172 THE BEE-HIVES. 



350. This board is made of the same depth as the frames, 

 with a similar top-bar. Some Apiarists use a division-board 

 the full depth of the hive, but in moving it, bees are crushed 

 under it, and if any bees happen to be on the outside of it, 

 they cannot escape, and die there. On the other hand, this 

 bee-passage is not objectionable, since heat, having a ten- 

 dency to rise, does not escape through it. The board is 

 niade one-fourth inch shorter than the inside of the hive, 

 and a strip of oil-cloth or enamel-cloth, one and a half inches 

 wide, is tacked on, to fill the spaces at each end. In this 

 way, the board fits well against the ends, and is never glued 

 so as to make it difficult to remove. A small half-round 

 pine-strip, laid against the end of the board, while tacking 

 on the cloth, and pulled out afterwards, helps to tack the 

 cloth properly. To prevent the bees from tearing or gnawing 

 the edge of the cloth, some Apiarists nail a small strip of 

 tin over it. 



We make our division board % of an inch m thickness 

 and put it in the place of a frame. This gives % of room 

 behind it, which allows more freedom to move it. 



351. In the diagram (fig. 72) the reader will notice the 

 strip H used to widen the upper surface of the rabbeted 

 end of the hive. This wide surface is very convenient, to 

 make the cloth and straw-mat fit closely, as they can thus 

 be cut a little longer. 



352. The oil-cloth or enamel-cloth, first applied to hive 

 purposes by R. Bickford, is used over the brood-frames in 

 Spring. It fits closely, concentrates the heat, and can be 

 removed without jar or effort. '\\Tien the surplus arrange- 

 ment, or upper story, is put on, this cloth is removed and 

 placed at the top. ('J'59). All Apiarists, or nearly all, who 

 have tried the oil-cloth and honey-board simultaneously, have 

 discarded tlie latter forever, except in some cases of comb- 

 honey production, when a perforated zinc ('}'33) honey-board 

 is used between the stories. The oil-cloth is sometimes 

 gnawed, or rather pulled to pieces by the bees in a few years, 



