Vol. XII. 



APRIL 1, 1884. 



No. 7. 



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NOTES FR09I THE BANNER APIARY. 



KO. 53. 

 SECTIONS, PROPOLIS, ETC. 



fRIEND ROOT:— In my last article I said that, 

 when next 1 wrote, I would review the articles 

 — on pages 236 and 285, Vol. X. ; but as you have 

 advanced nearly the same ideas in your reply to my 

 last articles as you did upon pages 326 and 285, 1 do 

 not think it necessary to go back and "rake up" 

 those articles, so I will only reply to your remarks 

 on page 188, current volume. 



To the great mass of thinking, practical bee-keep- 

 ers, I propound the question: Where do bees put 

 propolis? Now just think a moment ; for what pur- 

 pose do they use it? Isn't it for the purpose of 

 stopping cracks that they use it? Do they, as a rule, 

 put it anywhere, except where two surfaces meet? 

 friend Root says that the outside of sections must 

 be protected, otherwise they will be covered with 

 propolis. I have just this moment left my writing, 

 and examined about 500 brood-frames, some of 

 which have been in use several years. Where they 

 touched any thing, or where they were t)c/-.v rough, 

 they were propolized ( but where they were planed 

 smooth, and touched nothing, there was not a parti- 

 cle of propolis. I also examined the inside of about 

 50 old hives. At the corners, or where a frame had 

 swung against the side, was propolis; otherwise, not. 

 If the bees of Medina put propolis upon plain, 

 stnooth surfaces, that are in contact with nothing, 

 they behave dlfiferently from the bees of Rogers^ 



ville. Now, if brood-frames and hives that hnvo 

 been in use f>>r years are free from propolis, except 

 where two surfaces meet, why should we expect the 

 smooth surface of sections to become propolized at 

 those places where they touch nothing, when they 

 seldom remain in a hive more than a month? Whea 

 sections are put into wide frames there is a crack all 

 around each section; or, in .other words, two sur- 

 faces meet all around both sides of each section, 

 while in the Heddon case the top and bottom bars of 

 the sections touch noViiiii), except at their ends; 

 hence they remain entirely free from propolis, ex- 

 cept at the ends. Upon this point I am not obliged 

 to depend upon theory, for I /.note, from experience, 

 that, except where they touch something, the sec- 

 tions remala entirely free from propolis. If sec- 

 tions could be aOrially suspended, exactly bee-space 

 from each other, they would remain entirely free 

 from propolis. 



Considerable has been said of late in favor of 

 "continuous passage-ways" in the surplus depart- 

 ment; but I should object to them. When placing 

 one tier of sections upon another, bees would be 

 crushed, while the top and bottom bars of the sec- 

 tions would be glued fast to the sections above and 

 below them. If there is nothing between the sec- 

 tions and the brood-frames, the bees, by means of 

 brace-combs, not propolis, will connect the top-bars 

 of the frames with the bottom-bars of the sections; 

 but the Heddon slat, or skeleton honey-board, most 

 effectually prevents this. When the Heddon cases 

 are tiered up, the sections in each case arc exactly 

 bee-space from those in the case above or in the one 

 below, and there are no brace-combe built between 



