AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



553 



it. We mention this here, as we were not 

 present when Bro. Taylor made his un- 

 called-for remark, and that such an unkind 

 thing may not occur again. We most as- 

 suredly would not thank any of our 

 would-be friends to advocate before a pub- 

 lic gathering of bee-keepers, the taking of 

 the Bee Journal. It could but result in 

 injury to our journal, and be a gross in- 

 justice to our brother editors and their 

 papers. Private recommendation, how- 

 ever, is all right. 



We mention this matter in all kindness, 

 for we feel sure that Bro. Taylor's inten- 

 tions were highly commendable, and that 

 he did not contemplate the ill-effect that we 

 learn was visible. 



Coiiveiition Pliotograplis. — Bro. 

 Hutchinson's love for his new hobby, pho- 

 tography, is so great that it led him to 

 bring his camera with him to the late con- 

 vention in Chicago, where he made several 

 photographs of the bee-keepers present. Of 

 these, two are fairly good, showing most of 

 the faces quite clearly. One of the pictures 

 is the interior view, showing the bee- 

 keepers in the hall, and the other is the 

 group that gathei-ed on the steps of the 

 hotel towards evening on the first day of 

 the convention. He can furnish these 

 photographs at 50 cents each. He also 

 made excellent photographs of nearly all 

 of the honey exhibits at the World's Fair, 

 which he can furnish at the same price. 

 The size of the pictures is 5x8 inches. Ad- 

 dress Bro. H. at Fint, Mich., and get what 

 pictures you want. 



Convention Badges. — There are 

 about forty of the beautiful Badges left 

 over, of those used at the recent meeting of 

 the North American. These we offer as 

 "souvenirs" of the Columbian meeting. 

 Price, postpaid, 15 cents each, or two for 

 25 cents. Whatever is realized on the sale 

 of these Badges will be turned into the 

 treasury of the Association. Don't you 

 want one, reader, to keep as a memento, 

 even though you were not fortunate enough 

 to be present ? They are red, with pin at 

 the back, and neat bow of white and blue 

 ribbon at the top. It is a patriotic Badge, 

 as you will note that red, white and blue 

 are represented in its make-up. Better 

 have this neat and pretty souvenir. 



In this department will be aiiswered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special Interest to 

 require replies from the 'JO or more apiarists 

 who help to make •'Queries and Replies" 80 

 Interesting- on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Correct Space Between Top-Bars. 



I would like to know through the Bee 

 Journal what is the correct space be- 

 tween the top-bars J^, 5/16, or % of 

 an inch. I find that with 5/16 space 

 there is very little brace-comb on the 

 frames, but with % thore is a good deal. 

 I use the Hoffman frames, and I put 

 strips on the side of some to see how it 

 would work 1/16 thick, and no brace 

 or burr combs either were on the frames; 

 but I would like to know which is the 

 correct space. G. D. Littoot. 



Tacoma, Wash. 



Answer. — Your question is one that 

 has not received a great deal of atten- 

 tion, probably not as much as its impor- 

 tance demands. Thickness of top-bars, 

 and space above top-bars, are the things 

 that have been mostly considered in pre- 

 venting brace and burr combs, but the 

 space between top-bars has undoubtedly 

 much to do in the case. In a late num- 

 ber of Oleanings, Dr. Miller gave an ac- 

 count of some experiments he had made 

 which seemed to point to the conclusion 

 that the best space between top-bars is 

 M inch. With that space he had no 

 brace-combs, and he also used the argu- 

 ment that }4 inch is the space that bees 

 of their own accord leave between two 

 surfaces of sealed honey, or between a 

 separator and a surface of sealed honey. 



You have undoubtedly reached the 

 correct conclusion that % space is too 

 much. The question lies between J^ 

 and 5/16. You iind very little with 

 5/16, and the Doctor found none with 

 }4. You will do well to try J^. There 

 is just a possibility that with continued 

 usage there may be propolis in the }4 

 space, but it seems hardly probable, if 

 that is the space the bees leave between 

 sealed combs. 



Eupatorium or Boneset. 



I enclose a bunch of white blossoms 

 that grow in the river bottoms here. We 

 seldom see it on the upland. Bees work 

 on it only in the afternoon — they fairly 



