36 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



HEDDON SUPER. 



In the year 1883 I tried the Heddon super (Fis. 4) to the 

 number of two hundred. The Heddon super is much in form 

 like a T super, but it is divided lengthwise into four compart- 

 ments. This prevents, of course, the possibility of having sep- 

 arators running the length of the super, so no separators are 

 used. James Heddon and others had reported success in ob- 

 taining sections that were straight enough for satisfactory 

 packing in a shipping-ease, but with me too many sections were 

 bulged, their neighbors being correspondingly hollowed out. I 

 did not continue the use of this super very long. 



In the latter part of the same year I attended the North 

 American convention at Toronto, Canada, and while there D. 

 A. Jones showed me the T super (Fig. 5). I was much im- 

 pressed with it. The next year I put a number of T supers in 

 use, and the more I tried them the better I liked them. I have 

 tried a number of other kinds since, but nothing that has made 

 me desire to make a change. 



THICK TOP-BARS. 



When attending that same convention, that very practical 

 Canadian beekeeper, J. B. Hall, showed me his thick top-bars, 

 and told me that they pre\ented the building of so much burr- 

 comb between the top-bars and the sections. Although I made 

 no immediate practical use of this knowledge, it had no little 

 to do with my using thick top-bavs afterward. I was at that 

 time using the Heddon slat honey-board (Fig. 6), and the use 

 of it with the frames I then had was a boon. It kept the bot- 

 toms of the sections clean, but when it was necessary to open 

 the brood-chamber there was found a solid mass of hor.ey 

 between the honey-board and the top-bars. It was something 

 of a nuisance, too, to have this extra part in the way, and I am 

 very glad that at the present day it can be dispensed with by 

 lia\'ii'.,L'' to]i-har« 1^4 inelies wide and '<, inch thid-c, with a ^])ai' 

 of % inch between top-bar and section. Xot that there is en 



