286 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 5, 1883. 
iS 
3? 
HE BEE-KEEPER. I 
b-a) 
THE ART OF BEE-KEEPING.—No. 9. 
(Continued from page 185.) 
SECTIONS. 
The so-called sections now so generally used for the storage of 
surplus honey in the comb are of various sizes and styles of 
manufacture. Those most used run from 1 lb. to 2 lb. sizes. Some 
are sent out by the makers in pieces for nailing, others with the 
ends dovetailed ready to go together without nails, and others in 
one piece for folding, the only joint being dovetailed. Which of 
these is to be selected by the bee-keeper must depend on circum¬ 
stances. If certain sizes are preferred in the market, of course 
these must be worked ; and hitherto the 1 lb. size seems most in 
favour. We prefer the larger sizes as being in the end less costly, 
requiring less handling, and turning out fully more weight per hive 
than the smaller sizes. 
In all cases we prefer nailed or dovetailed sections to folding 
ones, notwithstanding the craze that exists for the latter as an 
ingenious piece of work. We never yet found one-piece sections 
that would stand uniformly square and remain so, and both for nice 
packing and glazing it is necessary that they be truly square. But 
their worst fault is in the slit that affords a passage to the bees. In 
the 1 lb. sizes this slit is nearly the full length of the top and 
bottom bar, and is less objectionable ; but in the larger sections it 
is no longer, and it thus leaves more or less of the top and bottom 
bars in contact, which causes the death of many bees while handling 
them on the hive. Then, in, say, a 7-inch section with a 4-inch slit, 
the bees feel hampered for passage ways, and consequently leave 
more holes through the combs. But the worst fault is in the 
trouble required in glazing the finished sections. The slit has to be 
cut out to the whole length of top and bottom bar before the glass 
can be gol into its proper place; and to do this with wood at all 
cross-grained is not so easy. Dovetailed or nailed sections may be 
a trifle more trouble to put together, but this is more than counter¬ 
balanced by their superior advantages. They can be easily set 
square, they afford the full passage way to the bees, and they can 
be glazed without the least trouble. 
Our next difficulty is in selecting the best form of case for holding 
them while on or in the hive. Figure 58, page 413, May 29th, 
1879, shows as good an arrangement as we know of for holding the 
sections when being worked either in the hive proper or in a similar 
hive used as a top storey. The frame as shown contains four 
sections, each measuring 6j by 4J inches, holding when filled lift. 
In using this size of section in the new standard frame the top 
bar may be omitted so as to keep it level with the other frames, and 
lugs must be nailed on the top of the side bars to form supports. 
We may here point out an objection to the use of the above form 
of frame, which applies also to various forms of the racks or trays 
for holding sections in supers proper. If the combs are expected to 
be well fastened to the bottom bar, and, indeed, to have no passage 
left, the bottom bar must be very thin. As a rule the section wood 
is thin enough, but a glance at the figure shows that it is doubled 
in both rows of sections by standing, as it does, on another of equal 
thickness. In such cases the holes left in the comb for passages are 
generally pretty large and numerous, reducing the calculated weight 
of the sections, and spoiling their appearance. To get the best 
results, then, the sections should have nothing under them more 
than supports at their ends. As formerly stated, we never had 
more perfectly finished combs than when the bottom rails were of 
thin glass. 
Figure 59, same page as above, shows the arrangement we find 
most convenient. The sections rest at their ends only on ledges a 
quarter of an inch deep. The slip between them, and the 
corresponding ones at the sides, are for the support of the tin 
separators, and their height is calculated according to the thickness 
of the wood in the bottom bar of the section. Thus, for sections 
one-eighth of an inch thick we add one- quarter of an inch for a 
bee passage, and this gives three-eighths of an inch as the height 
at which the separator should be supported. An equal passage is 
of course allowed at the top. A stronger form of tray is made by 
having the sides all round of a uniform depth, say 2 inches, and 
having the separators cut away at the ends, so that they hang on 
these sides to the proper depth. The central division may be done 
away with without much inconvenience, and the sections brought 
close together in the middle. We do this with the larger sections, 
measuring 7 inches by 5 inches, so as to bring the two within 
14 inches the width of the most common stock sized sheets of tin. 
