330 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



to know it; and it would Vje to the inter- 

 est of the bee-keeping fraternity to be set 

 right. 



Lander, Wyoming, Oct. 4, 189S. 

 SEPARATORS. 



They may be Dispensed with if the Condi- 

 tions are Right. 



H. R. BOARDMAN. 



¥ 



RIEND Hutchin- 

 son , you may re- 

 member that, as we 

 sat in tlie hammock 

 at 3'our place and 

 talked bees that 

 beautiful evening, 

 we discussed, among 

 other things, the use 

 of separators. I 

 may have appeared 

 a little intolerent then about the advisa- 

 bility of dispensing with them. If so, I 

 am sure that it was partly, at least, the 

 result of prejudice, as my " knowledge 

 came more from the reports of others than 

 from actual experience or observation. I 

 was greatly surprised in my visits among 

 the bee-keepers of your State to lind that 

 so many progressive, practical men had 

 dispensed with separators. I had sup- 

 posed that that practice was about obso- 

 lete. Many of the lots of honey that I 

 saw compared favorably with that pro- 

 duced with separators. That the most 

 perfect honey possible can be produced 

 without separators I have had the most 

 positive proof . Some of the claims in 

 favor of laying aside separators are, I must 

 admit, worthy of consideration. There 

 is a freer communication; just as the 

 fence separator gives a freer communica- 

 tion, so no separators at all gives still bet- 

 ter communication. That there is an 

 economy in fixtures calls for no argu- 

 ment. Whether honey built without 



separators is more attractive than 

 that built with them is a point for 

 the doctors to decide; but sections filled 

 with no separators between them cer- 

 tainly have a more plump appearance. 

 Seven-to-the-foot seems to be the best 

 width to use when no separators are used. 

 vSlip-shod or careless bee-keepers better 

 cling to the use of separators, but thought- 

 ful and careful apiarists may dispense 

 with them. 



East Townsend, Ohio. Oct. 10, 1898. 



[Friend Boardman, this is one of the 

 questions in which locality plays a most 

 important part. I have used separators 

 just enough to find out that we do not 

 need them here. It is not so much a 

 question of skill. The first 1,000 pounds 

 of comb honey that I ever produced was 

 sent to Cleveland, to Mr. A. C. Kendall. 

 It was raised without separators, and 

 when I wrote to Mr. Kendall and told 

 him how it was produced, he was greatly 

 surprised — if I had not told him he would 

 have thought that separators were used. 

 Separators are needed where the flow is 

 slow, or comes on slowly. Then the bees be- 

 gin work in the center of the super and 

 gradually work towards the outside. The)- 

 are loth to commence on a new comb, so 

 the one they are working on is bulged 

 and drawn out as far as possible. At last 

 they must begin on the next; and then 

 that must be bulged to correspond with 

 the preceding one; and so it goes on un- 

 til the last section is reached. Here in 

 Michigan the flow from clover or ba.ss- 

 wood usually comes on suddenly, and 

 the bees are soon at work in every sec- 

 tion; and the result is that all of the 

 combs grow at the same time, and are 

 alike as so many bricks. I do occasion- 

 ally get a bulged section, but there are 

 so few of them that can not be crated 

 satisfactorily, that they are all used in 

 our own family or sold to neighbors. If 

 I found it necessary to use separators I 

 should most assuredly use them, as I do 

 not approve of the putting of bulged 

 combs upon the market. — Ed.] 



