THE AMERICAN BEE JUURNAL. 



199 



tice the bees to them lirst, and lie 

 places on the surplus arrangements 

 early in the season. 



Mr. Keeler thought that it was 

 well to feed all colonies to stimu- 

 late early breeding. lie linds it best 

 to put all hives where they stood 

 during the previous summer, contract 

 the entrances and leave the winter 

 quilts on until late. lie believes that 

 the division-board is a good thing 

 with which to contract the size of 

 the hive. 



The Secretary made a few remarks, 

 showing the advantage of the division- 

 board in contracting the size of the 

 hive to suit the size of the colony, and 

 the great advantage in aiding the 

 weak colonies, by taking a frame of 

 brood here and there from strong 

 colonies and giving to the ones in 

 need of aid, and supplying the ones 

 where taken from, with empty combs, 

 lie places empty combs in the centre 

 of the brood-chambers of all the colo- 

 nies as they need them, until the 

 division-board is ready to be taken 

 out and the hive is full of brood and 

 bees. He generally feeds some to en- 

 courage breeding, so as to have all 

 colonies ready for the white clover 

 harvest. 



The subject of " sections " was next 

 discussed. 



JSIr. Keeler stated that the one- 

 pound sections sell better than the 

 larger sizes. He favors the use of 

 separators. 



Mr. ^loore likes the California or 

 triangular top-bar section the best. 

 He has tried the others with separa- 

 tors, and did not get as good yield in 

 them as from the first mentioned. 



Mr. Cover had used flve-pound 

 boxes in the past, but he intended to 

 try sections duringthe coming season. 



Many other things were said on the 

 subject of supplies, and some remarks 

 were made on the subject of adultera- 

 tion and frauds. The subjects for 

 discussion at the next meeting are : 

 " Spring and summer management 

 of bees," and " Care and marketing of 

 honey." As those who were to read 

 essays were absent, they are expected 

 to read them at the next meeting. 

 The Association then adjourned to 

 meet at Marshalltown, on Saturday, 

 April 18, 1885, at IO:,SO a. m. 



J. W. Sanders, Sec. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Passage- Ways and Bee-Spaces. 



JOHN HEWITT. 



On page 789 of the Bee Journal 

 for 1884, Mr. Heddon asks Dr. Tinker 

 to give the reason " why bees violate 

 the old rule laid down by Father 

 Langstroth, that bees glue up all 

 spaces too small for them to pass 

 through." I do not think either Dr. 

 Tinker, Mr. Pond, or any one else 

 can answer this query until some one 

 can, perhaps, give the true reason 

 " why water always runs down hill ;" 

 but I will just give a few facts to 

 think about. 



A very long time ago, before I ever 

 had heard a word of the movable- 

 frame hive, Langstroth, or any other 



prominent modern bee man, and after 

 thoroughly digesting the works of 

 Iluber, Nutt, and a few others, I de- 

 signed and constructed a bar- frame 

 hive, the frames tilling the hive from 

 end to end, less '« of an inch, this 

 space being left to give "play" in 

 drawing out the frames ; but before I 

 put my bees into it, I saw a new bee- 

 book advertised as just published by 

 a prominent authority. I sent for a 

 copy and eagerly read it. This book 

 explained quite clearly (V) the neces- 

 sity of a " bee-space " around every- 

 thing in the hive. From advertise- 

 ments in this book, I obtained a bee- 

 paper, and I then heard of other au- 

 thors, all of whom laid down the law 

 as to the necessity of a " bee-space." 

 I then bought a number of bar-frame 

 hives, and made others myself, and I 

 found if I pushed the frame-ends close 

 to one side of the hive, they were 

 glued fast, and comb built in the 

 double bee-space at the otiier ends. 



But a time came wlien I wanted 

 one more hive than I had, and the 

 alternative presented itself of either 

 putting the swarm in a straw skep, or 

 into the hive I had constructed dur- 

 ing my benighted days. I thought 

 that at least it would be better than a 

 skep, as I could drive the bees out, 

 and by passing a thin knife down by 

 the ends of the frames, they could be 

 easily removed, the honey extracted, 

 and the frames returned, if I chose 

 to do so. So I put the bees into it, 

 but to my surprise they did not glue 

 the frames fast, and never have done 

 so yet, and they have always been as 

 easy to remain and replice as those 

 with the bee-spaces ; they never 

 crushed as many bees, as the bottoms 

 of the frame-ends scraped them out of 

 the way when returning a comb, if 

 any bees were on the hive walls. 



