Mar. 10, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



189 



Dadant, but in this case I thought our Afri- 

 cander might be to a certain extent correct, 

 and I gave, that year, only narrow starters. 

 Now I have the experience and about 500 poor 

 combs. They are irregularly built, many of 

 them at best are fastened only -V. of the way 

 down the side-bars; they tlab and break in 

 the extractor. Some have the midrib not in 

 the center of the frame, and others have more 

 drone than worl<er cells. Take it altogether, 

 not one ciuarter of them are fit for use in the 

 brood-chamber. 



In " Editoral Comments,'' page 51, men- 

 tion is made of a Mr. M. W. Shepherd as being 

 perhaps the first one to give the philosophy of 

 the buckling of combs. This statement 

 breaks my silence, and as this troublesome 

 buckling is an entirely mechanical fault, I 

 have given it considerable study, as a me- 

 chanic, not as a bee-keeper. I have as badly 

 buckled combs as any one can show, and I 

 have others that are as nice and level as if 

 they had been leveled with a smoothing- 

 plane. I am not going to blame the founda- 

 tion or frame material for those poor combs, 

 for we know it of old that poor mechanics al- 

 ways fight with their tools. As my good and 

 poor combs were made of the same lot of 

 material, only at different times, the fault 

 must be with me (and I found it was). 



Mr. Shepherd claims that when the side-bars 

 are but '4 -inch thick, the wires tight, and the 

 comb becomes loaded, the side-bars will spring, 

 the wire slackens, and the comb buckles. 

 With due respect to Mr. Shepherd, I will 

 leave it to the house to decide whether his 

 explanation sounds reasonable. I would 

 judge that when the side-bars spring, and the 

 wire slacken, the combs will sag, but not 

 buckle. 



If you expose comb honey in sections to 

 frost, they will crack, and if you tap with 

 your finger on a frame with an empty, frozen 

 comb it may break. This and a hundred 

 other things prove that wax contracts in cold 

 and expands in warmth. If you make frames 

 in winter, and imbed the wire in the founda- 

 tion, you do this at a time when the wax is 

 contracted. When you give these frames to 

 the bees in summer, and the wax becomes 

 warm in the hive it commences to swell, but 

 as it is crowded between tight wires it will 

 bulge or buckle at once, and I had frames 

 that were buckled when I gave them to the 

 bees. When a tailor makes a suit of clothes 

 he expects a certain amount of shrink in his 

 cloth, which he takes out before he cuts it. 

 When I give comb foundation to the bees I 

 know there is, or will be, a certain amount of 

 stretch in the wax, which I want out first, 

 and the way I proceed is as follows : 



I make the frames in winter. I wire them 

 and fasten the foundation to the top-bar, but 

 I do not imbed it. The next summer when I 

 am about to use them I placed them in a real 

 warm place, and when I want them I take 

 some, imbed them, and give them to the bees 

 at once. 



I think this ought to solve the question of 

 buckling combs; but still I would like to hear 

 from others. L. H. Cbemebs. 



Jo Daviess Co., 111., Feb. 1. 



Drone's Influence on the Workers. 



In a late editorial, it is asked if we have 

 any proof that the drone (or rather the drone 

 stock) has more influence on the worker-bees 

 than the queen. 



As a matter of fact, we should expect this 

 to be the case. Among the higher animals, 

 the concourse of both sexes is needed for the 

 production of the offspring, and therefore we 

 may suppose that the offspring takes its 

 characteristics equally from both. 



With the bees it is different. The drone 

 has no father ; he is born from an unfecun- 

 dated egg. But let the egg be fecundated 

 and it will produce a female, and nothing 

 but a female — queen or worker. Such being 

 the case, we can expect that the characteris- 

 tics of the worker come chiefly from the 

 drone. 



As to positive proof, we all know that 

 workers from a mismated Italian are more 

 like the black bees than the Italians, at least 

 as far as temper and disposition to run off 

 the combs are concerned. 



Mr. Doolittle says that when he first Intro- 



Mi >!i >fe >te.>l<. >te >1< >ti >t<. >te. >4i >♦<. >te. >li Jte >li >{<. >te >!i. >lt 



BEE = SUPPLIES! 



Root's Goods at Root's Prices. 



Everything used by Bee-Keepers. POUDER'S HONEY-JARS. 



Prompt Service. 



Low Freight Rates. NEW CATALOG FREE. 



WALTER S. POUDER, 



5i3-5«5 Massachusetts Avenue, INDIANAPOLIS, IND 

 >;5^ >j« >tc>;« >jf y^ >js: >jf >?« >?f yj« >K 7^ 7;? 7j? 7ij« >j? 7j? >j? ?j5 



LPerxg!!tDisco!!!!L?"S°a?oh'' """5 



.^%f ^^ ^^ ^k^ 

 Send for our 1904 Catalog- and Price-List. Our ® 



HIVES and SECTIONS are perfect in workmanship and material ® 



By sending in your order now, you will save money, and "r 



secure prompt shipment. ® 



PAGE & LYON MFQ. CO., New London, Wis. USA | 



Why wait until the last dog is hung before ordering your Supplies? Re- 



g member, you get 2 percent discount from catalog prices this month only, 



g> and this with the low freight-rates from Toledo, permits us to save you 



money. Is not this worthy of your consideration ? Remember, we sell 



Root's Goods at their Factory Prices. 



We also have the largest and most complete line of Poultry Supplies 

 of any house in the West. 



Honey and Bbbswax wanted at all times. Send to-day for our free 

 illustrated Catalog, which describes many useful articles for the Apiary. 



S GRIGGS BROS., 521 Monroe St., Toledo, Ohio. 



to send your orders a distance of 10,000 miles 



FOR 



BEE-SUPPLIES 



to R. H, SCHMIDT CO.. Sheboygan. Wis. 



»^>eai>e mention Bee journal ■when ijmtina 



IT PAIS 



^<a^^sss^=je*=<es<sj: 



riarshfield Manufacturing Co. 



Our specialty is making SECTIONS, and they are 

 the best in the market. Wisconsin Basswood is the 

 right kind for them. We have a full line of BEE- 

 SUPPLIES. Write for frbh Illustrated Catalog and 

 Price-List. 



%^ THE MAR5HFIELD MANUFACTURING CO., Marshfield, Wis. 



Headquarters F°" Bee-Supplies 



Root's Goods at Root's Factory Prices. 



Complete stock for 1904 now on hand. Freight-rates from Cincinnati are the 

 lowest. Prompt service is what I practice. Satisfaction guaranteed. Lang- 

 stroth Portico Hives and Standard Honey-Jars at lowest prices. 



You will save money buying from me. Catalog mailed free. Send for same. 



Book orders for Golden Italians, Red Clover and Carniolan Queens ; for pri- 

 ces refer to my catalog. 



C. H .W.WEBER, 



CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



Please Mention the Bee Jonrnal 



■when writing 

 Advertisers ••» 



