Vol. XIII. 



]»IAKCH 15, 18S5. 



No. 6. 



f CI«il>!" to dift'prent postofflfeB, not lkss 

 lots. each. Sent postpaid, in the 

 Sinifle Number ', j ij. n. and ("anadaa. To all oiher eoun- 



10 cts. Additions to clubs maybe made f rfBi.isiir.D skmi-montiilv by ] tries of the Uiilveisal Postal Union, Wc 



atclubrates. Above are all to be sent . t TJ/^"^r^'T' ^fVT^TXT \ niTTn I '',''' y,*""/ '^J^'^^ T" al' foiintnes not <.r 

 TO ONE poSTOFFicK. I A. I. KUUi^ MJblJ12*l A, Ulli-U. | theV. P. U., 42e per-> ear extra. 



i!o'rf^^%\ini'il1n^lVi^^:] Established in 1873. U^^\ 



ire, 75 eta. each. Single Number, ! J U. S. i 



WIDE TOP-BARS, ETC. 



ALSO SOME MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE CON- 

 STRUCTION OF HIVES GENERALI-Y. 



J HAVE just read IJro. Alley's article on the 

 M above subject. I once •thought just us Uro. A. 

 ^^l now thinks. Nearly all my bce-kcc|)ins- friends 

 ''■*■ used 'a-wide top-bars. I was fresh from Father 

 Langstroth's book. I used I'a-wide top-bars, as 

 that book advised. I discussed much with my 

 friends ab^ut it. I told them that narrowing the 

 space between the bars tended to dissuade the bees 

 from building brace-combs therein. That was the 

 way I understood it. I had used the one width only. 

 These friends claimed just the reverse. I saw that 

 their hives compared with mine proved their side of 

 the argument, but I thought there must be some 

 other factor to influence the matter in this case. I 

 knew that bees were less apt to l)uild comb in small 

 than in lai-ge spaces, behind the end-bars, and other 

 places, :^ry theory was all the time right; but the 

 facts were all the time against me. 



Well, I cut down to 1 1-16. I was glad I did. Then 

 to one inch, and I liked that better; then to 'a, and 

 I like that bettei still; and I own up, slowly but 

 surely, beaten. It is just so with the slats of honej'- 

 boards; as I said in a late article, the queen- 

 excluding spaces are much worse filled with comb 

 than those ?8 wide. Experience will do for you 

 what it has for me,— settle it to your satisfaction. 



Bro. Hatch is in error, if he thinks that I meant to 

 claim that the bees would not build brace-combs 

 between the hrood-frames and the slats of the honey- 

 board. Of coui-sc, they will; and if the honey-board 

 is not there, these same brace-combs will be built to 

 the sections, or wide frames, and this is just why 



we want it there. The idea I meant to convey was. 

 that they Avould build between the sections and 

 honey-board, but very little if any. AA'henever we 

 liave contracted to five combs it brought the spaces 

 just exactly over each other, and then we had to 

 shove the honey-board sidewise on the hive, or up 

 came the brace-combs, as the spaces no longer 

 " broke joints " with each other. What Bro. Hatch 

 says about moral patent is too true. The honest 

 pay while the dishonest go free. 



Jiro. I'lory, in his article on page K2, seems to 

 think we use a honey-board to each case, while 

 none is needed except just over the brood-frames. 

 ; Now, liro. Boot, we make our hives and extracting- 

 ] supers of pine. Our supei-s were all at the apiary; 

 but the one we sent you was a very old one that 

 ' had been mislaid aliout our shop up here in town. 

 ' 1 knew it was a littlo scant, but thought it would do 

 ' for a sample (we charged nothing for it), and thought 

 ' you would overlook that. We talked about that 

 here when we T'ucked it. Pine is best about shrink- 

 ing; but whitewood is best to hold psiint. You have 

 ! not described the super correctly. It has no raves, 

 or cleats, around it like the hive. It is '/i inch 

 shallower than the hive. The frames (the same as 

 used below) rest tiush with the bottom, the 

 1 bee-space below being in this same honey- 

 board. I know wabbled slots are out of the way, 

 ! but not as good a hand-hold as the large end-cleats, 

 I and we make hives more to use than to ship. It is, 

 however, of not so much importance how the super 

 I is made. Let it be the same length and width of the 

 brood-ehambei-, and one-half inch shallower, or just 

 so tlie frames rest even with its bottom, and take 

 the same kind and number of frames that the 

 I brood-chamber does, which, by extended expcri- 



