434 



GLEANINIJS IN P.EE CUI/rniE. 



May ir. 



(jiieeii below, was not siicli smooth sailing. I 

 doubled up two colonies, to try this plan, and 

 arranged the top story for three queens. But 

 one of them began laying. At another time 

 this large double hive concluded, with so many 

 queens and bees on hand, they might stai't a 

 new colony (I keep all laying queens clipped), 

 so they swarmed out. and one of the queens 

 fi'om tiie ui)i)(>r story led the swarm to the 

 woods. 



Does no one keep his record on tlu> lop of the 

 hive-covei'? I consider it just ijerfection. 

 Early in the season I go to each hive and learn 

 the condition by examining the brood-nest. 

 queens, etc., and make a record something like 

 this on top of the tin cover, with a pencil: 



18i)l, April 15. ( Reared in season of 1890. 

 O. Q. clipped ISUO. "( Old queen's wing clipi)ed. 



Latei' on I make a riH^ord of any thing of im- 

 portance, such as swarming. disi)0sal of the old 

 queen, rearing young queen, supei'sedure. (>tc. 

 This system is always handy to see at a glance, 

 without disturbing the hive, yet it does not mar 

 the beauty of the yard as bricks do, nor can the 

 recoid be lost, as in the case of the careless 

 moving of bricks or blocks on top of the hives 

 by childien or visitors. And another advan- 

 tage is, it shows evcM'v I'ecord made through the 

 season as well as the" last examination. At the 

 end of the season the apiarist may make a 

 recoid of each hive, in a book kept for th" ]iur- 

 posc. S. S. Law [>'<;. 



Hend(>rson, Mo., April 18. 



[Yes. you can kc^ej) records on hive-covei's 

 themselves: and when the covers aie [)retty 

 well marked up it will be about time to paint 

 them, and then you can put on new records. 

 We have done this to some extent, but we like 

 the slates s]H)ken of bv friend ^Miller on p. 4:i:L] 



E. R. R. 



EXTRA DEPTH OF TOP-BAES NO PREVENTION 

 OF BURR-COMBS. 



OLIVER FOSTEH's EXPEKIENCK. 



should not ovei'look the importance of having" 

 the spaces between tlie slats above the bee- 

 space as nariow and as accurate as the others. 



Three years ago. depending upon the testi- 

 mony and advice of those who claimed to know. 

 I put into my apiaries several thousand combs 

 with top-bars %xk,-. the object being to diminish 

 bnrr-coinbs by the extra dei)lli of top-bai's. 

 Two years of practical work with these has 

 fully demonstrated that at least twice as many 

 buri'-combs are deposited between them as 

 there are between the old-style top-bars which 

 are A\K. 



W\\Y should we expect any different result, 

 since the vacuum to be plugged is ^/xj^ between 

 the former, whereas that between the latter is 

 only ,^:jXf„. the spacing in each case being l'*8 

 fi'om center to center? So I ant satislied that 

 extra depth of top-bars is in no case a preven- 

 tion of burr-combs between them. But if the 

 spaces between them ai'e too wide, it has an oj)- 

 l)osite eti'ect. as it inci'eases the unoccupied 

 spacer which is the chief cause of Innr-conibs. 

 If extra depth ever has any elfect in diminish- 

 ing them In the bee-space <ihove the bars. T 

 have failed to notice it. But if they ar(> ever 

 deijosited in a bee-sijace of proper dimensions, 

 they do not originate tliei'e. but are simply a 

 continuatioi! of those extending from tbecomiis 

 below thi'ough the sjjaces bet-we(>n the top-hais. 

 If we make these sjjaces and the Ijeespnt-c 

 above uniformly about J^ inch, there will 

 be no burr-coniiis deposited in eithei' if the 

 to))-bars ar(> only yv, thick. The use of a 

 thousand or mor<' wide top-bars last season 

 has settled me in this opinion, and I fail to find 

 anv repoi't that conflicts with it. But we 



I now make my top-bars /,;XbiV throughout 

 tlieir whole length, and spac<' them ^^ from 

 center by using an end-bai- that wide at the top. 

 as shown by tlie accompanying cut. Tliis form 

 of frame is much cheaijer than the lloft'num. 

 and it is stronger, and I think equal to it in 

 other respects. Oi.iveh Foster. 



]\It. Vernon. la.. April '.:. 



[Your testimony, fi'iend Fostei', it seems to 

 me. does not conflict uith the discu.ssions on 

 thin and thick tojj-bai's that occuired a year 

 and a half ago. when the discussion came up in 

 our joui'ual. It was not then agreed that a top- 

 bar 's square would prevent bui'i'-combs (see 

 (Jleamncis. Nov. 15. 188U: also .Ian. 1, 18U0. 

 l)ag(^ 20). ]\Ir. Hall, and all the r(^st of those 

 who spok<' in such high praise of the new top- 

 bars. recomnuMided c.vtnf ivkTth in addition to ex- 

 ti'a thickness (se(^ pages '.'0 and 1?>1,1890): be- 

 sides that, a small beespace and accui'ate spac- 

 ing were later suggested as very impoi'tant 

 factors. You may remember, in answer to your 

 oiticle a yeai- and a half ago. I told you that a 

 top-bar V square, alone, would uot accomplish 

 the desii'ed result (see Gi.eaxixos, p. 126. 18^)0): 

 and your ex])e)'ience above is just about what I 

 should exiiect. Where did you see in the jour- 

 nals, ihi'ee years ago. that top-bars Js inch 

 square wouUl i)i'event burr-combs? Three 

 years ago was about a year and a half J)eforc 

 the rlifiriission /m (iEEAXiNOs cainc up. Extra 

 width, careful spacing, and a small bee-sijace. 

 will ]jre\-ent burr-combs. You say. then. "What 

 do you want an extra thickness for? " Because, 

 on "the Langstroth frames, a fi- top-bai-, a -^g — 

 yes, even a ^:f-inch top-bar — will sag; and just 

 as soon as the toi)-bar sags, the bee-space above 

 is changed, and away go the burr-combs again. 

 Let me icpeat again: The exli'a thickness is 

 intended to pn^vent sagging, and so preserve 

 the v(!iy important factor — bee-space. You 

 say, use fold(>d tin bars. In oui' ai)iary. on L. 

 frames it does not accomplish the result. In 

 ord(>r to keep from drop])ing out. the folded bar 

 must be a little long. The I'esult is. it has nv 

 crowd up the toi)-bar. or i)ush down llu^ bottom- 

 bar a trifle. If the diagonal wires are drawn too 

 tight, the trouble is aggravated. We have 

 .several thousand of such combs in our ai)iary. 

 and there ai'e very few of them indeed that 

 liave le\('l top-liai's. If you use a scjuare fi'ame, 

 then a top-bai' % inch "will probably answer: 

 but even then, the folded tin bar is a thing the 

 bees do uot like. I have just been out in the 

 apiary look'ingovei' some comlis. and about half 

 of them have the foldetl tin bai'. nak'cd on oue 

 side, and the cells adjacent to it are pi'actically 

 useless. (>itlH'r foi' honey or for brood. Now. 

 why not have these cellstaken up by a top-bar 

 that won"t sag. and one that won"t have to have 

 a folded tin bar to keep things straight? We 

 have nuide our top-bars for loose frames, for a 

 yeai'and a half back. \.l_, wide and "s thick. We 

 do not make thick-top frames "„ wide, because 

 we know tbei-e would be Imrr-conibs. sure. Oui' 4 

 fixed frames have top-bai-s only 's thick and I }.;> 



