1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



205 



such have been built. In the sample which 

 I have, the bars are i inch thick, and i inch 

 wide. In your letter, friend Ames, you say 

 the width is U. Did you ever try only i, 

 spaced IS? Some unknown friend, whose 

 name I do not now recall, wrote some time 

 ago that an additional top bar spaced i inch 

 below the top-bar proper, in ordinary 

 frames, would prevent the building of burr- 

 combs. At any rate, another friend, Mr. 

 M. M. Baldridge, has written in this wise : 



THICK TOP-BARS. 



NEW PLAN FOR MAKINO THEM : SHALLOW FRAMES 



VS. DEEP FRAMES ; WIRED FRAMES ; STARTERS 



VS. FDLL SHEETS IN SECTIONS. 



Friend Root:— I have read with interest what you 

 and others have to say in GIjEANINGS on the sub- 

 ject of thick and wide top-bars to brood-frames as a 

 preventive of burr-combs, and a discourager of the 

 queen's asoension to the surplus chamber. I think 

 it will pay you and others to experiment extensive- 

 ly in the direction of thick top-bars to brood- 

 frames, because, if you gain nothing- by so doing- in 

 the directions referred to, I think you will sooner 

 or later discover that a shalbiw frame in your Dove- 

 tailed hive will g-ive you better results than a deep 

 one. If you make the top-bars an inch thick, more 

 or less, it will certainly reduce the capacity of your 

 brood-frames, which is on the road to shallow 

 frames, and sooner or later you will g-et these — say, 

 to one not more than 7 inches deep, inside measure. 

 This is the depth I use, even in the standard L. 

 hives, which gives me a two-inch space under the 

 brood-frames. Now, you may think it will not do 

 to have so much space under the frames in the 

 brood-chamber because the bees will fill it with 

 comb. But this is not my experience, for I seldom 

 find any comb in this space when the bees are given 

 ample accommodations "'n the surplus chamber. 

 Besides, I find this two-inch space a splendid ar- 

 rangement in the wintering of bees, whether out- 

 doors or in repositories. I wish both you and your 

 readers would try a few hives the coming season, 

 with shallow frames, such as I use, and report. 

 One advantage is, in case you accept my sugges- 

 tion, you can give shallow frames a thorough trial 

 without any special expense, simply by using new 

 frames of the proper depth, or by reducing those 

 already in use. 



But my main purpose at this time is to call your 

 attention to my plan of making thick top-bars to 

 brood-frames, and at the same time to secure the 

 advantages of the slatted honey-board, and the 

 twin bee-space that the board secures when made 

 properly, and yet dispense entirely with the said 

 honey-board. It is simply this: Make the top bar 

 to the brood-frames three-fourths or seven-eighths 

 of an inch thick by either of the following plans: 

 1. By using two flat strips, each -j'ii thick, and space 

 them ,V inch apart the entire length— the top strip 

 to be long enough to hang upon the rabbets, and 

 the bottom one the exact length of the inside of 

 the brood frames. The ^i-inch space between 

 should be e.xact, and maybe secured by the use of 

 three square blocks, each J4 inch thick, and the 

 same width as the top and bottom strip. [Jse one 

 at each end, and the third block in the center, and 

 secure them in place with wire nails. Or, second, 

 the top piece may be got out % or '« thick, perpen- 



dicularly, and the J^-lnch slot may be secured by 

 means of circular saws. 



Now, friend Root, do you not see that the forego- 

 ing secures a thick top-bar to the frames, and the 

 twin bee-space at the same time, when a bee-space 

 is used above the brood-frames? And yet we have 

 got rid of the slatted honey-board! Besides this, 

 we have secured a brood-frame whose top-bar will 

 not sag, when full of brooder honey, and that will 

 do away with tin supports and diagonal wires. I 

 find in practice that six perpendicular wires simply. 

 No. 30, are ample in standard L. or the shallow 

 frames; and I would not have more, even if I could 

 just as well as not. I can wire 300 brood-frames, 

 7^4 in. deep, outside measure, the depth I use, with 

 a 1-lb. spool of No. 30 wire, and never have a sheet 

 of foundation give way, even when large swarms 

 are hived in hot weather upon a full set. Now, 

 what more do we want in that direction? 



St. Charles, III., Jan. 14. M. M. Baldridge. 



I am glad to get your testimony, friend 

 B., on tbis very interesting question. I am 

 not so sure about the shallow frames. Per- 

 haps there will be an advantage in making 

 them only seven inches deep. If reversing 

 should ever prove to be desirable, a double 

 top - bar and a double bottom - bar would 

 leave an ordinary L. frame only about 7 

 inches deep. The very great majority of 

 bee-keepers prefer the standard L. frame ; 

 and even if there were a slight advantage 

 in making it shallower they would not 

 change, for the reason that they would not 

 be in line. While we are on reversing, has 

 it not occurred to you that we could make a 

 reversible frame on Heddon's plan, with 

 double top-bar, very easily? Instead of 

 making the two bars come in contact, as 

 does Mr. Ileddon, make them come i inch 

 apart. The frame could be easily reversed, 

 and, whichever side up, there would be al- 

 ways the double top-bar. As I have called 

 for votes on the thick top-bar, I should also 

 like to have short testimonies from those 

 who may possibly have tried the double top- 

 bar. E. R. 



I will add, that using an L. frame two 

 inches shallower, especially for experiment, 

 will not make much trouble in an apiary of 

 L. frames. If the shallow frame were put 

 between two ordinary frames, however, bees 

 might build combs under the bottom-bar ; 

 and if it should by accident be placed in an 

 upper story, it would, without question, 

 make trouble, because the bees will fill the 

 space all up solid with honey. Our readers 

 will remember that this rnatter of a two- 

 inch space under the bottom-bars was given 

 on page 129 by friend Murray. 

 NO burr-combs. 



In regard to the thick top-bars, let me say: I have 

 never used any other than Js x %, and had very lit- 

 tle trouble with burr or brace comb between 

 frames, and none at all above. Since I have seen 

 the slatted break-joint honey-board, I make my top- 

 bars one inch wide and Ji deep, and find this still 

 better. Forty years ago in Germanj-, aad later in 

 America, before frames were known, we used sec- 

 tional hives 13 x 13 in. inside, and from 3 to 7 in. 

 deep; and even in them we made frames with Jgx 

 top-bars. I was astonished when I first saw your 

 t inch top-bars. L. Hammerschmidt. 



Amana, la., Feb. 32. 