And in the case of 1 lb. sections we have two supporting rails, so 
as to hold three sections in a line. As these measure usually 
4^ inches each, we have 12f inches as the length of the three. This 
will allow of four supports for the separators of fully one- 
quarter inch each in width and yet be within the same 14 inches. 
Where a nice fiat finish in the combs is no object, as when the 
honey is to be used at home or crated for market without glass, the 
separators may with advantage be omitted. They certainly hinder 
to some extent the work of comb-building by breaking up the 
cluster, and they tend to produce thinner combs. 
It is to be understood, of course, that the section tray may be of 
any size, though generally used large enough to nearly cover the 
top of a standard hive—that is, to hold three rows of 1 tt>. sections, 
seven in each row, or two rows of the larger sizes. The end sections 
are closed with glass, and a wedge keeps all firmly together. 
The only other matter of importance in their preparation is to 
see that each section has a guide of comb foundation fastened 
exactly in the middle of the top bar. The foundation used for this 
purpose should be of the very thinnest and clearest obtainable. 
We now use for this purpose a special make, having four and a half 
cells to the inch—that is, neither worker nor drone cell. Last 
season’s experience almost warrants us in declaring it the best 
super foundation yet made. In no case was it used for brood, and 
in every case it was readily accepted by the bees. To those who 
hesitate to dispense with the old-fashioned honey board between the 
super and the brood frames, or the newer invention of queen- 
excluding zinc, both of which are a great hindrance to the bees, 
such a make of foundation should prove a great boon. To obtain 
the full advantage, however, it should be used large enough to 
nearly fill the section, otherwise drone cells might be built below.— 
William Raitt, Blairgowrie. 
DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES. 
The severity and continuance of the frost and cold weather 
have made bee-keepers anxious about their bees. Such anxiety is 
pretty general, and not to be wondered at. Earnest inquiries are 
made by apiarians on all hands as to what probable and possible 
injury bas been done by the severe frost and cold weather in our 
apiaries. Like others we have had, and still have, grave fears as to 
the injuries done to bees by the frost at this very unseasonable 
time. The danger most feared is that of chilled brood—in other 
words, unhatched brood chilled to death in the centre of stock 
hives. Dead or chilled brood soon becomes foul ; and a little of 
this in the centre of a hive at the beginning of April would be 
disastrous in the extreme, for nothing excepting the loss of queens 
is so discouraging to bees and disappointing to bee-masters as foul 
brood. The presence of foul brood in a hive of bees puts an end 
to all prosperity. Strong hives well covered are seldom hurt by 
the severest of our winter storms, but winter storms in the breed¬ 
ing season are far more dangerous; the difficulty, as already 
indicated, is to keep the brood warm enough. 
Another danger at this season is the loss of bees by reason of 
age. Bees die at the age of nine months, and many arrive at that 
age and die in April. Last autumn in England bees ceased 
breeding at an early date, and comparatively few were hatched 
later than the end of July. Dead bees may now be found on the 
bottom boards of hives, and, if these be swept off, the boards do not 
remain clean long. No treatment could prolong their lives. This 
is the case every year ; but in ordinary seasons more bees are born 
than die, and therefore during the spring months hives become 
numerically stronger ; but in cold seasons, such as the present one, 
bees are so discouraged and so unable to attend to brood that 
they decline to set eggs, and hence hives become naturally weaker 
and weaker, and many collapse entirely. Many hives in this 
country are exposed to this danger at the present time, having 
few bees and no brood. Some five or six years ago we had a long 
cold spring—so cold that bees could not be tempted to leave their 
nests for food offered to them. Breeding did not begin till the 
end of April, and in many hives all the old bees died before 
young could be hatched. In some apiaries all the hives were lost, 
in others four and six out of eight hives died—not from want of 
food, but loss of bees. It was a year of great loss and extinction 
of hives owing to the non-production of young bees in spring to 
take the places of those which died of age. 
At this time (now that the weather has become more temperate) 
all hives should be examined in order to ascertain which will sur¬ 
vive and which are likely to succumb. A short time ago the 
readers of the Journal were told that hives with only two seams 
of bees in March are more likely to die than to live ; and all 
stocks which are reduced to two seams of bees now are in greater 
danger of extinction, because the living bees are a month nearer 
their end than they were in March, and, moreover, it will be three 
weeks before eggs set now can be hatched. All weak hives have 
