136 AUSTRALIAN BEE LOIiE AND BEE CULTURE- 



which stand upon them. As the outside width of the hody-box 

 is 13 inches, and the thickness of the sides § inch, HA inches inter- 

 vene between the latter. Eight of the frames, each 1 3-8 inch 

 wide, occupy 11 inches of this, so that the £ inch play provides 

 the additional space required on the outside of the outer combs. 

 To divide this equally, a narrow off-set, J inch thick, is nailed 

 into the corner on to the side, and against this the outside frame 

 rests. Wooden thumb-screws (ss), that have been previously 

 boiled in tallow, are now tapped into the sides, so that their ends 

 work on the edges of the wide sides of the frames, squeezing them 

 together until they hold their position securely when the body- 

 box is inverted. 



"The stand (st) needs little explanation. The cleats of the 

 bottom board touch its end pieces a trifle before the bottom board 

 itself touches the side pieces, such a bearing causing the weight of 

 the hive to assist the cleats in keeping the bottom board perfectly 

 straight. The honey-board (hb) Mr. Heddon arranges on the 



'break joints' principle, its slots standing over the interspaces be- 

 tween the frames of the body-box, with the object of preventing 

 the building of brace-combs as they are termed, i.e., strips and 

 irregular extensions of comb introduced between upper and lower 

 frame or frames and section-boxes, filling the bee-spaoe and at- 

 taching together, according to bee notions of security, parts that 

 the bee-keeper desires to remain separate. The frame which holds 

 the honey-board together extends in thickness 3-16 inch, both 

 above and below the slots, thus keeping the half bee-space so char- 

 acteristic of the Heddon system. The honey-board, as supplied, 

 has no further addition, but the inventor recommends, and Mr. 

 Jones actually places, queen-excluder zinc between the slots, 

 which have saw-kerfs made in their edges, so that zinc, wider than 

 their interspace, can be run in and kept in position. Zinc ex- 

 pands and contracts greatly by change of temperature, and would 

 be consequently likely to seriously buckle if given in full sheet; 

 but this is entirely prevented by the arrangement described. 



"The section-racks (sr) are constructed on the general plan of 

 the brood-chambers, with which they have the same length but a 

 slightly greater breadth; their edges, however, abut accurately 

 upon the brood-boxes, which is accomplished by giving to the sides 

 a small outside bevel. Since they are intended to hold frames 

 accommodating 4J inches by 4J inches section-boxes, they are only 

 5 1-8 inches deep, which allows \ inch for top and bottom bars 

 of frames, and 3-8 inch for two half bee-spaces. The sides of the 



