that the honey-bee 

 is prompted by the highest type of love and patriotism. A 

 colony of bees is very much, in many respects, like a com- 

 munity of individuals, in which individual rights and privi- 

 leges must be held secondary and subject to the well-being 

 of the body collectively. 



Among enlightened and Christian people, places of 

 comfort are provided for the unfortunate and infirm ; but, 

 the time was when such persons — whether their condition 

 was the result of heredity, accident, or old age — were dis- 

 posed of in the most convenient manner possible, as 

 thought for the good of the majority. In fact, we occa- 

 sionally hear the thought expressed that such might still be 

 a good practice. 



The community of bees, either by instinct — if any one 

 can tell what that means — or by some other power, seem to 

 know when any member among them has ceased to be of 

 use to the body as a whole, and take the only possible 

 means to perpetuate the existence of the colony. Why, 

 how long do you suppose a colony of bees would live, were 

 it to provide an asylum — to illustrate the idea— in the sev- 

 eral corners of the hive, with nurses to care for the worse 

 than worthless drones, the dear old mother-queens, and the 

 ever faithful, huX weak and worn-out workers? Does it 

 show a want of love, to do the only possible thing neces- 

 sary to preserve an existence ? How persistently the little 

 heroines defend their hearthstone against all intruders, 

 even to the sacrifice of life itself. How carefully they 



