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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Witb Replies tbereto. 



[It is quite useless to ask for answers to 

 Queries In this Department in less time 

 than one month. They have to wait their 

 turn, be put in type, and sent In about a 

 dozen at a time to each of those who answer 

 them ; get them returned, and then find 

 space for them in the Journai,. If you are 

 Id a "hurry" for replies, do not ask for 

 them to be inserted here.— Ed.1 



Top-Storaie vs. Sifle-Storaie, 



Query 453.— What is the diflference in 

 top-8toTa»ie. over the brood-chamber, and slde- 

 Btorapewilh perniai.ent (livipion-Uoard. the bees 

 to enter Ihe ikie-arrargement from the outside 

 entrance ; turplua Irames about J'xlo inches, and 

 no cumb-guioes and no loundation starteis to be 

 used ?— iientucky. 



I think the difference would be in 

 favor of top-storage.— C. C. Miller. 



The amount of " difference " would 

 be pieity hard to determine, but it 

 would be decidedly in favor of top- 

 storing.— J. F. H. Brown. 



I prefer wholly top-storage, as 

 being more convenient, and just as 

 prodiable.— A. J. Cook. 



The difference is that bees will store 

 more honey over the brood than at 

 any other point.— G. L. Tinker. 



Side-storage does not work well in 

 this locality, with any hive that I 

 have seen constructed for that pur- 

 pose.— H. D. Cutting. 



There will be more side-storage 

 with such deep surplus frames, than 

 there would be otherwise. We have 

 used side-storing hives for years, and 

 finally abandoned them altogether, 

 but some are successful with them. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



The difference is that the top-stor- 

 age systtm is cheaper, much more 

 quickly manipulated, safer from rob- 

 bers, easier, pleasanter, and gives 

 us the whitest honey, freest from bee- 

 bread— just as 1 have advocated for 

 over 15 years.— James Heddon. 



I do not know, as 1 have never 

 tested it. I think, however, the side 

 arrangement would not prove accept- 

 able. It is too theoretical to suit my- 

 self, and 1 think the idea could not 

 have originated in the brain of an ex- 

 pert.— J. E. Pond. 



Top-storage secures as good results 

 as side-stoiape, and requires less 

 labor. You speak of an "outside" 

 entrance; in what way does it differ 

 from an "inside" entrance? If no 

 comb guides or starters are used, the 

 combs may be built crosswise.— W. 

 Z. Hutchinson. 



The difieience is. as practicable is 

 to impracticalile. Side-storing is of 

 doubtful utility when no division- 

 board is between, and is entirely im- 

 practicable with a permanent division 

 between the brood-nest and the side 

 department. Bees work best over the 

 brood-nest because the heat and odor 

 of the bees rises and fills the surplus 

 cases more to the taste of the bees 



than they could enjoy it at the side 

 of the brood-nest. Bees instinctively 

 store their honey so as to have the 

 brood-nest between their stores and 

 the entrance to their domiciles, be it a 

 hollow tree or a properly constructed 

 bee hive.— G. W. Demaree. 



Probably some honey in the former 

 and none in the latter. No one would 

 think of working bees without guides 

 (starters) or foundation at this age of 

 the world, and compelling the bees to 

 enter the sections from the outside 

 would cut off all prospect of a honey 

 crop in any event.— G.M.Doolittle. 



Top-storage is far preferable in 

 every way. It would be ditHcult to 

 figure out a differentiated statement of 

 quantities, but it would all tell on the 

 side of top-storing— decidedly.— The 

 Editor. 



Double Bee-Space aliOTe the Brooil-Nest. 



Query -154.- Is a double bee-space be- 

 tween the surplus and brood apartments of any 

 advantage ?-J. W. S. 



Yes, of great advantage.— A. J. 

 Cook. 



In some respects it is a disadvan- 

 tage.— J. P. El. Brown. 



Two bee-spaces, rightly made, are 

 of advantage.— C. C. Miller. 



No. We must have the honey- 

 apartment as close to the brood as 

 possible.— Dadant & Son. 



No, not if I understand the ques- 

 tion correctly.— G. M. Doolittle. 



