THE AMERICAN 



Apiculturist. 



VOL. IX. 



A. Journal Devoted, to Practical BeeVceeping. 



MARCH, 1891. 



NO. 3. 



SHALL WE USE SEP.ARATOKS? 



A NUMBER of years ago when I com- 

 menced raising comb-honey, I thought 

 it impossible to get along without sep- 

 arators. I used 2-inch sections and 

 whenever separators were left out of 

 the cases the combs were more or less 

 bulged, just as one would expect to see 

 sections of that width bulged in these 

 later days of beekeeping. After a while, 

 I adopted 14 inch sections and still 

 continued the use of separators. It is 

 possible that I may in time come to the 

 use of the 7-tothe-foot sections with- 

 out separators, but I do not now 

 think I shall. I have not experiment- 

 ed with the narrow section, but I have 

 seen plenty of them on the market and 

 I am free to say that 1 have seen few 

 lots of first-class honey that had been 

 produced without separators. 



In tliis western country the grocers 

 usually retail comb honey by the sec- 

 tion, and as a matter of course those 

 lots in which the sections are nearly of 

 uniform weight are the most desirable. 

 I have yet to see the first case of 

 honey produced without separators that 

 would answer this requirement. Even 

 the great apostles of ihat method of 

 production are careful to say that great 

 care must be exercised in casing for 

 shipment in order to avoid the surface 

 contact of thick combs. " Place a 

 thick comb by the side of a thin one, 

 etc.," is their advice, and good advice 

 it is for those who produce honey with- 

 out separators, for it is the only way it 

 can be cased to ship without dripping. 

 But such a case of honey is not an ideal 

 case by any means, and the retailing 

 grocer has a hard time to satisfy every 

 customer with a " nice, thick comb." 



Two objections are urged against the 

 use of separators : (i) their cost, and 



(2) that they divide the super into so 

 many compartments that the bees are 

 slow to occupy it. 



It is true that the first cost of tin 

 separators seems considerable, but as 

 an offset to first cost it is well to bear 

 in mind that with proper care they will 

 last a good many years. I have a good 

 many that have been in use eight years 

 and they are as good as new. The 

 cost of wooden separators is hardly 

 worth mentioning, but in the long run I 

 think they are more expensive than 

 tin. As to the intrinsic value of wood- 

 en separators as compared with tin, I 

 have never been able to detect any dif- 

 ference. The bees work just as well 

 with one as with the other. 



In answer to the second objection I 

 can only say that after long and patient 

 experimenting with supers with separa- 

 tors, without separators, and with 

 frames like brood frames, though of 

 half depth, I cannot see any difference. 

 The bees go to work just as quickly in 

 one super as the others when condi- 

 tions otherwise are the same. I may, 

 after greater experience, change my 

 mind on this point, but at present I 

 have no reason to do so. With sep- 

 arators I obtain sections with even sur- 

 face and of uniform weight (nearly), 

 and I value these qualities above any 

 advantages that I might possibly obtain 

 by leaving the separators out. 



Audubon, la. Z. T. Hawk. 



ABOUT QUEEN CAGES. 



As the science of bee culture ad- 

 vances, the importance of improved 

 races is felt. This desire creates a de- 

 mand for queen bees of the improved 

 breeds, and the trade in these, in turn, 

 calls for cages for shipping and intro- 

 ducing queens in large quantities. 



No doubt the first cages used were 

 (33) 



