COMB HONEY. 417 
“Now this same difference made by the bees, between wood and 
comb, they will also make between combs of honey and combs 
of brood, and with our 8-frame Langstroth hive, we notice far 
less neglect of the side surplus combs than we noticed when 
using the 10-frame hives. ‘This is one objection to the method 
of contracting by replacing the side combs of brood chambers 
with fillers or dummies.”— J. Heddon “ Success in Bee-Culture.” 
730. A method which avoids contraction, and makes the 
best honey-producing colonies still better, consists in taking 
brood combs from colonies that are not likely to yield 
any surplus, and exchanging them, for empty combs from 
the best colonies, just before the honey harvest. This 
method requires too many manipulations to be very advan- 
tageous, and prevents the poorest colonies from becoming 
stronger. , 
731. 2d. SECURING STRAIGHT, EVEN COMBS, IN SECTIONS. 
With thin comb foundation, in strips filling } to 3? of the 
section, the combs are always straight, but their surface, 
when sealed, is not always even. Some cells are built longer 
than others, and, in packing the honey, these bulged combs 
might come in contact with one another and get bruised. 
To prevent this occurrence, many Apiarists use ‘‘separa- 
tors,’ made of tin, wood, or coarse wire cloth, placed be- 
tween the rows of sections, as in fig. 171. This invention, 
claimed by Mr. Betsinger, of New York, was first tried in 
the brood chamber, by Mr. Langstroth in 1858. It was 
suggested by Mr. Colvin. (See former edition, page 374.) 
Let the reader bearin mind that these separators although 
useful, are not indispensable. They are to a certain ex- 
tent an annoyance to the bees. Some Apiarists of ability, 
among whom we will cite Mr. Geo. H. Beard, of Missouri, 
manage to secure very nice honey in sections without them ; 
but if we were to produce large quantities of comb honey, 
we should use them, and would give the preference to those 
made of tin. 
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