FIFTY TEAES AMONG THE BEES X39 



the honey-boards had gone more than one year without cleaning. 

 So at some time before putting on the honey-boards they were 

 carefully cleaned. But cleaning the honey-boards was not 

 enough. The tops of the frames had to be cleaned as well, and 

 this cleaning was done with a common garden-hoe, an assistant 

 smoking the bees out of the way while the top-bars were hoed. 



COEBECT BEE-SPACE. 



It was a great step in advance when we learned that in- 

 stead of a space % of an inch there should be only ^4 inch, or 

 perhaps a shade less. In other words we learned that a bee- 

 space, or that space in which bees were least inclined to put 

 either comb or propolis, was a scant quarter of an inch. With 

 a correct bee-space between top-bars and sections, we can dis- 

 pense entirely with anything in the shape of a honey-board. 

 There will be a little trouble with the building of bits of comb 

 under the sections, but not enough to make it worth while to 

 use a honey-board. But that trouble will be greatly aggravated 

 if there be any beginnings of burr-combs on the tops of the 

 frames when supers are given. So the tops must be cleaned off 

 wherever there is anything to clean off before the supers are 

 put on the hives. 



THICK TOPBAES. 



Another thing that may help to keep down burr-combs is 

 the thickness and width of top bars. My top-bars are % thick 

 and 1% wide, leaving a space of ^ inch between them. There 

 are more burr-combs than I like built between them, and I have 

 wondered whether any other space would be better. If the sides 

 as well as the tops of the top-bars were cleaned off at the time 

 of giving supers, it would help to keep the bottoms of sections 

 clean, but I doubt its paying. 



THICK TOP-BAES EOE WHITE SECTIONS. 



Even if the Ys thickness of top-bar were of no other 

 advantage, I should want it for the sake of keeping the cap-, 

 pings of the sections white. At one time I had wide frames of 



