24 A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
made from the plan mentioned, but not with satisfaction. 
Unless the streams, as they leave the can, continue separate 
till they strike the comb, the filling will be, to say the least, 
slower. 
When I first had combs filled in this way, much annoyance 
was caused by the frequent clogging of the holes in the can. 
Finally, Emma thought of putting a wire-strainer in the top 
of the can, such a one, I think, as is sometimes used for 
straining tea, and there has been no further trouble. I have 
spoken only of feeding sugar, but if I have on hand any dark 
honey, or that which is in any way objectionable, now is the 
time to use it. 
FURTHER SPRING WORK. 
I would like to say that I am very methodical about over- 
hauling and seeing to the building up of colonies, from the 
time they are placed on the summer stands, till the honey 
harvest begins, but it would hardly be in accordance with 
facts. Indeed, I am afraid there have been cases in which 
a hive has not been overhauled forthe first time, till it needed 
a super. If I were sure of getting around in time to see to 
each colony the second time, before it had increased much 
in size, I should always close up with a division-board, 
leaving barely enough room for the queen to occupy for a 
short time. As, however, I am not always uniform in the 
matter, I said little about division- boards when talking 
about overhauling. 
The fact is. every hive has its division-board, which is a 
very simple affair. A board of inch pine, unplaned, is made 
about y & inch shorter than the inside length of the hive, and 
deep enough so that when the division-board is finished it 
shall reach within % of an inch of the bottom. This board 
is re-sawed, making two boards about % of an inch in 
thickness. A strip the same length as a top-bar and 
is nailed on the edge, and the division-board is complete. 
It is reasonable to believe that a colony is better able to 
build up in the spring, if it has only a small space to keep 
