THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



an even % inch space under the honey board. 

 While these do not result in having as much 

 comb built under the honey board for lack 

 of space as those standing diamond shaped, 

 the bees certainly do build comb there. 

 This, however, could hardly be called a fair 

 test, as the top bars being but three quarters 

 of an inch square, the spaces between the 

 top bars would be half an inch: the closed 

 end bars being I'^g- 



I have often noticed this fact, with any 

 frame or top bar, there is little tendency to 

 build brace or burr combs the first year 

 when everything is new. But, as the hive 

 becomes tilled, and the combs old, there 

 seems to be a desire to build new combs 

 somewhere. I think we are apt to draw our 

 conclusions too hastily. Is it not possible 

 that, when the hive becomes filled with 

 comb, and we furnish full sheets of founda- 

 tion in supers during a good and protracted 

 flow of nectar, the bees have an involuntary 

 surplus of wax scales, and, rather than kick 

 them off on the bottom board, they welcome 

 any space that will admit of building comb, 

 and thus frustrate our most cherished hopes? 



I shall make experiments the coming sea- 

 son by making top bars of ,the regulation 

 width and filling the frames with old comb, 

 giving the bees no space to build comb, and 

 hope to be able, at the close of the season, 

 to talk more intelligently: and I shall be 

 much interested in reading the experiences 

 and observations of others: for, could we 

 dispense with the honey board, it would be a 

 saving in many ways. 



Fbemont, Mich., .Jan. 2, 1890. 



The Break-Joint Principle Apparently of no 



Value. — Distance From the Brood-Nest 



May Prevent the Building of 



Brace Combs. 



C. O. MILLEB. 



f^O, 1 don't think "the excellent honey 

 r| (^ crop" had much, if it had anything, 

 % to do with my bees building brace 

 combs between top bars and sections. 

 The crop was nothing remarkable: indeed, 

 in a better locality it would not have been an 

 average crop. Moreover, tlie trouble con- 

 tinued after the main crop was over: for my 

 bees continued to store surplus for weeks 

 after clover was over, ( as they never did be- 

 fore), gaining a pound or so a day, and as 

 long as they worked in supers they continued 

 the brace combs. 



I have attached great value to the slat 

 honey board, and shall never cease to think 

 Mr. Hedtton did a great service when he 

 invented it, but I shall be very glad indeed 

 if it can be dispensed with, even if it ncccr 

 failed, and I am inclined to the oelief that 

 had I carefully scraped off all brace cjmbs 

 from over the top bars last spring, the honey 

 boards would have worked as well as ever. 

 At the same time I know that you and Mr. 

 Heddon have never scraped yours aud have 

 had no difficulty. The testimony of Mr. .J. 

 B. Hall as to the efficiency of thick top bars 



has great weight, because he has tested them 

 on a large scale for a number of years, and 

 he is a successful, practical bee-keeper. 

 Others have succeeded in the same way, aud 

 a few claim success by using top bars of the 

 usual thickness, but 1,^3 inches wide. Now, 

 (/ top bars, either by increased thickness or 

 width, or both, can be made to prevent all 

 l)race combs over the top bars, then I shall 

 bid good-bye to the honey boards and think 

 kindly of them for the good they have done. 



You ask, friend H., whether honey boards 

 must not be retained for the sake of having 

 convenient queen excluders. I suspect that 

 strips of perforated queen excluding zinc 

 will grow in favor, for many uses, but I have 

 had very little trouble with queens laying in 

 supers over honey boards without any per- 

 forated zinc, and indeed in the few cases in 

 which I tried putting supers directly over 

 the frames without any intervening honey 

 board, I do not remember that the queens 

 made any trouble. If no separators were 

 used in supers, and especially if the sections 

 should be narrow enough, I feel pretty sure 

 that the queen would go up, and stay up. 

 In talking with me on this subject, A. I. 

 Root suggested that a saw kerf could be 

 made in one side of the top bar and a strip 

 of perforated zinc inserted. This would be 

 a capital plan for those who believe in fixed 

 distances for brood frames, and although I 

 don't exactly like fixed distances, I think I 

 would like it better than using honey boards, 

 if it would work equally well. But as I have 

 already intimated, I would not use queen 

 excluders for comb honey. 



I suspect this whole matter will be settled, 

 not i)y discussing it, — although I think the 

 discussion will be helpful, and I shall look 

 with keen interest for the Jan. Review — but 

 it will be settled by actual test l)y many bee- 

 keepers. In the meantime, it will do no 

 harm for me to say whij I think the top bar 

 may take the place of the honey board. 

 Let us see how the honey board operates. 

 It has been said that the break-joint princi- 

 ple is an important element in preventing 

 brace combs. During the years in which 1 

 have used honey boards there have always 

 been a few cases in which the break joint 

 was not preserved, and I ol)served no brace 

 comlis in any such case, so long as no brace 

 coml)s were found with the break-joint. 

 The past season I paid especial attention to 

 the matter, and had a large numl)er of cases 

 in which there was no break joint, but the 

 space between the honey board slats coinci- 

 ded with the space between the top bars, and 

 I could not see that theve were more brace 

 combs in one case than the other. In the 

 case where there were no break joints, here is 

 what we had: A top tjar j^g thick, a space of 

 •*g inch, then a slat a-lG thick, making in all 

 1 1-lG inch from the comb to the upper sur- 

 face of the slat. Now, suppose, instead of 

 air l>etween top bar and slat we had wood, it 

 would he practically making a thick top bar. 

 What difference is there between having this 

 ■^K space filled with air and having it filled 

 with wood? I think the air would make 

 more of a Ijreak than the wood, and a queen 

 would be less likely to cross the air space 

 than the wood, and the workers would be 



