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THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
handling four sections at once and the removal 
of sections as fast as completed. The separators 
are not made fast to these frames' so that it is an 
easy matter to shake the bees off from a frame 
of sections, and the centre bar prevents any 
liability of the sections being thrown out of the 
frames from shaking them. I leave the sections 
in the frames until ready to crate them for the 
market. They are then easily forced out of the 
frames by placing a block the size of two sections 
beneath and pressing the frames down. 
The principal objection I have to the T super 
is that the whole case must be left on the hive 
till all the sections are completed, for only one 
section can be handled at a time, and that with 
great liability of injuring the combs, even by 
the most careful. But it is not practical to take 
off one section at a time in a large apiary, so 
that all the sections must be left on till all are 
completed, and when, as is often the case, the 
honey comes in slowly, the centre sections are 
liable to be soiled by being travel stained when 
left on too long. Besides if the lop and bottom 
bars of the sections are exposed, they will be 
more or less soiled. 
Again, the T super cannot be made to work 
right with the open side section and wood 
separators as above described. It is admitted 
that it works fairly well and is very cheap for 
holding the closed side sections. 
As more T supers would be required to run an 
apiary than of the wide frame supers, the claim 
is made that although a little cheaper than the 
latter, the cost of the number required for an 
apiary is about the same, with all the advantage 
of facili i y of operation on the side of the wide 
frame super. [ may add that after a trial of a 
great many kinds of section supers, I have found 
none that give the perfect satisfaction of the 
wide frame super. 
The advantage of storifying supers is fully 
recognised and no super is perfect that does not 
admit of being raised up and an empty one 
placed beneath it thus permitting the use of as 
many sections on a hive as may be desired. — 
Beekeepers Review . 
PAINTED V. UNPAINTED HIVES. 
FRIEND DOOLITTLE GIVES US SOME VALUABLE 
FACTS IN REGARD TO THE MATTER. 
As the season of the year for painting hives is 
drawing near with us here at the North, and has 
probably already come to our brethren of the 
South, I thought a few words on the desirability 
of our doing so might not be amiss at this time. 
It will, I think, be admitted by all, that hives look 
better, and will last longer, if painted, than if lei t 
unpainted ; but I mistrust that $15.00 a year will 
sustain more hives if spent for lumber alone than 
if spent for paint and lumber ; yet when we take 
the looks into consideration, probably there is 
little difference in favour of either, providing that 
the bees would do as well in one as in the other. 
In this respect, I consider the unpainted hive ' 
much better suited to the wants of the bees, and 
contend that bees will not do nearly as well in 
painted hives as they will in an unpainted one. 
Wherein is an unpainted hive better than a 
painted one? Principally in this, that, if properly 
covered, it will keep the bees dryer at all seasons 
of the year, and, owing to this dryness, they are 
consequently much warmer. As unpainted wood 
is porous, the moisture evaporates through all 
parts of the hive, keeping the bees warm, dry, and 
quiet, thus avoiding an undue consumption of 
honey, as well as bee diarrhea. Several years 
ago I had a number of box hives, some of which 
were painted, while others were not. I set them 
out of the cellar about the first April, in as near 
an equal condition as could be. In the morning 
after every cold frosty night, there would be water 
running out of the entrance of those that were 
painted, and on tipping them up the combs were 
found to be quite wet near the outside of them, 
or next the walls of the hive, while those in 
unpainted hives were dry and nice, no water ever 
showing even at the entrance. Those in the 
unpainted hives increased in numbers faster, and 
swarmed from one to two weeks earlier, than did 
those in the painted hives. 
“ But,” says one, “ I use corncobs, cut straw, 
forest leaves, and other absorbents in the top of 
the hive, to get the moisture out, by letting any 
excess that may arise pass through them and out at 
the top of the cover. ' This will help some as far 
as the moisture is concerned ; but if not done on a 
scientific plan, it will let out much of the heat by 
such a direct draft process, which should be 
retained in the hive. Even if done properly, I 
can not help thinking that hives will keep bees 
better if unpainted, because in this case the 
moisture passes out of the hive in all directions. 
Paint is useful only so far as looks and durability 
are concerned, and is positively injurious as re- 
tarding the evaporation of moisture. This is the 
result which I have arrived at, after years of 
experience and close observation with single- 
walled hives, and I believe the damage is greater 
by far than the cost of a new hive occasionally, 
where ordinary hives are used. 
So far I wish it understood that I have been 
speaking only of such hives as we used a quarter 
of a century ago, and not of the chaff hives of the 
present day. With the advent of the chaff hives 
came a new era in bee-keeping, and the case with 
these is entirely different, along this line of paint- 
ing. than with the single-walled hive. With the 
chaff hive the moisture is driven through the first 
wall, which is always of unpainted lumber, just 
the same as it would be in case of an unpainted 
single-walled hive, after which it lodges in the 
chaff or other packing, from which it passes out 
slowly through any crack or crevice which may 
exist in the outer shell, and more largely about 
the joint in the top of the cover and between rhe 
cover and the hive. I use a cap or hood six 
inches deep, on all of my chaff hives, while 
directly over the bees is a sawdust cushion, which 
is only four inches thick. This cushion extends 
out over the chaff packing only an inch or so on 
all sides, or only sufficient to make sure that all 
the upward ventilation that can possibly exist 
