920 GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



DIVISION -BOARDS NECESSARY ONLY WHEN WINTERING A NUCLEUS 



BY TARLTON-RAYMENT 



The recent advocacy of division-boards in 

 connection with" the eight and ten frame 

 hives evoked a considerable discussion in 

 Gleanings. Some of the writers went so 

 far as to recommend altering the dimen- 

 sions of the standard bodies to accommo- 

 date better the fixtures. 



From our point of view this is a remark- 

 able contention, because the only time we 

 can utilize any style of division-board or 

 " dummy '' is when packing a weak colony 

 in autumn. Even that contingency is so 

 rarely encountered with the eight-frame 

 hive under our system of management that 

 the total absence of the division-boards 

 would entail but little or no inconvenience. 

 But to suggest varying the hive measure- 

 ments simply to permit the use of what, in 

 the opinion of many exjoerienced ajDiarists, 

 is a superfluous piece of wood — oh dear! 

 no — not under any circumstances. 



Some seventeen years ago we made our 

 first hive. We, as the merest tyros, had just 

 previously been conducted over a neat little 

 apiary of eight-frame Lang"stroth hives fit- 

 ted with beeway sections. Their obvious 

 convenience, together with the snowy cap- 

 pings, made a deej^ and lasting impression. 



At that time division-boards were not in 

 our vocabulary ; but we feel pretty certain 

 that the model apiary was certainly not 

 bothered with them. However, returning to 

 our home-made hive, in the intrepid manner 

 of the inexperienced we were convinced that 

 it was altogether wrong to make the brood- 

 frames 91/s inches deep and the honey-sec- 

 tions only 4^. 



According to our reasoning, which, un- 

 fortunately, was logical, but opposed to the 

 requii'ements of the bee, it should have been 

 the other way aboift — honey receptacles 9% 

 and brood 4^4- "Why! look what a lot 

 more honey would be stored ! " So we con- 

 structed our first and only home-made hive 

 on those ill-based principles. In our igno- 

 rance we unconsciously invented the shallow 

 brood-frame. The bees did not settle down 

 to work, but deserted their home, which 

 catastrophe led us to seek further informa- 

 tion. 



A course of study enlightened us, and 

 proved the principles enunciated by Lang- 

 stroth to be soundly based. We have been 

 taught by sheer necessity one or two addi- 

 tional facts about the fitments of the hive 

 since that time ; but the use of the division- 

 board is not yet acquired. 



The first consignment of hives we ordered 

 was machine-made eight-frame size. Each 



hive was furnished with a division-board % 

 inch thick. We tried faithfully to handle 

 them at the start, because all the text-books 

 urged their use; but we were compelled 

 finally to cast them aside as worthless. The 

 hives were more convenient without them. 



For eight or ten years we never handled 

 a dummy of any description, aitho we de- 

 pended almost entirely upon the bees for 

 our livelihood. Then a neighbor sold out 

 and we purchased a number of new-pattern 

 division-boards simply a plain board one 

 inch in tliickness surrounded by a Hoffman 

 frame. They were very heavy, did not fit 

 our hives, and so we removed the frames 

 and had comb built in them. You see we 

 could discover no reasonable use for the 

 " dummy." The eight-frame body has only 



Rayment's plan of wintering a nucleus in Australia. 



sufficient room for the requisite number of 

 frames; and why anybody should desire to 

 insert something extra is beyond our com- 

 prehension. 



It has been suggested that the boards are 

 a necessity when colonies are to be packed 

 for winter; but our efforts are concentrated 

 on getting such a number of bees in the 

 hive by autumn that when the supers are at 

 last removed the brood-chamber is so crowd- 

 ed with bees that some are compelled to 

 cluster outside. Obviously, then, there is 

 no room inside the hive for anything more. 



Of course some will insist that, Avithout 

 the dummy, one comb at least will be bulged 

 or misshapen ; but in all our experience we 

 have never encountered any real annoyance 

 from this source. And division-boards cost 



