THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



21 



pretty hard. I could take them apart again, 

 aud it seems as though any one with common 

 sense might do tiie same tiling without in- 

 jury to the comb , but it must be remem- 

 bered tliat everybody isn't experienced in 

 this liiud of worli. I think, perhaps, I ought 

 to use separators if I don't. Even thouyh I 

 have rai-*ed thousands of pounds of lioney 

 without separators that was so straight that 

 it could be put into aud taken out of a case 

 with no danger of injury, I have raised a 

 few — well, perhaps a /(^(c hundreds of pounds 

 that needed care in crating and in removing 

 from the crate or case. Now I either ought 

 to use separators or else not put any bulged 

 combs on the general market — either use 

 them myself or sell them direct to consumers 

 and show them how to " do " the puzzle. 



Is there any objection to the use of sepa- 

 rators, aside from their cost ? That is, does 

 their use lessen the yield of honey ? I don't 

 know, but I doubt if it does. We hear a 

 great deal about bees delighting to work in 

 a body, but I tell you their instinct for gath- 

 ering and storing is greater than their delight 

 at working in a body. 



If separators are to be used, which shall 

 they be, wood or tin V I believe the gener 1 

 decision is that tin is preferable with wide 

 frame ■ and wood with the T supers. When 

 used with wide frames the separators are 

 nailed lo the frames. Wood is likely to be- 

 come split or injured and thus necessitate 

 the trouble of removing the separator from 

 the wide frame and the nailing on of an- 

 other. When used with the T. super, the 

 separators are placed between the seciions 

 without any fastening ; simply resting ui on 

 the tins. If one of the separators is injured, 

 simply throwing it away and picking up a 

 new one ends the matter. Some have said 

 that when wood separators were used there 

 was less likelihood of the combs becoming 

 travel stained, as the bees would use t:.e 

 separators as a stairway instead of using the 

 combs. Whether there is anything in this I 

 don't know, but I guess not. 



Dr. Miller and I have had one or two little 

 tilts over the matter of tin separators being 

 colder ( ?) than wood. That is, tin is a better 

 conductor of heat than is the case of wood, 

 and he says, or intimates, that the bees 

 draw back away from tin separators on cold 

 nights, because the tin feels cold to them. I 

 fail to see how that part of a separator 

 enclosed in the cluster can conduct away 

 any heat. Any heat passing through it 



would simply be re-conducted into the clus- 

 ter. It would be just the same as though the 

 separator was not there. The power of the 

 separator to conduct heat out of the cluster 

 would be that of the intinitismal surface 

 represented by the edye of the end of the 

 separator — too minute to be worth noticing. 

 But, supposing the tin separators did cause 

 the bees to draw back from them during 

 cool nights, would we secure any less honey ? 

 When the honey harvest opens gradually, 

 and the bees commence in the center of a 

 case, attracted there, perhaps, by a " bait" 

 section, and gradually work to the outside, 

 separators are needed. When partly linished 

 sections, gathered together from different 

 supers, are put together in one super and 

 returned to the hive, separators are needed 

 unless very great care is used in putting 

 them in the super. In feeding back to 

 secure the completion of unfinished sections 

 a man's ingenuity will be put to the severest 

 test in matching sections to prevent bulging, 

 unle.-s separators are used. Friends, if you 

 don't use separators, why don't you ? 



WHEN SHALL WE USE FOUNDATION ? 



Last month I had in type an editorial of 

 half a dozen lines explaining that the dis- 

 cussion upon foundation would be continued; 

 but when I came to " making up " the forms 

 this little item and the correction in regard 

 to Mrs. Axtell's article, had to be left out. 

 This gave the impression that the discussion 

 upon foundation was at an end ; and, as it 

 happened that most of the articles rather 

 favored its non-use, some of the readers felt 

 that the discussion was an unfair one. A 

 few have objected to the intimation by Mr. 

 Hasty that supply-dealing journals were in- 

 terested in keeping alive the " venerable 

 falsehood." One correspondent says: "I 

 feel satisfied that you mean to be fair, but 

 your dislike of the supply trade is carrying 

 you into the other extreme." I think an 

 editor ought not to be held responsible for 

 tlie views of his correspondents, even if he 

 does not take the trouble to say, in a foot 

 note, that his views are different. His re- 

 sponsibility, as I understand it, is in regard 

 to whether the article shall be admitted ; 

 but, if it is admitted, the admission need not 

 imply that he agrees with the correspondent. 

 Now that attention has been called to the 

 matter I will say that I don't agree with 

 friend Hasty on this point. I think that the 



