1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1503 



rangement is very good. Of course, it is im- 

 portant that there should be a good roof over 

 the whole. — Ed.] 



tt«« 



SIZE AND SHAPE OF SECTIONS. 



Can we by Reducing the Thickness of them 



Successfully Dispense with Separators 



or Fences? 



BY J. E. HAND. 



Mr. Editor:— We have had the pleasure of 

 a short visit from Mr. W. K. Morrison, of 

 tropical fame; and of the many interesting 

 subjects relating to bee culture that were up 

 for discussion before that convention of two, 

 and the one that remained with us the long- 

 est after Mr. Morrison's departure, and is 

 with us yet, is the non-use of separators in 

 the production of comb honey. Mr. Morri- 

 son is, perhaps, better posted regarding bee- 

 keeping over a wider range of tropical coun- 

 tries than any other bee-keeper in the United 

 States. He was able to solve the problem of 

 the successful production of comb honey in 

 the tropics by the use of shallow brood-cham- 

 bers, where it was considered next to impos- 



obstacle, even as it is destined to overcome 

 every other obstacle to the successful pro- 

 duction of comb honey. 



Mr. Morrison also assured us that he was 

 able to produce sections of honey with per- 

 fectly straight and even combs without the 

 use of separators by using full sheets of foun- 

 dation in thin sections. When the 4^ square 

 section was first introduced, this particular 

 size and shape was not adopted because of 

 any advantage over any other shape or form, 

 but simply because eight sections of this size 

 would just fill the Langstroth frame, making 

 two tiers of four sections each. It was found 

 that, in order to have these sections weigh 

 very nearly one pound when filled with hon- 

 ey, it was necessary to make them two inch- 

 es thick. It was also found that it was not 

 practical to produce honey in these thick sec- 

 tions without separators, as such sections, 

 when tilled with honey, would be so badly 

 bulged and uneven that it would be impossi- 

 ble to crate them, and they were used in this 

 way for several years. 



Finally it became a noticeable fact that, 

 in using the double-tier wide frames, the 

 lower tier of sections would become soiled 

 and discolored by travel-stain before the sec- 



j. E. hand's super for his ststem of producing comb honey without separators. 



sible to produce comb honey on account of 

 the peculiarity of the honey-flow and the 

 climatic conditions which caused the bees 

 to fill the brood-chambers solid full of hon- 

 ey, completely crowding out the queen and 

 thus causing the colony to dwindle to a 

 mere handful of bees, and, of course, the 

 shallow frame would entirely overcome this 



tions in the upper tier would be finished. 

 This, together with other advantages to be 

 gained by tiering up supers, led to the dis- 

 carding of the double-tier frame in favor of 

 the single-tier section-super. 



About this time there seemed to be a de- 

 mand for a light-weight section to sell by the 

 piece, and this resulted in the introduction 



