236 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



DISPENSING WITH HONEY BOAKDS. 



Some five or six years ago there was a dis- 

 cussion of the causes that led to the construc- 

 tion of brace and burr combs, and of meth- 

 ods to follow to avoid their construction. 

 The decision seemed to be that they were 

 caused by small top bars and uneven spac- 

 ing. The remedy was, of course, to use 

 deeper (thicker) top bars of such a width 

 that, when accurately spaced, there would 

 be an exact bee- space between them. There 

 was little diff culty in making the top bars of 

 the right size, but when it came to accurate 

 spacing, simple as it may seem, there was 

 difficulty. It has not yet been solved, as the 

 bee journals are yet describing metliods for 

 spacing. Some assert that top bars of the 

 right dimensions combined with proper 

 spacing do away with the building of l)urr 

 combs. Others say that the trouble is only 

 lessened, but not sufficiently to be of practi- 

 cal benefit. Let us suppose that this plan is 

 a complete remedy for burr combs, what 

 have we gained ? We have been able to dis- 

 pense with the honey board, that's all. 

 Slatted honey boards can certainly be made 

 in large quantities, at ten cents each, and a 

 good profit made at that, and they will last a 

 life time. The interest on the money is all 

 of the expense, and this cannot be more than 

 one cent a year on each board. If the honey 

 board has any advantages at all, its cost does 

 not cut much of a figure. Laying aside the 

 cost, what are the objections to the honey 

 board ? The only one that I can think of is 

 that it must be pried off when the brood nest 

 is opened. But right here comes in a point 

 that it seems to me has been overlooked. 

 What does a practical honey producer want 

 to be opening his brood nests for ? As a rule 

 there is no necessity for opening them. It 

 is only in special cases that such treatment 

 becomes necessary. A good bee-keeper can 

 nearly always tell from outside appearances 

 whether all is well inside the hive. Now the 

 question arises, is it not better to have our 

 hives so arranged that we can do our regu- 

 lar, needed work to the best advantage, in 

 preference to having them adapted to some 

 sjiecial work that is only occasionally neces- 

 sary ? In the manipulations that occur 

 during the honey season it may be necessary 

 to remove a super from the top of the hive 

 perhaps half a dozen times. Isn't it better 

 that this operation should be performed 

 without the muss, and bother of even a few 



broken combs, even if we do have to pry off 

 a honey board once in the season, and, as a 

 rule, it need not come off oftener than once 

 in three years. Perhaps some will say, why 

 not have box hives and done with it ? No, 

 when it i'x necessary to examine a brood nest, 

 it is very essential to be al)le to perform the 

 operation, but it is poor management to lay 

 aside every day advantages for those that 

 can be used only occasionally. 



There is still another side to this question, 

 and that is that when we use frames equip- 

 ped with spacers, we have destroyed that 

 most convenient function of the hanging 

 frame, the lateral movement, and such 

 frames can be used only by making a larger 

 hive and putting in a dummy at the side that 

 must first be removed before a frame can be 

 taken out. Big, bungling top bars, frames 

 with some spacing arrangement attached, a 

 larger hive, and a dummy that must be pul- 

 led out before a frame can be removed, and 

 all for what ? To get rid of a honey board 

 that is often needed as a queen excluder. 



AMALGAMATION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN AND 

 THE UNION. 



Besides the articles that appear in this 

 issue I have received quite a number of short 

 communications. None have opposed it, 

 but some have gone so far as to say that they 

 believe both societies have outlived their use- 

 fulness. Others thought it of no importance 

 whether they were united or not. One man 

 wished me to tell what advantage it would be 

 to the Union to have the North American 

 " hitched on to it." It seems to me that it 

 would be just as appropriate to ask what 

 advantage it would be to the North Ameri- 

 can to have the Union " hitched on to it." 

 On both sides there should be an apprecia- 

 tion of the advantages. Neither Society 

 should feel that the other is " hitched on to 

 it. " There should be a free, willing, happy, 

 joyous, wholesouled, earnest union in which 

 all will join with unbounded enthusiasm. 

 Unless this can be done, we better not join 

 forces. The advantage to the Union would 

 be. there would be a face to face discussion 

 eacii year that would be of great advantage. 

 There is scarcely an organization that does 

 its best unless its members have a grand 

 meeting once a year. This friction of mind 

 against mind in an actual personal encounter 

 and consultation is a great generator of 

 ideas. Better work will be done by the Union 



