1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



445 



locality. We are not sure that the extra 

 sheets of glass are of any advantage in in- 

 creasing the heat. We once tried two 

 sheets of glass, and then a third ; but we 

 could detect no difference by the thermome- 

 ter placed inside.— It will do no harm to 

 paint the bottom-boards of the hives. In 

 fact, as you may know, all our bottom- 

 boards are painted, in order that they may 

 be used interchangeably as covers or bot- 

 toms. If the bottom-board is permanent, 

 we do not see any i)articulai advantage in 

 doing it. If a hive lias been previously af- 

 fected by foul brood, painting it inside 

 might make it less liable to transmit the 

 disease to the colony which it contained, 

 iiut a far better and surer way is to boil 

 hives by immersing them in a bath of scald- 

 ing-hot water. 



0aR QaE?5Fi0N-B0?^, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in for this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a sepaiate slip of paper, 

 and marked, " For Our Question-Box." 



Question .^iS. — 1. Do you cnnaidcr the In-eak-joint 

 feature of the honey-board an cx^rtdial unci Tliat is, 

 will the hees make fewer ctimit ottachrnrtitu on the 

 uniirr side of auch a hoiwyhdard tlian liny iviU to a 

 hoiiexi-lioard hitrimj slots spdcrd ipHIkhiI reference to 

 the liniod-fnimes lielow/ ?. Will the lir((Ui-j<)i)lt lioiicy- 

 hoard— that is, o?i(! -whose slals cover the space between 

 the frames, cause the bees to deposit less propolis on the 

 sections'/ 



I don't know. Geo. Grimm. 



1. Yes. 2. Not much loss, if any. Dadant & Son. 



I have had no experience. Dr. A. B. Mason. 



1. I have never used it. 3. I don't know. 



E. France. 



1. I think it will make little difference. 3. No. 



L. C. Root. 



I never tried them, but would object to any space 

 anywhere in a bee-hive of less than J4 inoh or more 

 than % inch. Chas. F. Muth. 



I have had but little experience with such honey- 

 boards. O. O. POPPLETON. 



1. 1 do, for the purpose of keeping- the queen out 

 of the sections; not otherwise. 2. No. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



I do not use honey-boards of any description be- 

 tween the brood and surplus apartments. I have 

 never found any practical use for them. 



H. R. BOARDMAN. 



1. I value hifirhly the slat honey-board as made by 

 Heddon, but I'm not sure the break-joint feature is 

 essential. 2. It may a little, but T doubt if it makes 

 much difference. C. C. Miller. 



1. No. I don't think it makes much difference. I 

 use the perforated-zinc board, as it gives better 

 satisfaction for all pui'pnses. 3. T never could see 

 much difference. Paul L. Viallon. 



1. My super arrang-cinents have no honey-boards, 

 so I am not very well ()iuilifled on this question. I 

 should say that the break-joint feature is useful, 

 but not very important, 'i. Probably. 



E. E. Hastv. 



I do. They surely will. 2. They will stick the sec- 

 tions badly unless we have the honey-board, and 

 have it just right— that is, break-joint— with {^ bee- 

 space. This is no theory with me, but demonstrat- 

 ed fact. A. J. Cook. 



I do not %'ahie the break-joint principle as highly 

 as some do. The sections in use by the most of us 

 are so wide that they make this break-joint princi- 

 ple above the honey-board ; and why the need of 

 that feature twice over? I don't think the honey- 

 board has any thing- to do with pi'opolis. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Yes. 1 think there would be little difference in 

 regard to the amount of comb built below the 

 honey-board, or the amount of propolis on sections. 

 The purpose of a honey-board is to prevent the 

 builditig- of combs between the sections and the 

 top of the hive; and this result is more effectually 

 accomplished by having the slats break joints with 

 the frames below. James A. Green. 



Yes, very. Yes, they will make fewer brace- 

 combs on the under side, and hardly any on the 

 upper side when the break-joint honey-board is 

 used; and to get rid of them on the upper side is of 

 ten times more importance than the same result 

 below. Not much difference regarding propolis, 

 but in favor of the break-joint principle. 



James Heddon. 



I am a little surprised, friends, to hear so 

 many of you say you have never tried the 

 break-joint feature in the honey-board. It 

 indicates that many of the things that are 

 written and talked about to a considerable 

 extent in the pages of our journals are nev- 

 er noticed or tried at all by many of our 

 large honey-producers. I presume likely 

 that many of you, like ourselves, get weary 

 and perhaps disgusted in trying so many 

 new things, which result only in bother and 

 expense. The great point to me in this 

 break-joint principle is in securing a case of 

 sections entirely free and loose from the 

 honey-board. It may be, however, that the 

 break joint is not necessary. Friends Hed- 

 don and Hutchinson, I believe, deserve the 

 credit of having tirst called attention to the 

 fact that a honey-board can be so used as to 

 prevent the bees sticking the wax to the in- 

 side of the section ; but a good many de- 

 clare that there is no particular virtue in 

 the hreak-Joint honey-board. We should like 

 to have the matter tested thoroughly this 

 coming sea.son. Try half your honey-boards 

 over luood-nests with frames spaced with- 

 out reference to the slats above. Try an 

 equal number on the break-joint principle. 

 Let us have the results of your experiments. 



Question 50. -Do you think a perforated zinc hon- 

 ey-board, irood hound, so as to provide a bee-spare 

 aliove and heUor, i>r(i]terhi striimDienid tltrmmh Uie 

 middle by o I ni nseerse slat, ivoiihl answer tlie purpiise 

 of an ordinar}/ slitlted waod-zine liiiney-liinud '/ 



Yes. 



Yes. 



I do. 



I don't know. 



T think it would. 



I should think so. 



Paul L. Viallon. 



Dadant & Son. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Geo. Grimm. 



Chas. F. Muth. 



o. o. poppleton. 



