18 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



frames in each, and the top-bars were one Inch 

 thick. All my bars are •« wide. The rest of the 

 apiary had the regulation top-bars, with honey- 

 boards of various designs. 



Result: In experiment No. 1, the narrow honey- 

 board was badly glued to the frames, and slightly 

 stuck to the Tease; but it was perfectly free over 

 the thick top-bar frames, and the frames them- 

 selves were as clean as when first put in. In ex- 

 periment No. 3 there were no burr-combs on top 

 of the frames, but comb between some of the slats 

 over their frames. In experiment No. ;5, on the 

 first hivo I placed a T super directly on the frames. 

 On the second hive I used the Heddon case. On the 

 remaining two I used brood-frames There was 

 not a vestige of comJ) on top of the frames of any 

 of them, and only a trace of propolis. This occur- 

 red after the season was over. The first time I took 

 off honey they were bright and clean. The experi- 

 ments were conducted with black bees. My blacks 

 beat the Italians badly on white clover, while Ital- 

 ians led on the fall Howers. Wm. S. Adams. 



Guys, Md., Dec. 5, 18,S9. 



Again, our friend C. G. Looft adds his 

 testimony as follows : 



THICK TOP-BARS AND NO BURR-COMBS ; POSITIVE 

 TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF THEM. 



Reading Dr. Miller's article in Gleanings, Nov. 

 1.'), relating to the width and thickness of top-bars, 

 and the fact that considerable interest in them is 

 being manifested, and that information regarding 

 this subject seems to be quite welcome, induced 

 me to arrange a few fact.s out of my experience 

 with brood-frames which have top-bars of this 

 kind. It is quite a wonder to me, in view of the 

 length of time that this matter has been before the 

 bee-keeping public, that so few of the best writers 

 on apiculture have not tried frames with such top- 

 bars before this, and so be able from actual experi- 

 ence to give absolute information about the main 

 quality claimed for them— that of preventing the 

 building of brace-combs over top-bars. True, Mr. 

 Alley, in his usual vigorous style, has been claim- 

 ing for some time that the honey-board is of no 

 use; and Mr. Bingham, who has used thick top-bars 

 for years, says the same thing; and it strikes me 

 that he is the man who can give considerable In- 

 formation on this point. 



To do away with the honey-boards, their cost of 

 making, extra labor in handling, and to avoid the 

 cleaning of brace-combs from them and the tops of 

 the frames, which Dr. Miller says is no light job, is 

 certainly very desirable, when, as in my experi- 

 ence, the building of brace-combs can be prevent- 

 ed in so simple a manner as making the top-bars 

 thick enough up and down, and of the proper 

 width. 



I have in use a sort of modified Bingham frame, 

 about six inches deep, end-bars 1% inches wide, 

 with Alley top-bars, which, as I make them, are I 

 inch wide and >| inch thick. During the past year, 

 in my locality, so far as brace-combs are concerned 

 they have proven to be entirely satisfactory, there 

 being no more trouble of brace-combs between the 

 top of the brood-nest and queen-excluding honey- 

 board than there is in the bee-space between two 

 supers on the hive. I also have some frames about 

 the depth of the regular Langsti-oth, which, so far 

 as I can see, worked equally well. Mr brother, 

 who uses a shallow frame like the one I use, makes 

 his top-bars 1 inch wide by 's inch thick, and will 



have no other. He rips them out of common %- 

 inch boards. For frames deeper than the Bing- 

 ham, my preference is the thicker, or '« bar. 



Here it is proper to mention an interesting fact. 

 In hiving new swarms 1 used queen-excluders; but 

 my brother hived all his new swarms into these 

 empty frames, without excluders, after having 

 placed the supers from the parent colony upon 

 them, yet in not a single instance was there any 

 brood reared in the supers. Whether this was 

 caused by the form of the frames or of the super, I 

 am unable to say. It is important that the width of 

 the top-bars be in proportion to the distance that 

 the frames are spaced apart from center to center. 

 Extreme width is undesirable. In that case you 

 would likely have the trouble of which Mr. Heddon 

 complains, page 669; yet Mr. Kildow, page 03:2, re- 

 ports a success with only ,'u-inch space between the 

 frames, while Mr. Root's experience, as stated in 

 his foot-note to Mr. Kildow's letter, was about the 

 same as Mr. Heddon's. 



It seems to me the whole essence of the thing lies 

 in having top-bars thick enough, and spaced the 

 regular bee-space apart; for is it not reasonable to 

 suppose that the same bee.-space which so nicely 

 prevents brace-combs being built between two su- 

 pers tiered above each other would also prevent 

 their being built between thick top bars'? and when 

 they are not built between them there are none 

 built over them. Any one, of course, can test 

 these statements for himself; and I will say to 

 those who should test the arrangement just men- 

 tioned, and it should work as well as it has in my 

 locality, there can be no doubt of their being en- 

 tirely satisfied with the results. C. G. Looft. 



Forest, O., Dec. 5. 



F. L. Smith says : 



HONEY-BOARDS AND BRACE-COMBS ; HOW TO DO 

 AWAY WITH BOTH. 



Allow me to reply to Dr. Miller's article on the 

 topic as above in Gleanings, Nov. 15, page 888. On 

 the following page the doctor is anxious to know 

 whether thick top-bars will allow him to dispense 

 with honey-boards entirely. My experience with 

 thick top-bars is limited to half a dozen hives. I 

 found no brace-combs; but at the beginning of the 

 next season I transferred combs and brood into 

 three-eighths-inch top-bar. My objections'were, the 

 inch-thick top bar brought my sections too far 

 from the brood, and I found the bees did not enter 

 sections as readily as they did with ^g-inch top-bar; 

 and in the production of comb honey I consider it 

 of the utmost importance to bring the sections 

 down as near the brood as possible. As to using a 

 honey-board, I have always considered them an ex- 

 pensive incumbrance. I have never found it nec- 

 essary to use one of any kind, not even a queen-ex- 

 cluding one. The inventors of honey-boards claim 

 they will prevent brace-combs; but according to 

 Dr. Miller's experience they do not entirely. 



There is a method to prevent brace-combs, with- 

 out the use of thick top-bars or honey-board, and I 

 wish to emphasize it very strongly. It is simply by 

 properly adjusting frames and supers. To prevent 

 brace-combs, let us first ascertain why they are 

 built. 



My answer is, to fill unrequired space. Contract 

 that space to the actual requirements of bees, and 

 we shall find no brace-combs, which can be proved 

 by any practical apiarist by experiment. To illus- 

 trate: Place the super so there shall be an inch 



