174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



if they did come from a camp-meeting. The 

 trouble is, these things are apt to start a 



Precedent, and I should very much prefer to 

 ave it reported that we had declined sell- 

 ing honey on Sunday, rather than the other 

 way. I think that, if it were a near neigh- 

 bor, with whom we were on very familiar 

 terms, I would give him the honey, and 

 tell him that he could settle for it the next 

 day ; but I don't think I should hunt up the 

 scales to weigh it. Better make him a pres- 

 ent of a couple of pounds of honey — far bet- 

 ter—rather than in any way let down your 

 custom of remembering the Sabbath day. 



WIDE TOP-BARS ; BEES GO INTO THE SUPERS JUST 

 AS READILY WITH THE THICK BARS. 



Seeing there is somewhat of a discussion going 

 on about wide top-bars and thick top-bars to pre- 

 vent burr-combs, I thought I would give you my 

 experience of the last three years. As I never used 

 any top-bars '% thick, T shall have nothing to say on 

 that score. The top-bars to my hives are one inch 

 wide and !4 inch thick, spaced 1% inches from cen- 

 ter to center. With young swarms there are no 

 burr-combs. With old colonies there are plenty of 

 them, and the queen would go into the super if not 

 prevented. Three years ago I took friend Alley's 

 advice and made my top-bars li^g wide and ;g thick, 

 spaced just the same as above. I have no burr- 

 combs from young or old colonies, nor does the 

 queen go into the super. I can take off an extra 

 super on a section super (where there is no honey- 

 board), and the frames are all clean and nice— no 

 burr-combs to stick them down. The bee-space 

 over my top-bars is fi^ inch. I shall vote for wide 

 and thick top-bars every time. I shall continue to 

 use queen-excluding honey-boards for extracted 

 honey. I do not have any trouble from the bees 

 entering the supers over the thick top-bars, and I 

 do not see but that they go up just as quickly over 

 the 13 top-bar as they did over the half-inch-thick 

 top-bar. There is one thing, however, that com- 

 pensates us for our trouble; that is, we have no 

 sagging frames in our brood-nest. The combs are 

 true, and straight as a board. A. A. Byard. 



West Chesterfield, N. H., Feb. 8. 



Your last point, that bees go into the su- 

 pers just as readily with the thick bars as 

 with the thin ones, is valuable. Some of 

 the friends (who probably had not tested 

 the matter) thought it would make a differ- 

 ence. 



THICK BARS ; QUEENS NOT ALWAYS GOING ABOVE 

 THEM. 



Ernest asks, on page 20, " Are there not some 

 who have tried extra thick top-bars of extra width?" 

 etc. To this allow me to say: Fifteen years ago I 

 adopted a frame made of material one inch wide, 

 top-bars being ^i and some '« inch thick; and ever 

 since, I have had in constant use about 150 hives 

 with such bars. As far as preventing burr-combs 

 on top of frames is concerned— supers always prop- 

 erly adjusted— they have not proven satisfactory. 

 It was not until 1885 and 1886, when I was in busi- 

 ness in Virginia, each year handling about 200 colo- 

 nies in L. and similar hives, having % x % top-bars, 

 that I began to notice the greater amount of burr- 

 combs on top of the frames in these hives. Mr. H. 

 W. Bass, in Front Royal, Va., I think, will remem- 

 ber the discussions we bad there on this subject at 

 that time. However, I attributed the smaller 



amount of brace-comb to the greater width rather 

 more than to the greater thickness of the top-bars; 

 and I hold to that opinion to-day. My conclusion' 

 seems to be upheld by observations made on a 

 number of reversible-frame hives, having top-bara 

 of ^8-inch thickness, and also on a number of other 

 hives, which had the brood-combs crowded closer 

 together. My bees in the first-named hives did not 

 show any more of a desire to build burr-combs 

 than in the hives having heavier bars. In the last- 

 named hives the amount of brace-comb decreased 

 in the same ratio as the space between the top-bars 

 decreased. Summing up, I believe we can put it 

 down as a rule, that " the less space between top- 

 bars, the less burr-comb on top of frames; "but 

 whether or not we can entirely dispense with Hed- 

 don's slatted honey - board, further experiments 

 must settle. 



Somewhat contradictory to Mr. C. G. Looft's ex- 

 perience, I find that my queens will occasionally 

 enter the supers, notwithstanding nearly all my 

 hives have top-bars one inch wide by ?4 x \ inch 

 thick. This, however, I do not consider any great 

 damage, for a few sections with drone brood have a 

 wonderful influence in starting a Inzy colony in the 

 section-super, and I am glad whenever I find a few 

 such. F. Greineb. 



Naples, N. Y., Feb. 1. 



In the first instances, if your top-bars had 

 been spaced (\- of an inch apart, I feel quite 

 sure you would have had no burr-combs. 

 Thickness^ as well as close spacing, is im- 

 portant. We tried, last summer, tozde top- 

 bars spaced I inch apart, but only I inch 

 thick, and we had some burr-comb, but 

 much less than on the other hives. Your 

 point, that a little brood in the sections acts 

 as an incentive for entering the same, is 

 good. E. R. 



COVER-BOARDS TO PREVENT WARPING. 



I am much interested in the various ideas, no- 



I tions, and devices brought forward by 



j your correspondents; and I would sug- 



I gest, for Dr. Miller's benefit, a cover 



with the ends of the board grooved out, 



and a good hard-wood cleat, with tongue, 



same thickness as the board. No doubt 



this has been thought of, and rejected 



for good reasons. Wm. H. Allen. 



Monroe, Mass., Feb. 8. 



Your cleat would be good ; but a groove 

 wide enough to take in the whole end of the 

 board would be better. 



'-0 



K^n 



DO BEES WORK ALL NIGHT? 



Do bees work at night? Do they carry on comb- 

 building, feeding brood, laying, etc.? lean find no 

 reference to it except in the Dzierzon Theory, and 

 in cases where they are fed just at night. 



ABC Scholar. 



Bees work all night whenever there is 

 work to be done ; and there is always more 

 or less to be done during almost every 

 month in the year. Brood is fed all night 

 as much as in the day time. Cells are pre- 

 pared for the queen to lay in, and the queen 

 goes on with egg-laying just the same. 

 During the honey season, more comb is 

 built during the night than at any other 

 time, and both pollen and honey are taken 

 from the cells where the workers deposit it 

 during the day, leave it where wanted, prop- 