I was so puzzled with this hive, 

 that I began to study and experiment 

 with it, changing the queens (blacks, 

 Syrians, etc.) to see if another variety 

 of bees would act differently. At 

 last I decided to make a number hav- 

 ing only Jo-inch play, and I made a 

 dozen, adapting in each the pecu- 

 liarity which I thought induced the 

 bees iiot to propolize ; each of these 

 were " Long Idea" hives, with frames 

 crosswise to the entrance, with a 

 tight fitting division-board to be kept 

 close up to the frames, and which 

 allows them to be reduced or increased 

 at will, and used for extracting until 

 the heather harvest, when they are 

 worked for comb honey — it being im- 

 possible to extract this kind of honey; 

 and though these hives have contained 

 colonies of Syrians and Syrian-hybrids 

 as well as blacks, I have yet to see the 

 tirst frame stuck fast, or sufficiently 

 so as to enrage such bees as the 

 Syrians. 



Last summer developed a new fea- 

 ture. I had always previously found 

 bees to propolize the quilts fast to the 

 frames, but now with a new design 

 in quilts, there never was so mucli as 

 a speck of it to be seen — the quilts are 

 quite porous too, as may be proved by 

 placing a tin vessel of cold water on 

 them, when the vapor from the bees 

 will be condensed under its bottom ; 

 if I removed the quilts and gave them 



such as I had previously used, the 

 first sheet (calico to both kinds) would 

 be one mass of propolis, where the 

 bees could get to it. 



If am asked to explain the reason, 

 I must answer that I -cannot yet, — I 

 must study the matter more before I 

 attemiit to give reasons— perhaps 

 propolis is really porous, though 

 draught proof ; anyhow I shall go on 

 studying and experimenting. 



Sheffield, England. 



For the American B..-e Journal. 



Sections and Section-Cases. 



A. D. STOCKING, (65—80). 



Much has been written about sec- 

 tions, section cases, and section-racks, 

 and it appears tliat there has been 

 nothing made that was satisfactory to 

 all parties, various objections having 

 been raised against all styles, and 

 probably the question will never be 

 settled so that one size and style will 

 be used by all. 1 have experimented 

 considerably, audi have not yet found 

 anything in this line exactly to my 

 liking. 



As to sections : The one-piece sec- 

 tion comes the nearest to my idea of 

 a section, and if they could be made 

 of harder wood than basswood, I 

 would ask for nothing better. My 

 reasons for liking them better than 

 all others are, they are more quickly 

 and more easily put together, and 

 they are more substantial and less 

 liable to be knocked out of shape in 

 handling after being made up and 

 allowed to become dry. I alwaiys use 

 a little glue on the open joint, when 

 putting them together, and I have 

 never had any to pull apart when thus 

 treated with good glue. I have never 

 seen any dovetailed sections that 

 were as solid and that kept their form 

 as well while being handled, after 

 being made up awhile and becoming 

 dry, as the one-piece section ; and I 

 have had them from all the best fac- 

 tories. All the advantage that I can 

 see in them is that they can be made 

 of harder wood, and can be made to 

 look cleaner. 



As to section racks and cases : I 

 have tried and discarded many forms, 

 and I have studied and experimented 

 to overcome the annoyance caused by 

 the bees building bits of comb be- 

 tween the tops of the brood-frames 

 and the bottoms of the section racks 

 and cases. 



For 3 years I have made my racks 

 and cases on the same principle as the 

 Ileddon-case. Supporting the sec- 

 tions on strips of tin nailed to the 

 under sides of the cases, and placing 

 them on the hives with a ,14-inch bee- 

 space between the bottoms of the 

 sections and the brood-frames. I am 

 now troubled but little with bits of 

 comb, and the bottoms of my sections 

 are as clean as the tops. I have found 

 that the nearer I place the sections to 

 the brood-frames, the better the bees 

 will work in the section*! and the less 

 I am troubled with bits of comb. 



Last season I made my hives for 

 taking comb honey in three sections. 

 I rabbeted the edges so as to bring 



