41 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



and one down; consequently one to the right and 

 one to the left. You may know, that, when so 

 turned, brace-combs were plentiful. Years ago Mr. 

 Bingham told me he did not know which way he 

 preferred them. Mr. Looft uses a very shallow 

 frame, and no one will be troubled with brace- 

 combs as badly with a frame six Inches deep as 

 with one the depth of the Langstroth, the reasons 

 for which I have explained in another article. Mr. 

 Looft talks as though from their use there was 

 never any trouble with brace-combs between two 

 supers on the hive. Most bee-keepers know that 

 bees build plenty of brace-combs between two 

 sets of frames containing comb. But, again, where 

 the frames are as shallow as Mr. Looft talks of, 

 much less brace-comb will be built. 



Mr. F. L. Smith quotes Dr. Miller as saying that 

 honey-boards, even the break-joint, will not pre- 

 vent the building of brace-combs above them ; but 

 Mr. Smith forgets to state that Dr. Miller is the 

 only person who has reported failure in that line; 

 and if Gleanings will ask for a one-line report 

 from those using them, I am confident we shall see 99 

 saying they will, to every one saying they will not; 

 and then if they will go into the deep-top-bar busi- 

 they will have good frames, and like the deep top- 

 bar, finding that they will decrease the number of 

 brace-combs built above them and below the honey- 

 board, but are nowhere nearly equal to the honey- 

 board as a practical preventive of all brace-combs. 

 Friend Smith's statement, that there is a method of 

 preventing brace-combs without the use of thick 

 top-bars or honey - boards either, he emphasizes 

 strongly, and then tells us how it is done. Simply 

 by properly adjusting frames and supers. Then he 

 goes on to tell us how to properly adjust them; and, 

 Mr. Editor, will you please put me on record as 

 strongly emphasizing the statement, that neither 

 this adjustment described by Mr. Smith, nor any 

 other, will prevent the troublesome building of 

 brace-combs when conditions are favorable for 

 that work, but the honey-board will? Perhaps Mr. 

 Smith does not know that, when any bee-space is 

 contracted to a distance Jess than I'^g, bees will build 

 brace-combs in it worse than in one larger. Do you 

 not remember, friend Root, about the experience 

 Bro. Hutchinson and I had in making wooden 

 queen-excluding honey-boards? Father Langstroth 

 was right; and not only himself, but many of us 

 who have come after, have proven him right, in de- 

 claring that is is the best passageway for bees, in 

 which they will place less glue and brace-comb than 

 in any other bee-space. Mr. Smith is correct in his 

 statement, that lots of brace-combs will be built in 

 a § bee-space. 



A little further on Bro. S. speaks about a proper 

 distance apart for frames, and quotes friend J. E. 

 Pond regarding what he has had to say in the past, 

 about crowding frames close together. Now, bees 

 will build more brace-combs between these deep 

 top-bars if placed very close together than if placed 

 scant % of an inch apart; and this is not all. There 

 Is another and more important feature in connec- 

 tion with this close spacing. I remember spending 

 several hours with friend Bingham upon this sub- 

 ject, after having exchanged several letters regard- 

 ing it. We brought up and discussed points that 

 have been entirely overlooked and not mentioned 

 by Mr. Pond and others upon the same subject. 

 These closely spaced frames do give some of the 

 results claimed by their advocates, but they are 



not as safe for wintering as those placed further 

 apart. I should prefer IV2 inches for them to winter 

 in; but I do not allow that much, because I prefer 

 less for summer. 1 split the difference between 

 what I believe to be the best winter and the best 

 summer distance, placing eight frames in just ll'/2 

 inches. Divide 11^ inches by eight, and you have 

 the exact distance we use. When any one tells 

 your readers that the practical honey-producer of 

 the future will use one distance in summer and an- 

 other in winter, please laugh at him for me. That 

 will never be. My experience differs from that of 

 friend Smith, I preferring scant % to one inch for 

 the width of top-bars. In fact, I have tried all of 

 the conditions, all at once, asked for by Bro. Smith, 

 and it will not prevent brace-comb building when 

 the bees are much inclined, but the break-joint 

 honey-board will. 



Brother S. A. Shuck is disgusted with light top- 

 bars. Here is my hand, Bro. Shuck. I have been 

 disgusted with them for many a day, and especially 

 with those sent out by our good friend Root, " so as 

 not to have so much wood in the frames." Don't 

 be afraid of distance between brood and the sur- 

 plus sections, provided that distance is made up of 

 wood, space, or any thing else above the heavens or 

 below the earth, except sealed honey. Look out for 

 that. Just here is where bee-keepers have been de- 

 ceived. It is not the distance from the brood to the 

 surplus receptacles, but it is the pesky sealed honey 

 that makes the bees reluctant to enter. We have 

 tried it on a large scale with as many as three 

 honey-boards in each hive, all breaking joints with 

 each other. Others have tried the same three 

 honey-boards, and all report that the bees enter the 

 sections with them as readily as where but one or 

 none is used. 



Now, we wonder if friend Alley means deep top- 

 bars by the words " wide top bars. " If they are 

 wider than %, they are just that much worse for us. 

 I can assure Bro. Alley, that, in this locality, his 

 wide top-bars will not work. 



Why does Mr. Kildow speak as if l^s-widebars 

 were something new? That is the old idea father 

 Langstroth gave us, and all of our older bee-keep- 

 ers know that it is not nearly as good as ?a. I will 

 conclude by saying that I have had so much ex- 

 perience, and that, too, on a large scale, and for 

 the express purpose of making the best hive ar- 

 rangement possible (the mechanical construction of 

 the bee-hive having been my greatest hobby for 

 twenty years), that I believe I am warranted in de- 

 claring that the best of all arrangements to practi- 

 cally prevent the burr-combs, or brace-combs, is 

 the break -joint honey-board. Further, in order to 

 have the least brace-comb between the brood- 

 frames and its honey-board or the cover, or any 

 thing else that rests above them, use a top-bar I of 

 an inch wide and g of an inch deep. It will not sag, 

 dangerously increasing the bee-space above it. 

 There is no appreciable objection to its use in most 

 hives. 



I really can not afford the time to look over back 

 volumes, and call your attention to the exact 

 places where I have dilated upon this subject be- 

 fore; but one of my bee-boys calls my attention to 

 page 159 of the American Bee Journal for 1879, where 

 I gave a cut of my modification of the Langstroth 

 hive, which was my preferance at that time, and in 

 connection with my description the following sen- 

 tence occurs: 



