1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



A CHEAPER IMVSMON BOAKIK 



ALSO SOME GENERAL REMARKS IN REGARD TO DIVI- 

 SION HOARDS. 



«r]?F I am rig-tit, it is admitted by all who have faith 

 Jyi in modern management of bees, that the divis- 

 — ' ion hoard is an indispensable fixture, and I be- 

 lieve it to be second only in importance to that of 

 the movable frame itself. 



The chaff division board is undoubtedly a very 

 tine arrangement, particularly for a cold hive; but- 

 then you know we want something cheaper, just the 

 same as a cheaper frame than your metal cornered 

 frame was wanted. For a chaff hive, perhaps a 

 board division is as good as chaff, and the board 

 division is perhaps the cheapest that can be devised. 

 If so, then let us all discuss and endeavor to improve 

 it just the same as other fixtures have been improv- 

 ed. This fixture seems to have been rather neglect- 

 ed, while others of less importance have had more 

 than their share of attention. 



All will agree that a division board must be effect- 

 ually prevented from warping; that it must be 

 susceptible of removal without jolting, even after 

 the bees have perfected a good glue joint; that it 

 must be air tight; that it must be so arranged as to 

 adjust or accommodate itself to any variations in 

 the make-up of a number of hives, for, while a few 

 may be found cut with great exactness, many others 

 will be found varying too much for anything but an 

 adjustable board to fit any and all of them; and, 

 lastly, it must be as cheap and as simple as possible. 

 Having these requisites in view, I have produced a 

 division board that seems to fill them admirably. 



It never will be patented, although ever so useful. 

 I have patented four inventions in my time (not 

 pertaining to bees), and they did not pay. No, gen- 

 tlemen of the bee fraternity, not near so well as 

 bees, although I keep only a small apiary. 



Were I using a single walled hive, without outside 

 protection, a chaff division board would be decidedly 

 essential; but, in reverse cases, all that is needed is 

 one that will effectually retain the animal heat, be- 

 cause, you see, these boards are placed in a position, 

 where condensation can not take place in the man- 

 ner you so forcibly illustrate in your ABC. 



In August, 1878, 1 made a new chaff hive with walls 

 not so thick as yours, and placed a late, medium 

 sized swarm in it, contracted to 6 frames with a pair 

 of division boards made after the fashion of the one 

 sent you. After the first long and severe cold spell, 

 I found them as dry as in summer, with scarcely a 

 dead bee, while others were dripping wet and had 

 suffered severely, and they had a single wall and 

 chaff divisions. This one, with the chaff hive and 

 board divisions, kept dry and clean all the winter 

 through, and spring too; they also kept their num- 

 bers good by constantly breeding, and in very early 

 spring were "on the boom" saving for me several 

 feeble stocks; during the swarming season, I drew 

 on them for 2 good stocks, and, in addition, took 50, 

 pound sections. 



I do not produce this isolated case as being suffi- 

 cient proof in regard to the virtue of these division 

 boards, for, of course, it is not; but it does prove 

 one thing quite conclusively; that is, they effectual- 

 ly retained the animal heat, otherwise the bees 

 could not have bred up so like magic as they did 

 during so cold and backward a spring as the last one. 



BAKER'ti simmer division board. 



Well, here it is, taken from a colony, right out of 

 practical use, this very day. From my experience, 

 they will remove the year around, leaving the oil 

 cloth strips or segments at the ends as sound as 

 these. I find that it tries the coils that shut in over 

 the metal rabbets much harder than the segments, 

 as this division board will show for itself. I use a 

 frame just the size of 6 Langstroth sections, so you 

 see this board will not fit 5-our hive. If I would take 

 both oil cloth segments off the board and hang it in 

 my hive, there would bo just ?i in. space at each 

 end. The segments a little more than fill this space 

 so that they slightly depress when placed in the 

 hive. This, then, is the manner in which the divis- 

 ion board accommodates its shape to the walls of 

 the hive, and thus, too, being of a yielding structure 

 removes quite freely. D. B. Baker. 



Kollersvillc, Sandusky Co., O., Oct. 22, 18T9. 



To make this division board, you would 

 get out 7-8 boards, about 1 in. less in length 

 than the hive is wide. The bottom, where 

 it strikes the bottom board, is brought to a 

 sharp edge, to avoid killing bees. With a 

 half-inch cutter head, now run a groove in 

 each end of the board, in which to drive the 

 strips 1-2 by 7-8, to prevent the board from 

 warping. If these grooves are 1-2 in. deep, 

 we have the strips standing out 3-8 in., and 

 this allows just about the proper amount of 

 room for tacking on the strip of oil cloth. 

 The oil cloth is so loose, that it bulges into a 

 sort of half tube; and when the division 

 board is pressed into the hive, it makes a 

 perfectly close joint. The top bar is just like 

 the top bar to any frame, and to close the 

 holes in the rabbets, little rolls of oil cloth 

 are tacked to each supporting arm, in a very 

 secure and ingenious way, orignated, I sup- 

 pose, by friend Baker. As this idea seems 

 to be an excellent one for closing the rabbet, 

 with any kind of a division board. I will try 

 to make it plain. Get a strip of oil cloth, 

 about tj or 7 inches long, as wide at one end, 

 as your top bar, and gradually tapering to i 

 in. wide at the other end. Tack the broad 

 end directly across the end of the top bar, 

 and. commencing at the narrow end, roll it 

 up tight. When rolled clear up, it will come 

 under the end of the top bar, as shown in 

 the engraving. Now, before you let the roll 

 slip out of your lingers, fasten it with two 

 small tacks. The strip's being narrower at 

 the end inside of the roll will make the roll 

 look like a short tube, and a tack is to be put 

 inside of this tube, one at each end, and 

 driven up into the underside of the top bar. 

 I am thus particular, for, if you do not fast- 

 en these rolls securely, the propolis will pull 

 them out, and they will be left sticking in- 

 side of the rabbet, when the board is moved 

 along or pulled out hastily. These boards 



