THK BKH-KEEl'EKS" Rp:VIEW. 



247 



ricrt a Iranic, !ia\in,i;- only a starter in 

 it. ill a full ('(lioiiy previous to the 

 s\\ aniiiii.i; of tiial colony, with the 

 hope of .uetin.u' nmcli if any worker 

 eoiiili; and if frames must be inserted 

 in such colonies at such times, it will 

 pay the apiarist to purchase conih 

 foundation for suoli frames, even 

 tliouyh he has no surplus honey, rath- 

 er than try to get them lilknl by the 

 bees." 



"lint suppose we liave worker 

 combs on hand for such times." 



"That would be all riylit; in fact, I 

 consider built-out combs even better 

 for such places tlian frames tilled 

 with foundation; for where only 

 on(> or two frames of foundation 

 are placed in a hive between 

 coi"bs, wlien honey is coming in 

 from the fields, the cells from 

 the comb along th(> top-bars to the 

 frames are extended so thej' jut out 

 into the space that belongs to the 

 frame having the foundation in, be- 

 fore the foundation is drawn fully out, 

 so that we have "fat" combs in some 

 frames and "lean" ones in others, in 

 a way that causes much trouble in ex- 

 changing them, especially in hives 

 having frames at fixed distances." 



"But these extra combs cause us to 

 pre-suppose that they have been built 

 some time, so we come to the main 

 idea how to secure extra frames of 

 worker comb without using full 

 sheets of foundation." 



"I find that there are three condi- 

 tions of the hive or colony under 

 which, if rightly managed, the bees 

 will almost invariably build worker 

 comb." 



"Now you are t;ilking about .lUst 

 what I Avish to know. Tell me about 

 the condition you consider best." 



"The surest of the three ways is 

 when a colony is quite weak, or Avhat 

 we term a nucleus. If such a colony 

 is deprived of all of its combs save 

 one of honey and one of brood, and 



.•I frame having .1 starter in it is insert- 

 ed lielwceii the two cniiibs left in the 

 hi\(\ tile bees will, ninety-nine times 

 out of a hniidred. till that frame with 

 worker comb, and said comb will be 

 as perfect as one built from founda- 

 tion under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances, 'leaking advantage of 

 this fact, I take frames of Ijrootl from 

 the weaker colonies I have at the be- 

 ginning of the honey-flow, those too 

 weak to woi'k in sections to adv.an- 

 tage, and give this l>roo(l to the we;i le- 

 er of the stronger colonies, and set 

 tlie Aveak colonies to building comb, 

 as I have explained. You will note 

 here that I really make a gain in this 

 way as to surplus honey, for this 

 brood, where phiced, gives better re- 

 sults in section honey than it would 

 have done had it been left where it 

 was with the weak colony, as it al- 

 most immediately puts the bees of the 

 colony where given (into the sections) 

 at work, while, had the brood remain- 

 ed in its own hive, these colonies 

 would have been somewhat slow in 

 starting in the sections." 



"Well, that is quite a scheme, sure- 

 ly; for we can really kill two birds 

 with one stone in this way. I wish 

 I had known of this matter last year, 

 as I had several colonies that 1 could 

 lune Avorked that way. But Avhat of 

 the second-best plan?" 



"The second is, at the time of hiv- 

 ing ncAV SAvarms, Avhicli are treated 

 in this Avay when I Avish them to liuild 

 Avorker comli. The sAvarm is hived 

 on the full numlier of frames the 

 hive contains, and left for oti to 4S 

 hours, a super of sections being init 

 on Avhen the SAA'arm is hived. Tlie 

 hive is noAv opened, and live of the 

 frames are allowed to remain— the 

 live tliat have ix'rfect Avorker com)) 

 b<>ing built in them, and dummies are 

 used to take the place of the frames 

 taken out. This throAVs the force of 

 bees, not needed beloAv, into the sec- 



