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Queries f Reflies. 



PRACTICAL QIEEX-EXCLUD. 

 IXG HOXEV.BOARDS, 



Written for tlM American Bee Journal 



Query 531 .—Which ia the beet queen-ex- 

 cluaing honey-board for practical use—one 

 with wooden slats and strips of perforated 

 zinc, alternate, or one made of full sheets of 

 zinc the size of the hive ? State why you pre- 

 fer the one or the other.— Kentucky. 



Full sheets of zinc. They give the 

 bees more room to pass through. — M. 

 Mahin. 



Wood and zinc combined, because 

 of greater firmness. — ^Eugene Secok. 



I prefer the full sheets of zinc, be- 

 cause it has more perforations, and is 

 less in the way of the bees. — P. L. 



VlAXLON. 



I think that one with wooden slats 

 is entirely better than either. The 

 reasons are, cheapness combined with 

 utility.^MKS. L. Harrison. 



I prefer the one with wooden slats 

 and strips of perforated zinc. Full 

 sheets are too liable to get out of 

 shape. — J. P. H. Brown. 



I prefer the former, for the reason 

 that it makes a much more substan- 

 tial board, and is just as good in every 

 other way. — G. M. Doolittle. 



The first mentioned is the best, be- 

 cause more rigid, and so more dur- 

 able ; and also because it is cheaper. — 

 R. L. Taylor. 



I have never used the wooden-slat 

 honey-board. Zinc queen-excluders, 

 the full size of the hive inside, an- 

 swers all purpose. — J. M. Hambaugh. 



For practical use, I prefer the wood 

 and zinc. It is much easier to remove 

 from the hive than are zinc queen-ex- 

 cluders, and keeps its shape better. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



I prefer that with wooden slats, be- 

 cause it keeps its shape and place 

 better. — C. C. Miller. 



Some say one, and some the other ; 

 I have used both, and find • but little 

 difterence if an}- in results. I think 

 that the zinc sheets are preferable. — J. 

 E. Pond. 



Wood and zinc, slatted. It has 

 rigidity, thus keeping the bee-spaces 

 exact, while the metal is thin and of- 

 fers the least diiSculty to the passage 

 of bees ; besides the openings are al- 

 ways exact. — W. Z. Hutchinson. 



I prefer the full sheets of zinc with 

 a wood rim. Practically, there would 

 be but little difterence in the results 

 obtained from the use of the one or 

 the other. The slat honey-board nec- 

 essarily has an uneven face, and this 



induces the bees to build "bits of 

 comb " between the top-bars of the 

 brood-frames and the board, and the 

 slats hide this from the eyes of the 

 apiarist, and the board must be ripped 

 oft" when it is to be removed. The 

 sheet of zinc is perforated all over its 

 surface, through which j'ou can see 

 the " bits of comb," and the sheet will 

 spriug when j-on raise one side, and 

 will admit a knife-blade to sever the 

 " studs " of wax. — G. W. Demaree. 



I perfer the first, as they answer so 

 well as a double bee-space arrange- 

 ment. The Heddon honey-board, with 

 the zinc between the slats, I consider 

 a wonderful acquisition to any apiary. 

 — A. J. Cook. 



The combined zinc strips and wood 

 slats by all means. The reason is this : 

 The honey-board made as above is 

 substantial and strong, and will not 

 warp, twist or get out of shape. 

 Further, the break-joint principle can 

 be easily and perfectly maintained 

 with the combined honey-board. — 

 James Heddon. 



I find that wooden slats properly 

 spaced please me best. If I were to 

 use perforated metal, it would be in 

 combination with wood. This method 

 of making queen-excluders is doubt- 

 less well understood. I prefer wood 

 to metal, because it does not scrape 

 the laden bees as they pass — J. M. 

 Shuck. 



I must say that I do not know. I 

 am experimenting with a half-dozen 

 dift'erent devices, for excluding the 

 queen from the section-cases. I am 

 using a Heddon honey-board with slats 

 only 3-16 of an inch apart, and it works 

 very nicely. It is very dilfieult, how- 

 ever, to have the slats just right, and 

 keep them so. To make the matter 

 perfectly certain, / think that a full 

 sheet of the perforated zinc is best. — 



C. H. DiBBERN. 



The one with wooden slats and 

 ■strips of perforated zinc is the best, 

 but the strips of zinc should have two 

 rows of perforations instead of one 

 row. The strips should be only i|-inch 

 wide, and be let into the slats a little 

 less than J of an inch. Then the two 

 rows of perforations leave little zinc, 

 and come so near the wood as to secnre 

 foot-hold to the bees in passing 

 through the zinc, when, if the perfora- 

 tion are of a proper size, they are 

 positively no hindrance to the workers. 

 With full sheets of perforated zinc, it 

 is only by a struggle that the bees can 

 get through, and hence, they are a 

 hindrance to the bees ; and the same is 

 true of the wood-and-zinc board if the 

 perforations are too far from the wood. 

 Again, the full sheets are more or less 

 imeven, will sag, and be bound down 

 to a great extent, while the wood-and- 



zinc board is almost free from these 

 objections. — 6. L. Tinker. 



The honey-board made of perforated 

 zinc alternated between wooden slats 

 is very preferable, because it can be 

 more readily and conveniently hand- 

 led ; will keep in better shape and con- 

 dition ; aud is stiffer and straighter. 

 Full sheets of zinc will very often ciii'I 

 and bulge, the zinc being very sensi- 

 tive to otu- ever-changing climate and 

 temperature. — The Editor. 



THE RESrET.S CLAIMED FOR 

 REVERSIBLE FRAME!*. 



Written for tlie American Bee Journal 



Query 522.— Do reversible frames pro- 

 duce the results claimed for them, by caus- 

 ing the bees (when the frames are reversed) 

 to place the honey in the sections ?— Rhode 

 Island. 



Not according to my experience. — P. 

 L. Viallon. 



I cannot speak from expeiience, but 

 I think they do. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



If the frames have brood in them 

 down to the bottom, reversing, with 

 uncapping, will. — A. B. Mason. 



I do not know ; I have never used 

 them, and have no desire to tiy them. 

 — M. Mahin. 



If the conditions are just right, it 

 will in many cases. — H. D. Cutting. 



They certainly aid, if I can see 

 straight. — A. J. Cook. 



I presume that they generally do, 

 but not alwa3-s. — C. C. Miller. 



Yes, they cause the bees to remove 

 the honey from below to above, as a 

 rule. — Dadant & Son. 



I think that the reversing of frames 

 for this purpose has been largely 

 abandoned at the present time. — G. 

 M. Doolittle. 



Yes, at certain times, and under the 

 right conditions, all of which have 

 been explained before. — W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson. 



I answer this question in the style 

 of the quack doctor, when called to 

 testify in a ease of poisoning : " They 

 'moiCt,^ and then, they "inoulnH.'' " — J. P. 

 H. Brown. 



Not in a practical way. I mean to 

 say that the plan does not work uni- 

 formly, aud if it did, there would be 

 nothing gained by it in the long run. 

 — G. W. Demaree. 



If the honey is sealed, I think that 

 the bees seldom disturb it. If tliiu and 

 uncapped, the probability is tlicy will 

 remove it. — Eugene Secor. 



I do not practice reversing, but tlie 

 result claimed would undoubtedly fol- 

 low if the reversing were done at the 

 proper time. — R. L. Taylor. 



