THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



47 



cretion. Tell us of it and oblige your 

 readers. 



Another report regarding virgin queens. 



Tlie virgin queen presented me by 

 Dr. MoUyneaux was placed August 

 2, 1889, in a nucleus made by taking 

 four frames of bees and honey from 

 an extracting top, hence there was no 

 brood of any kind in the combs. The 

 cage containing queen placed at once 

 in a frame and the bees permitted to 

 cut her out. August 5th gave her a 

 frame of brood. August 7tli found the 

 queen released and O. K. From that 

 time on she was given a frame of 

 brood occasionally, till Aug. 24 I put 

 a small hybrid swarm in, and put on 

 extracting top of ten frames, combs 

 fully di-awn out. September 12th ex- 

 tracted from this colony forty pounds, 

 five ounces, and will extract about ten 

 pounds more from her. She has proven 

 to be purely fertilized, and her bees 

 are docile and fine looking. 



Prof. G. W. Felton. 



Mr. H. Allet: — The above is a 

 statement handed me by Prof. George 

 W. Felton, to v^hom I presented one 

 of the three virgin queens sent me 

 from the "Bay State Apiary," in July 

 last and was reared on the 30th of 

 July, 1889. Professor Felton is a near 

 neighbor of mine. I have seen his 

 bees and handled them ; they are just 

 what he states them to be, all O. K., 

 and the queen is beautiful and large, 

 bees fine and he is delighted. I 

 handed him the October (1889) Api 

 and he says he wants a daughter from 

 that one-hundred-dollar queen. Send 

 one of those queens to your humble 

 servant. 



R. A. MOLLYNEAUX, 



Neio Richmond^ Ohio. 



We may have to acknowledge that virgin queens 

 may be bought by beelceepers and introduced 

 successfully. The above will interest those bee- 

 keepers who desire to test the matter.— Ed.] 



"Wide and thick top- bars for brood-frames. 



Mr. Allev : Do you tliink the thickness of top- 

 bars of brood frames have something to do in pre- 

 venting brace combs, or is it the width of the top- 

 bar or botli features ? Mrs. J. J. MORY. 



We are glad to see tliis subject brought up for 

 discussion. Our readers wlio receive Gleanings 

 in Bee Culture, have probably read a good deal 

 of late in tliat |)ublioation upon tliis same subject. 

 The readers of the Api and those who have been 

 acquainted with our writings the past quarter of 

 a century, must be familiar witli our opinion of 

 the proper width of top-bars of brood-frames. 

 For more than tweniy-flve years we have urged 

 beekeepers to discard tlie narrow top-bar and use 

 a wide one. We now view with pride and satis- 

 faction the fact tliat tlie time is not far distant 

 when the narrow top-bar must go. I need not 

 tell tlie reader the disadvantages of the narrow 

 bar. All who have used tbem one good honey 

 season know well what a nuisance tliey are in the 

 apiary. As there are hundreds of beekeepers 

 who know nothing about the good points of a 

 wide top-bar, I will mention some of tliem. The 

 first Langstroth hive 1 ever saw or used had top- 

 bars one inch and an eighth wide. Ten of these 

 frames filled a brood-cliamber 14J inclies wide. 

 Tliat would allow just a bee-space between the 

 top-bars. As is well known, all Langstroth hives 

 at that early date had lioney-boardsand the space 

 between the top of frames and honey-board was 

 not over 1 of an inch. Bees in hives thus arranged 

 would build no brace combs above the top-bar, 

 but more or less such combs would be built be- 

 tween the frames just below the top-bar and this 

 was about as big a nuisance as brace combs 

 above the top-bar. However, I was not long in 

 discovering a remedy for that thing. The old 

 style top-bar L. frame had a V- shaped piece of 

 wood nailed to the underside as a guide for the 

 bees to build the combs directly within tlie frames. 

 We had no comb foundation in those days, you 

 know. Instead of foundation which all beekeep- 

 ers now use in brood- frames we used old comb 

 cut ill strips, which was fastened to the under- 

 side of the top-bar with hot beeswax and rosin. 

 When well fastened the comb was cut down to 

 V-shape with a sharp and quite warm knife. 

 With this arrangement we did not need the V- 

 shaped top-bar, as the old comb could not be 

 fastened to the wood properly. To overcome the 

 difficulty, we had some frames made with a thick 

 top-bar. The frame was made as wide on the un- 

 der side as on the top side. This had the efi'ect 

 to prevent brace combs not only over the top 

 of the frames, but between them as well. The 

 Langstroth frame with this improvement is per- 

 fection. We have hundreds of them in use in the 

 Bay State Apiary. 



Anyone wanting a sample will receive one by 

 mail by sending twelve cents in stamps to this 

 office.— Ed. Api.] 



