Vol. XVIII. 



DEC. 1, lh90. 



No. 23. 



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MANUM AT HOME. 



THIN OK THICK TOP - FRAMES IN VERMONT; 

 HIE PROSPECTS FOR ANOTHER SEASON. 



" Walk in. Charles. You are just the chap I 

 want to see. I have been wishing some one 

 would come in to chat with me. I have not 

 had a good talk on bees since Mr. Root was 

 here. I wish you had been here that day. You 

 would have been interested in his talk oh wide- 

 thick top-bars and closed-end frames. Why, 

 he had, as it were, every pocket stuffed full of 

 wide end-bars, and a bundle of wide-deep top- 

 bars under each arm, which he had collected 

 while journeying through the State of New 

 York: and, judging by the way he clung to 

 them, I concluded he intended to take them all 

 home with him." 



" Well, how came he to become so greatly in- 

 terested in so much surplus lumber?" asks 

 Charles. 



" Well, you know there has been much said 

 in Gleanings of late on this subject, very 

 many claiming that deep top-bars are a sure 

 preventive of burr-combs; and many of the ad- 

 vocates of " deep top-bars " have attempted to 

 show by their well-written articles that they 

 are a success, and our young editor has caught 

 the fever, and has got it l)ad. How long a run 

 he will have, depends altogether upon what 

 kind of remedies he takes, and in how large 

 doses." 



" I have never used toi)-bars any thicker than 

 v'g," says Charles, " and I can hardly see the 

 need of their being any thicker, unless it may 

 be to prevent sagging: but I have no trouble 

 with mine sagging; and surely with %-thick 

 bars there is % of an inch to each frame of 

 lost room; and, besides, tiicrc is just so much 

 more space from the brood to tiie sections, 

 that the bees have to travc^l over, to say noth- 

 ing of the extra ex])ense in lumber and work. 

 Now, Manum, after talking with Ernest and 

 reading the different articles on the subject, 



what is your opinion as to the advantage the 

 thick top-bars have over the thin, or % bars '? 

 Do you think they will entirely prevent burr 

 or brace combs being built?" 



" Well, Charles, I will .say to you just as I did 

 to Ernest, that I have never used thicker top- 

 bars than % (mine now are all ^), hence I do 

 not consider myself prepared to decide, much 

 less to advise. But I have had some experience 

 with various kinds of hives and bees in differ- 

 ent locations and in varied seasons, and I have 

 pretty much come to the conclusion that the 

 cause of the building of burr and brace combs 

 is traceable to the strain of bees and the[man- 

 agement or attention given the bees during any 

 honey-flow, but more especially a late flow of 

 honey. Of course, an improper space between 

 the top of the frame and the bottom of the 

 honey- board or bottom of sections, as well as 

 the improper spacing of combs, has much to do, 

 I believe, with burr-combs. But my experience 

 of last fall, with a late flow of honey, leads me 

 to believe that the one great cause of so much 

 cry over burr-combs is due to a late flow of hon- 

 ey, which stimulates the bee instinct to fill up 

 every vacant place or crevice at the approach 

 of cold weather: hence these brace and burr 

 combs are built to keep every thing secure and 

 in a rigid position. This late flow, coming, as 

 it does in most localities, after the surplus re- 

 ceptacles are removed, and being, as a matter 

 of cour.se, somewhat cramped for room, they 

 have the very best of opportunity to exercise 

 their bee-instinct to hedge in, much as we 

 NortlieriHM-s do for the winter, during our In- 

 dian summer. This fact we had the best of op- 

 portunity to observe last fall; for, you will re- 

 member, quite a number of my hives, as well as 

 your own. were pretty well stuck up with burr- 

 combs, especially the strong colonies that were 

 full of lionev. Therefore I am of the opinion 

 that deep top"-l)ais will; not prevent the build- 

 ing of Ituir-combs during a good late flow of 

 honey, or during any flow of honey when there 

 is no other place to store it than in the brood- 



