20 



GLEAi;flNGS IN BE£ CULTUEE. 



Jan. 



is very difficult to remove the combs from a hive. 

 Now, this can be mostly if not wholly obviated if 

 wide top-bars are used; and as there is no reasona- 

 ble objection to using- such, I would strongly ad- 

 vise the novice to adopt them at the beginning. 



On page 632, August 1, 1889, A. L. Kildow 

 declares most emphatically for top-bars H 

 inches wide by i inch thick. He says : " I 

 used this kind of frame last year, and this 

 in alK)Ut SO colonies ; and I have yet to tind 

 the first bit of burr-comb between. It brings 

 the sections close to the brood-nest, and the 

 bees are quick to enter them." Now, then, 

 friends, you have the whole matter before 

 you. The facts brought forward seem to be 

 positive and convincing. If, indeed, fur- 

 ther testimony should substantiate all that 

 has been said above, then it would seem that 

 honey-boards might better be dispensed with 

 in all cases, except where it is desirable to 

 exclude the queen from the supers ; and 

 even then, plain sheets of zinc could be used 

 in place of the regular bee-spaced slatted 

 honey-board. T lirst thought that the frames 

 with thick top-bars, an inch or H inches 

 wide, would cost considerably more than 

 our regular frames ; but in talking with our 

 foreman he informs me that they can be 

 made for very nearly if not quite the same 

 price as the ordinary regulation |-inch-wide 

 top-bars. But a question comes in right here 

 that does not seem to be settled, and about 

 wliich there does not seem to be an entire 

 agreement of opinion : Is it necessary, if the 

 top-bars are U inches wide, that they be 

 also i inch thick? Has experience demon- 

 strated that the extra thickness and the ex- 

 tra width are both essential in the preven- 

 tion of burr-combs V It may be argued, that 

 the extra wood in the top-bar takes up comb 

 space. But in answer it may be said that it 

 more than offsets this by the prevention of 

 useless burr-combs, and the consequent labor 

 of removing them. 



Now, then, as I said before, the testimony 

 seems to be convincing; but experience 

 teaches us that it is wise to go a little slow. 

 Are there not some who have tried the ex- 

 tra-thick top-bars, coupled with the extra 

 width, and found them a failure in the point 

 at issue? Again, are there not others who 

 can substantiate the facts already brought 

 forward ? This matter of the prevention of 

 burr-combs, when it may be done so cheap- 

 ly, I deem to be one of the most important 

 subjects we can discuss ; so let us have the 

 truth, let it be for or against. Ernest. 



THE DOVETAILED HIVE. 



IS THERE ANY DANGER FROM UNEQUAL. SHRINK- 

 AGE OF SIDES OR END ? 



It seems to me just a little reckless to allow a new 

 thing to become as prominent as has the new Dove- 

 tailed hive without its having been more thorough- 

 ly tried. It may be said, that there was nothit'g 

 really new about it, only a new combination of old 

 things. At any rate, it's too late now to stop it, and 

 the only thing left is to discuss its merits or demer- 

 its with a view to retaining or changing any of its 

 features, and to show up, if need be, any dangers 

 that may arise in the making or using thereof. 

 And I can't say a great deal about it, for I've only 

 a few in use for a single season. The dovetail fea- 



ture is perhaps the most striking thing about the 

 hive, and that feature will, in some hands, secure 

 the perfection of joints, and in others a failure. In 

 these days, when every thing runs so much to 

 specialties, this does not matter so much, for few 

 will want to cut out the stuff for their own hives. 

 I consider myself as good a mechanic as the ma- 

 jority of bee-keepers; but I would not undertake, 

 with the tools of the average bee-keeper, to make a 

 dovetailed hive-body satisfactory to myself for less 

 than double the price charged by A. I. Koot for the 

 same body. To be at all satisfactory, the dove- 

 tails must be made with exceeding accuracy; and 

 even after being made with the nice machinery 

 friend Root uses, I should want to put my hives to- 

 gether just as soon as possible after receiving them, 

 for 1 have no great faith in their remaining accu- 

 rate a long- time without being put together. It 

 is practically impossible to get stuff to remain in 

 this climate without shrinking or swelling; and the 

 end of a hive will not shrink or swell with certainty 

 exactly as the side; so if they shrink or swell un- 

 equally after being cut out, and before being put 

 together, there will be trouble about getting the 

 joints together, and considerable certainty of split- 

 ting. After all, that is not so great an objection, 

 for the price of the ready-made article is so low 

 that the average bee-keeper will not be tempted to 

 cutout the stuff for himself, unless so far distant 

 that freight-bills are prohibitory. In fact, one of 

 the best features of the Dovetailed hive, as offered, 

 is that it is a marvel of cheapness. After keeping 

 hives years enough to throw some of them aside 

 from old age, I have found one of the greatest dif- 

 ficulties is to have joints that will stay. Twenty 

 years from now, if I should live so long, I can tell 

 better about the dovetailed joint; but I feel pretty 

 certain it is away ahead of any thing I have ever 

 tried. Take the simplest kind of joint, one end of a 

 board merely nailed on the end of another board, 

 as in the common dry-goods box; and if enough 

 nails are used it is about impossible for the board 

 containing the points of the nails to warp, while no 

 amount of nails will prevent the warping of the 

 board containing the nail-heads. Now, in the case 

 of the Dovetailed hive, each board at the joint con- 

 tains nail-points. There may be just a little warp- 

 ing allowed at each outside tenon at the corner 

 where the warping of the board tends to draw out 

 the nail; but I think that can be entirely prevented 

 by driving a two-inch nail, not in the same way aa 

 in the other tenons, but perpendicularly into the 

 corner, so that no effort of the board to warp can 

 draw the nail, but merely pull upon it sidewlse. 

 The peculiar cleat at the ends of the cover is a pret- 

 ty thing in theory, but I don't like it in practice. 

 It is so much easier to put in place quickly on the 

 hive a perfectly flat surface. The cleat is grooved 

 to let in the end of the cover thus: the idea being 

 that it will be held more firmly in 

 place, and a single nail at the middle 

 of the cleat will hold it secure, and at 

 the same time allow the board to 

 shrink and swell without causing the splitting that 

 is supposed would take place if the cleat were nail- 

 ed throughout. 



For a few years I have used a cover which is the 

 same, except the cleat, and I use the plain cleat, 



□ making the under surface of the cover 

 entirely fiat, the cleat projecting above. 

 Five 'i)i or 3 inch wire nails driven into 



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