138 AUSTRALASIAN 



while tapping down the ends of the dovetails at each corner. 

 Complaints are sometimes made that the joints of dovetailed 

 sections are not firm enough to keep the boxes from twisting 

 out of the square, even when carefully handled, but I find that 

 when put together as I have described they are equally as firm 

 for all purposes required as when nailed. 



SEPARATORS. 



In raising comb-honey it is most desirable to have the section 

 boxes uniformly filled, the combs of an even thickness through- 

 out, built with perfectly flat faces, and not projecting beyond 

 the edges of the sections. To this end temporary partitions or 

 separators are generally placed between each two rows of section 

 boxes while in the hive. Were the bees not confined to each 

 particular box by these divisions or walls we should be likely 

 to find the combs built very irregular and bits of wax stuck 

 about the edges of them. 



Separators are usually made of tin, but sometimes of very 

 thin wood ; tin appears to be the best, as the bees are not so 

 likely to attach comb to it as to wood. They should be made 

 of very light tin, cut three-quarters of an inch longer than the 

 outside dimensions of the frames and 3 Jin. wide ; the ends 

 should be bent at right angles, to hook, as it were, round the 

 end bars, and be lightly tacked to keep them in place. Care 

 should be taken to put them on perfectly flat, and to leave an 

 equal space of a quarter of an inch at the upper and lower parts 

 of the sections to allow the bees to pass in and out and from 

 one box to the others (see Fig. 54). 



DISPENSING WITH SEPARATORS. 



Much thought has been given lately by some leading bee- 

 keepers to the question of dispensing with separators alto- 

 gether. No doubt it would be very desirable to do so could we 

 have our comb-honey raised in as good form without them. 

 Not to speak of a saving of expense, there are other objections 

 to their use. For instance, the sections being divided off from 

 each other, and thus to a large extent cutting off continuous 

 communication through the super, tends in a very great mea- 

 sure to prevent the beos entering the boxes as readily as they 

 otherwise would, hence the greater tendency for a colony to 



