1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



581 



Now, why couldn't honey-producers have been content 

 with this simple style of section-rack, but must needs go com- 

 plicating matters with these holders and tin T rests, and what 

 not, until it has become almost as easy to acquire a thorough 

 knowledge of the anatomy of the human subject as that of the 

 multifarious parts of the present-day domicil of the busy bee. 



Bear in mind that in this " flat-a-top " rack system, the lid 

 also fits plump down on top of the upper tier of sections. Now 

 must there, in your opinion, be an air-space between the top 

 tier of sections and cover ? If so, why so ? 



South Africa. 



[The foregoing letter to Dr. Miller was written some 

 months ago, and should have appeared before, but somehow 

 it was overlooked among other manuscripts in this office. 

 Here is Dr. Miller's reply to Mr. Deacon's letter : — Editor.] 



Mr. Editor, I'm very glad to give my opinions, so far as 

 I have any, upon the points mentioned in Mr. Deacon's very 

 interesting letter. If he had been present when I read it, I'm 

 afraid he would have thought I wasn't very sympathetic, but 

 as he was away off in Africa, where he couldn't hear me, I 

 took the privilege of laughing heartily over his tribulations, 

 or perhaps more properly at his way of relating them. 



With regard to the general accusation as to the desire to 

 invent and adopt something new just because it is new, or of 

 one's own invention, I may say that the T super is not an in- 

 vention of mine, and that I have adhered to it without change 

 some 12 years. When I find something enough better to 

 warrant a change, I may change, but it will be only after 

 thorough trial. 



With regard to the section-rack you describe, Mr. Deacon, 

 you set me an ungracious task to give an opinion about it, well 

 knowing something about the feeling that attaches to an 

 article one has settled down upon as all right, especially after 

 one has added to it one's own " improvements." So I'll go at 

 it carefully and say what I say gradually. 



The rack you mention is an excellent thing, a thing well 

 calculated to fill one's heart with delight — and the delight 

 that a bee-keeper feels in new and improved appliances can 

 only be fully understood by him who has experienced it— I say, 

 the rack is an excellent thing, and a delight as compared with 

 the old way of brimstoniug the bees to get the honey. 



And yet many a good thing has objectionable points, and 

 one trouble with this simple rack is that when one part sits 

 directly upon another without any bee-space between, there is 

 some danger of killing bees, so some bee-keepers would prefer 

 another kind of super. Indeed, after you had left brimstou- 

 ing the bees and had for a time manipulated these racks you 

 would take great pleasure in inventing an arrangement by 

 which the sections would be safely held at a proper distance 

 from the top-bars and from each other. Although I have 

 much respect for the opinions of Mr. Simmins, I don't believe 

 many practical bee-keepers could be induced to use such racks. 



"Continuous passage-ways" had, a few years ago, some- 

 thing of a run in this country among a few, but nowadays no 

 one says anything about them, and they seem to have fallen 

 into disuse. It sounds very well to say that with continuous 

 passage-ways the bees going directly from one part to another, 

 they will do more and better work than where they have a lot 

 of vacant space to cross, but in actual practice the bees don't 

 seem to show any difference. Indeed, I've had them work 

 across a space of an inch and a half of wood aud air with 

 apparently as good results as if no such space were present. 

 Just think a minute. A certain number of field-workers bring 

 in a certain amount of nectar in a day. Will that be in- 

 creased or diminished because the house-keepers must carry it 

 half an inch farther? 



Your new machinery works to perfection, charmingly — 

 when no bees or bee-glue are in the case. In practical use 

 with the bees it's quite another thing. You'll find it a slow 



job to place a rack of sections on the top-bars or on another 

 rack without killing bees. Theoretically, there's no place for 

 bee-glue when one surface sits directly on another. Practi- 

 cally, there will be a lot of it on all edges, corners and cracks. 

 For there will be plenty of cracks. You can't fill up a rack 

 of sections so true and even that it will sit on another with 

 not the least space between at any point. And the bees will 

 find and fill a space that you may not have noticed. Then 

 when you have all screwed up just right with your thumb- 

 screws, you'll find that by shrinking or swelling sometimes 

 the sections will drop out, and sometimes the thumb-screws 

 can hardly be worked because everything is so tight. 



On the whole, the best thing is to use such racks for 

 kindling wood, and get a decent super that will always work 

 right, even if it does cost a little more. And don't think of 

 getting along without a full space for bees between sections 

 and cover. The worst gluing I ever had on top of sections 

 was when I had a cloth fitting close down on the sections. A 

 board wouldn't allow so much gluing as a cloth, but it would 

 kill more bees. C. C. Milleb. 



CONBUCTKD BT 



Die. O. O. aOLLBR, MAHENGO, ILL. 



LQueationa may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



Carrying Bees Out of the Hive. 



I have 70 colonies of bees, and quite a large number are 

 carrying off bees from the hive. I cannot see anything wrong 

 with those they carry out. I have seen them carrying out 

 some before, but never to the extent they are at now. What 

 is the cause, and what can I do about it? W. H. F. 



Lake City, Mo., Aug. 14. 



Answer. — I'm sorry to say that not only am I ignorant as 

 to what ails the bees, but if I did know I don't know any 

 remedy. The only thing that I know of in which bees are 

 likely to carry off from the hive of their sisters is bee-paralysis, 

 and as yet no one seems to have found a remedy. But with 

 paralysis the bees have a black aud shiny appearance, and 

 you say you cannot see anything wrong with those carried 

 out, so I suppose you mean they are fully grown bees. In 

 starvation the bees may carry out brood, but that's a different 

 thing, as is also the carrying out of drone-brood at the time 

 drones are driven out. [See "Bee-Paralysis," page 585. — Ed.] 



Frame Spacers — Comb lloucy Hive, Etc. 



1. Is there a good, practical spacer to separate the brood- 

 frames ? My hive is made here in Vermont, and is called the 

 Dovetailed hive. It is IO3.3 inches deep, 12J^ wide, and 183^ 

 long, inside measure. It contains 9 frames. The top-bars 

 are one inch wide all the way across, and no way of spacing 

 them but by my eye. The hives are carried into the cellar 

 after we go back to Chicago, and I am afraid the frames will 

 be misplaced without any spacer. 



2. Is this the best hive for the production of comb honey ? 

 If not, what hive do you recommend as the very best? What 

 is its size, and price ? 



3. Or could I get a different frame for my hives, which 

 will space itself? I had one of Root's Dovetailed hives sent to 

 me a few weeks ago, but the frames are louger and not so 

 deep as mine, so that I cannot use it. Mrs. J. J. G. 



Littleton, N. H., Aug. 13. 



Answers. — 1. Yes, there are a good many spacers. The 

 Stephens spacer is good. Some use furniture nails. I have 



