IMHII 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



527 



0ai^ QaEg3Fi0j\i.B0;[, 



With Replies from our best Auttiorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in for this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a separate slip or paper, 

 and marked, "For Our Question-Box." 



Question 10-4.— TT'^at width do you i^refer for top- 

 barsf Forbottom-hars? 



1. 3. Ja inch. 

 Wisconsin. S. W. 



1. 2 "« of an inch. 

 Michigan. C. 



7i all around. 

 Illinois. 



1, 2. J inch. 

 Illlaois. N. W. 



S. I. Freeborn. 



A. J. Cook. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Dadant & Son. 



I have always used them ''a of an inch wide. 

 Ohio. N. W. A.B.Mason. 



Not wider than worker-brood comb. 2. If any 

 different, narrower. 

 New York. C. P. H. Elwood. 



We make all of our frames out of Pa x 7^ pine lum- 

 ber—tops, sides, and bottoms all the same. 

 Wisconsin. S. W. E.France. 



One inch. 2. % inch. After experimenting for 

 years 1 adopted the above, and have no desire to 

 change, at present at least. 



New York. C. G. M. Doolittle. 



Not wider than % In any case, nor narrower than 

 ?*; bottom-bars the same, so far as width is con- 

 cerned. 



Michigan. S. W. James Heddon. 



One inch, I suppose, because I have always used 

 that width. 2. '3 ; I have tried V2, but that is too 

 narrow, as the bees buiid comb around and under 

 them. 



Vermont. N. W. A. E. Manum. 



Our top-bars are of inch stuff, running down to a 

 beveled edge. Our bottom-bars of frames are Ji 

 inch wide, just the size of worker-combs— the best 

 size for the prevention of brace-combs. 



Ohio. S. W. C. F. MuTH. 



One inch, both for ease in manipulating frames 

 and uncapping honey, although in this county the 

 uniform width is Ja, being more convenient for the 

 planing-mill men in cutting them from scraps in 

 making hives. 2. % inch. 



California. S. W. R. Wilkin. 



I keep my preference for Js'-inch bars until some 

 other style of bar is proven a sure remedy for 

 brace-combs. Then, if the desirable thing is not 

 too awkward, I may adopt it. 2. Bottom-bars might 

 be as narrow as ?8 if there were any object In hav- 

 ing them different from the tops. 



Ohio. N. W. E. E. Hasty. 



1 have always used :'6 for both top and bottom. I 

 find a wider top or bottom interferes with uncap- 

 ping when the extractor is used. The wide top and 

 bottom bar becomes a still further nuisance in this 

 respect when closed-end bars are used. A spoon- 

 shaped uncapping-knife would have to be used. 



New York. E. Rambler. 



Such a width that, when properly spaced, there 

 will he between the top-bars just a bee-space and 

 no more. 2. A little less than the top-bars, in order 

 to give the bees free passageway between them. 

 I see nothing practical in lieing very nice about the 

 width of bottom-bars unless we have some means 

 of spacing them uniformly. 



Ohio. N. W. H. R. BOARDMAN. 



1, 2. I do not know. I have always used them Ji 

 wide. I do not want them much less, and I am not 

 sure that I want them wider. I am going to try 

 500 frames this season with top and bottom bars an 

 inch wide. This is for brood-frames at fixed dis- 

 tances. For the ordinary hanging-frame I am very 

 sure I should not want them wider than 'a. My 

 frames for extracting are wider, but combs are 

 thicker— Tin U% inches. 



Illinois. N. C. J. A. Green. 



1. That width which will allow I'V of an inch be- 

 tween them. If I'-'i is the proper distance from 

 center to center, then I believe top-bars should be 

 If'^ wide. 2. I should want bottom-bars just as wide 

 as toptiars, if they would stay at rejiular distances 

 apart. But with the ordinary hanging frame, if 

 you look under the bottom-bare you will see they 

 have a way of getting together and spreading 

 apart, so that, to keep them from being glued to- 

 gether, they must not be more than '3 wide. Even 

 at that width mine are too often glued together. 



Illinois. N. C. C. Miller. 



I am a little surprised to find the testimo- 

 ny so universal fur I ; but, dear friends, is 

 it not a good deal because we have used the 

 I so long, and have not tried any thing else ? 

 Dr. Miller makes a suggestion which I wish 

 to emphasize. If your hives have movable 

 bottoms, just take a look some time and 

 see how the bottom-bars are spaced— I mean 

 after you have put the top-bars in very good 

 shape. By tipping the hive back from the 

 bottom-board you can get a glimpse of the 

 bottom-bars. Now, wlienever I have look- 

 ed at them it has seemed to me a little un- 

 fortunate that we should leave things in 

 such shape, and expect the bees to manage 

 all right with all sorts of distances, and 

 combs even sticking together at their low- 

 er edges. 



We solicit for this department short items and questions of 

 a practical nature; but all questions, if accompanied by oth- 

 er matter, must be put upon a SEPARATE slip of paper with 

 name and address. 



ROYAL GLUE FOR LABELS ON TIN. 



If you will use "Royal glue" for sticking labels 

 on cans and pails, I think they will ttay. I don't 

 have any trouble in making them stick with it. 



Washington, Ind., May 3. Mrs. S. D. Cox. 



EVERY THING SEEMS TO YIELD HONEY. 



The past ten days have been good bee-weather, 

 and bees are just booming here. All the little 

 apiaries are increasing 100 and 200 per cent. My 

 own is not swarming so much, but working in sec- 

 tions, and it looks as though I should have cases 

 filled and capped by July 4— unusual here. Every 

 thing seems to yield honey. A. A. Lewis. 



Waterbury, Vt., June 24. 