It prevents to a great extent the 

 building of brace-combs, and allows 

 the sections to be removed for tiering 

 up with less trouble.— H. D. Cutting. 



It is a very great advantage if the 

 double bee space is formed by a 

 movable honey-board. It effectually 

 prevents the building of brace-combs 

 beneath the supers, so that the latter 

 are readily removed or tiered up as 

 needs be.— G. L. Tinker. 



I think not, but a disadvantage 

 rather, as it would cause the building 

 of brace-combs and ladder-steps to 

 the surplus chamber. There can cer- 

 tainly be no need for such space, and 

 all extra space is filled with comb to 

 bother awfully when manipulating.— 

 J. E. Pond. 



The advantage of a double bee- 

 space is this : The lower bee -space 

 will contain the brace-combs that 

 with only one bee-space would be at- 

 tached to the bottom of the sections, 

 or to the wide frames, if they are 

 used. No brace-combs are built in 

 the vpper bee-space, and when the 

 supers are taken off, the bottoms of 

 the sections are clean.— W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson. 



I would prefer a " single bee-space " 

 between the brood and the surplus 

 departments, if there was any way of 

 preventing the bees from sticking the 

 two apartments together; but as this 

 cannot be done without the "double 

 bee spaces," in the way of metal 

 queen-excluders, honey-boards, or my 

 slotted top-bar frames, I find the 

 "double bee-spaces" a greater ad- 



vantage. The double bee-spaces, if 

 properly arranged, prevent all bits 

 of comb between the section-cases 

 and the tops of the brood- frames, and 

 make the " tiering up system " rapid 

 and pleasant. Certainly this is an 

 " advantage."— G. W. Demaree. 



No, but two bee-spaces with the 

 break-joint honey-board between, is 

 of immense advantage, and this I 

 have been trying to impress upon the 

 minds ef my brother bee-keepers for 

 nearly ten years, and many are now 

 seeing and taking advantage of it. 

 A few who have just found it out, are 

 falsely claiming it as their own.— 

 James Heddon. 



Yes ; by it, cleaner sections are ob- 

 tained, and brace-combs avoided. — 

 The Editor. 



Bees Working in Sections Early. 



Query 455.— How would It do to net 



bees to work in the sections early, by first placing 

 a frame of sections with foundation starters, then 

 a frame of ripe brood and bees, then a frame of 

 sections, and another frame of bees and honey, 

 then a frame of sections, etc., alternating them ? 

 Would not this plan get the bees to work at once 

 in the sections? Mr. John Wileman could now 

 take a H ton of comb honey from his 8 colonies 

 worked on the above plan.— New York. 



The trouble is that you would get 

 lots of pollen in the sections, by that 

 method.— Dadant & Son. 



It would be sorry looking comb 

 honey gotten in that way. I should 

 much prefer the contraction plan. — 

 G. M. Doolittle. 



While your plan encourages the 

 bees to an early start in the sections, 

 it is attended with objections.— J. P. 

 H. Brown. 



The above plan would work all 

 right, but with no satisfaction to me. 

 The }4 ton of honey to 8 colonies is 

 easy enough, provided the bees can 

 find nectar enough to convert into 

 honey.— H. D. Cutting. 



The plan is excellent, though I 

 think one frame of brood would do 

 nearly as well as so many. This, of 

 course, would only work where sec- 

 ond story hives were in use.— A. J. 

 Cook. 



It would start the bees in sections, 

 but you can start tbem just as well by 

 putting in the super a single section 

 containing some honey uncapped. I 

 should not like the proposed plan. — 

 C. C. Miller. 



With my hive construction and 

 locality no such extra labor is needed; 

 again, the comb would be apt to be 

 stained— it might contain pollen, also. 

 If I considered a manipulation of such 

 nature advantageous, I sliould take 

 advantage of it by quickly placing a 

 case of sections between the two cases 

 of my new brood-chamber. We must 

 learn to avoid time consuming manip- 

 ulation. —James Heddon. 



It would not do for me. " For the 

 life of me " I cannot understand why 

 any one has got to induce the bees to 

 go to work in the section-cases if the 

 brood-nest is crowded with brood and 

 honey, and there are field workers 

 ready, and honey in the flowers wait- 

 ing to be gathered. Under such cir- 



