THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



when preparing my bees for winter and 

 cover with cloth and paper, thus forming a 

 warm air chamber of double bee space over 

 the brood frames. Either honey board pos- 

 sesses these good qualities, while the wood- 

 zinc board has other advantages, principally 

 the excluding of the queen from the supers. 

 I have had thirty-five of these boards in use 

 for three seasons and have never known a 

 queen to pass through them, but some have 

 reported to the contrary. I tind they are of 

 great advantage when hiving new swarms. 

 My [)lan is to hive on the old stands on 

 starters or full frames of foundation, putting 

 on the queen excluder and placing tlie cases 

 (which may contain empty comb for that 

 matter) on the hive before running the 

 swarm in. The bees will usually commence 

 work in the sections at once; while the queen 

 will be compelled to remain below, and comb 

 will be provided her by the bees as fast as 

 she will need it: while the greater part of 

 the honey will be stored above. I might 

 mention other advantages to be gained by 

 their use, but think this will suffice for this 

 time. 



Waukesha, Wis., 



Dec. 24, 1889. 



Proper Spacing and Deep Top Bars do Away 

 with Brace Combs. 



F. DANZENEAKEK. 



jRIEND Hutchinson. — In answer to 

 your question as to whether the use of 

 thick toi) bars wiU prevent the build- 

 ing of "burr" combs, and thus obviate 

 the use of honey boards, I will say that I 

 believe it to be a matter of distance. Thick 

 top bars will prevent l:)race combs,^ if they 

 are properlii apaeed, and only 3-1(! of an 

 inch bee space is allowed between top bars 

 and sections. 



I have thrown aside honey boards, queen 

 excluders, and reversible frames, as useless 

 nuisances, and, although I laise coml) honey 

 exclusively, I have not for six years had a 

 queen lay in the sections. 



I have tried top bars from ^4 to l^.j inches 

 deep, and from "g to IJ^^ inches wide. I find 

 with bars li, %, H, % and % inches deep, 

 the bees will extend comb to the top and 

 fasten it to the sections; over that thickness, 

 %, 1) lUi aud 1^2 inches thick, they do ex- 

 tend two or three rows of short, tliick cells 

 along the sides of the bars, but rarely to the 

 top, unless they are spaced too far apart. 

 With thin top bars \% or 1'4 inches wide, 

 which leaves only 14" or % inch space between 

 the sides of the top bars, the bees will l)uild 

 up to the top at the edges to the sections, and 

 build l>ridges of comb between the sides of 

 the top bars, making them very troublesome 

 handling, and ol)structing half the passage 

 to the sections. 



Eees when left to their own sweet will, 

 store their honey directly over and around 

 the brood nest, and the point for their 

 owners to heed, if they are working for comb 

 honey, is to keep sections and lirood so close 

 together that there is no waste of space, nor 

 room for them to build a cell for honey be- 

 tween either. 



We find that they rarely extend their combs 

 to the top of l)ars ''^ inches thick, and as this 

 is enough, we should not have a l-ltj more. 



Top bars "?„ inches wide, spaced l-^g inches 

 from center to center, leave a J^ inch space 

 lietween them, which is sufficient to discour- 

 age the building of In-idge combs, and leave 

 a full open passage for the bees and warmth 

 of colony directly into the sections, which 

 sit in cases witli oH/y ^-It! inch l)ee space, 

 (necer i)iore) between top of bars and sec- 

 tions, so that the workers can just barely 

 squeeze through, leaving them no room to 

 turn over or straighten out their legs or jaws, 

 and they are thus unable to build "burr- 

 coml)s," as I believe, for lack of elbow room. 



So that I rather coincide with Dr. Miller 

 that it is a matter of space and distance that 

 prevents the l)uilding of brace coml)S. 



It was doubtless owing to the fact that 

 inch lumber dressed on V)oth sides, measured 

 good ~s inches, and that square l)ars, having 

 four equal faces, made it more easy to finish 

 them and always have a good side ny , that 

 this size, ^s^'s. first came to be used. I 

 know parties that have used this size eighteen 

 years, so that it is time tried and proven. 

 In hives that I use or sell I do not allow any 

 other size of top bar. 



I use a hive aliout 13x14 inside measure, 

 and ten inches deep, with 7-8 inches space 

 lielow the frames, same as thickness of tlie 

 bar, and I find your plan and Doolittle's 

 suit me better than any others for comb 

 honey. 



Washington, D. C, Jan. 1, IS'JO. 



A Hint as to Why Bees Build Less Brace 

 Combs in New Hives. 



GEO. E. HILTON. 



WHETHER, or not the honey board 

 can be dispensed with, the future 

 must determine : the observations 

 and experiments of the past being 

 too limited to allow the drawing of correct 

 conclusions. While my own experience and 

 observations have not been to the letter, 

 what I have seen does not give me very 

 much hope. For the past two seasons I 

 have been handling 1.000 or more frames, 

 the top bars of which are % of an inch 

 square. A large majority of these top bars 

 stand diamond shaped up a:)d down; the 

 honey board being "^h of an inch from tlie 

 extreme top: leaving a Vshai)ed space under 

 the honey board and Ix'tween everj- two 

 frames. This space is invariably filled with 

 comb to such an extent one would be led to 

 think tlie bees had cut oft' their ready access 

 to the surplus cases; even the oi)enings 

 between the slats of tlie honey board being 

 largely filled, but no comb is built between 

 the honey board ;ind super. The inventor of 

 this method considers this condition below 

 the honey board an advantage by way of 

 leading the bees more readily into the supers, 

 and I am inclined to think he is right. 



Quite a number of these frames were made 

 with a view of transfering combs into them. 

 These had the top bars put in sciuare, leaving 



