FIFTY YEARS A.MONG THE BEES 



137 



lioney-board was a mass of burr-combs filled with honey, 

 making a disagreeably dauby, sticky, dripping mess when 

 the honey-board was removed ; but the space between the 

 honey-board and the bottoms of the sections was left 

 "beauti fully free from burr-qombs, so the section bottoms 

 were left clean. This while everything was new ; for if 

 Jioney-boards were put on a second year without clean- 



Fig. 42 — Hive-Dummy. 



:ing there would be the beginnings of burr-combs between 

 honey-board and sections, or more than the beginnings if 

 the honey-boards had gone more than one year without 

 ■cleaning. So at some time before putting on the honey- 

 boards they were carefully cleaned. But cleaning the 

 honey-boards was not enough. The tops of the frames 

 had to be cleaned as well, and this cleaning was done with 

 a common garden-hoe, an assistant smoking the bees out 

 -of the way while the top-bars were hoed. 



CORRECT BEE-SPACE. 



It was a great step in advance when we learned that 

 -.instead of a space of ^ of an inch there should be only 



