DIVIDERS.
The apiarian who adopts the storifying plan, should have _Keys's
dividers_, which consist of two copper or brass plates, about the
sixteenth of an inch thick, fifteen inches wide, and fifteen and a half
long; the odd half inch, being turned up, serves for the operator to
lay hold of, when the plates are withdrawn. Care should be taken that
the plates be perfect planes, well hardened by hammering, and of proper
thickness. If they exceed the prescribed thickness, the bees may escape
as soon as the plates are partially introduced or partially withdrawn;
and if they be thinner, there will be the same chance of escape from
their want of firmness and elasticity.
These dividers greatly facilitate the various operations which the
apiarian has to perform, and at the same time secure him from the attacks
of the bees.
He should be provided with one of the _long-bladed spatulas_ or knives,
used by apothecaries and painters, which he will find useful in
separating the honey-combs from the sides of the hives or boxes. In some
cases it will also be necessary to have _an iron instrument_, about ten
inches long and half an inch wide, the end of which should be _turned
up about two inches_ and be _double-edged_, that it may cut both ways.
This instrument, which should be fixed in a wooden handle, being passed
between the combs, will enable the operator to separate them from their
attachment to the bars.
Those who make use of the Moreton-hives,--a description of which is given
in the chapter on Hives,--should be furnished with two strips of tin four
inches by fifteen; these will protect the straw bottoms of the upper
hives during the introduction of the dividers, and should be introduced
one on each side, the hives having been previously dissevered by means of
the spatula.