1887 



(CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTIRE. 



321 



tion of tlie T super recently, our readers 

 will remember that Dr. Miller and others 

 recommended most stronul.\ that tlie suiier 

 be made with the bee-space o» top. and not 

 below. At the very outset it was evident 

 that the old honey-board ('ould not be used 

 with the T super having a bee-space (iliore. 

 for the simple reason that the super would 

 rest ri^ht on the lioney-board witliont any 

 space between them. .Vs the aro;uinents 

 came in so thick and fast. showin<>: the ad- 

 vantage — indeed, we miiiht say the neces- 

 sity — of putting the bee-space above the 

 sections, it became evident that we should 

 have to constriu't our honey-board with a 

 bee-si>ace above and below, or. as Mr. lled- 

 don terms it, T believe, a " sunk "" lioiiev- 

 board. This would necessitate making the 

 ends of a honey-board I inch thick. By put- 

 ting such a honey-boaril on the hive, we dis- 

 cover that the Mj>2^^r story Simplicity would 

 not go on, on account of the bevel on its 

 under edges. Well, then we said we would 

 bevel off the ends of tlie lioney-board. as 

 seen in the engraving. We did so. and the 

 upper- story Simplicity body titted on all 

 right. Below we give a view of the honey- 

 V)oard. shown at the left, the ends beveled 

 in such a way as to tit under the bottom 

 edges of the Simplicity upper story. 



SJLATTKD' WOOD-ZINC HONEY-HOAKD, WITH 

 KOI FOI! SI.AIPLIcrrY JIIVE. 



You observe, also, that the slats are 

 "sunk"' so that the honey - board itself 

 furnishes a bee-space above as well as below. 

 In other words, it is how adapted to tlie 

 super with the bee-space above. To give 

 yoii an idea of how the slats are fastened to 

 the end-pieces, we give you a cross-section 

 of the end. Let .1 be the c 



end of a slat, and B a cross- 

 section of the end of the 

 honey -board, as shown in -j 

 the accompanying dia- 

 gram. The slat A slides 

 into the mortise a. In putting together, we 

 take the full number of slats required, and 

 slide them into the mortise, or groove <(.. 

 When all are in, a couple of side pieces, as 

 shown in the engraving, are nailed to the 

 ends. One nail through each slat, stait- 

 ing at the point c holds each slat tirmly in 

 place. To make this honey-board queen-ex- 

 cluding, saw-kerfs are made in each slat, 

 and the strips of perforated metal are slid 

 in between the slats. 



So far we have arranged for the bee-space 

 in the T super, as recommended by l)v. C. (\ 

 Miller and others, and this honey b aid can 

 be used with all the supers that we new 

 make with the bee-si)ace on lop in the Sim- 

 plicity hives, and every thing will lie well : 

 but if we desire to run oui- Simplicity hive 

 for extracted lioney we shall liiul the same 

 .difticulty that we mentioned before. oTily 



worse tlian ever. That is, if we use the 

 honey-board as shown in the engraving at 

 the left, and put it between the ujjper and 

 lower set of frames, it will raise the latter i 

 inch above the ral)bet. In order to lemove 

 this ditficulty it becomes necessary to laise 

 the Simplicity body just high enough so as 

 to leave a bee-space between the upi)er set 

 of brood-frames and thehoney-boai'd : hence 

 we make use of the beveled frame shown in 

 the right of the engraving. This frame is 

 so made that it tits exactly between the 

 uppei- and lower story. You notice tiiat the 

 frame is a tritle larger than the honey-board: 

 that is, it is of just such a size as will slip 

 snugly around it. Right here I presume 

 some of yon will suggest, "MVliy not fasten 

 this rim permanently to the honey-board — 

 in other words, make it part and parcel of 

 it y In theory this seems (piite an easy 

 thing to do ; but here, again, the beveled 

 edge presents practical ditliculties that make 

 it desirable and better in every way to have 

 the honey-board and the rim separate. In 

 the production of comb honey the rim is not 

 necessary, and probably a large number of 

 those who are working for extracted honey 

 would not care to use the honey-board at all. 

 The whole thing resolves itself into this : 

 That the rim is not necessary in the produc- 

 tion of comh lumrij: and for the few who de- 

 sire to use honey-boards in the production 

 of extracted honey, it hai'dly seems fair that 

 the lai'ger number composing the other pro- 

 portion of honey-producers should be made 

 to bear the extra expense of making this 

 outer rim a part and parcel of the honey- 

 board itself. 



Here, again, I begin to suspect that some 

 of you will suggest, " Wh\ not dispense 

 with your old beveled edge" (which, by the 

 way. is a perfect nuisance), and make your 

 slatted honey-board in outside dimensions 

 equal to the outside dimensions of the hive, 

 just as Mr. Ileddon and others make and 

 use if? Ill answer to this we would say 

 that, even granting for argument's sake that 

 the beveled edge is not a necessary feature, 

 there are hundreds of thousands who are 

 using this same '' naughty "' beveled edge ; 

 and if we change and make all our hives 

 with a s(juare joint, the new Simplicity 

 hives will not be interchangeable with the 

 old ones ; but we believe tlie honey-board, 

 as illustrated and described above, is one 

 which (ills the bill as nearly as jiossible 

 under the existing circumstances. So im- 

 portant did we consider the proper construc- 

 tion of the honey-iioard for the Simplicity 

 hive, that, at Dr. Millei'"s suggestion, we 

 asked him to ■• come over and help us." 

 When he arrived here, ui»on full and careful 

 consideration he said that this honey-board 

 was the only one that could be used with 

 the fjerclcd edge. I will say, in this connec 

 tion. that we had a number of good talks 

 from I)r Milloi- on hives and hive construc- 

 tion ; and if he has not "led us out of the 

 woods."" as friend Drew puts it. on this 

 beveled edge, he has on quite a nnmljer o1 

 oth( r things. The result of these long talks, 

 and the candid criticisms yiresented by the 

 docli.i-. will ])i'obal)ly result iji a miitnal 

 benelit to ns all, 



