Nov. 14, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



727 



YOU can get more from the swarm and 

 the parent colony; but where we have 

 an apiary of 80 to 100 colonies, and all 

 the bees we need to gather the surplus 

 honey of the field, I prefer not to have 

 any increase to amount to anything, 

 because the old colony will gather the 

 honey, and it makes us less work in 

 handling hives and extra fixtures, and 

 it saves us considerable work. 



W. Lr. Coggshall — From what Mr. 

 Betsinger said about feeding, you 

 might infer that I feed sugar to stimu- 

 late. I never fed a pound of sugar in 



mv life to stimulate. 



WAX-SECRETION. 



" Is wax secretion voluntary or in- 

 voluntary.?" 



Mr. Benton — Largely voluntary. 



Mr. Betsinger — I'd like to know why. 



Mr. Benton — Simply this: If we give 

 a colony its combs there is not a great 

 secretion of wax, even though they are 

 gathering honey rapidly. If, on the 

 other hand, we give a colony starters 

 or hive it in an empty hive, it has its 

 combs to build, and it will use quanti- 

 ties of honey that otherwise would be 

 stored, in the secretion of wax to build 

 those combs. Therefore, I regard it 



as voluntar)', since in the one instance 

 they have used no wax to amount to 

 anything, and in the other they have 

 used a good deal when there was the 

 need of it. 



Mr. Betsinger — You plant a little 

 grain in the ground and it comes up 

 and grows. Is that voluntary or in- 

 voluntary? You can hold it back or 

 you can force it. So it is with bees. 

 They secrete wax and they cannot help 

 it so long as they gather honey, but 

 you can increase that by feeding. But 

 they are compelled to secrete wax so 

 long as they live and gather honey. 

 fContiuued next week.) 



l.^:t>^iCJil.J^C^:t.^:LJiL^iC^^.^^' 



Contributed Articles. 



How to Obviate 



Unfinished Sections in tlie Fall 

 Tliem. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes thus: "Nearly everj fall I hare half or more of 

 my sections in the unfinished or uncapped state; and especially has this 

 been the case the present fall, when very nearly two-thirds of them were 

 unsalable on account of their not bein^ capped over. Could you not tell 

 us something about how this can be prevented, through the columns of 

 the American Bee Journal''" 



WELL, I will try my hand at the matter, buti cannot do 

 quite as well at answering as I misht did I know your 

 location and your management. How to manage our 

 bees so as to secure the greatest yield of comb honey is a ques- 

 tion of great importance to all those who are engaged in pro- 

 ducing such honey for market, and for this reason we find 

 many more articles on this subject than we find on other 

 things, which, perhaps, might help us more, for comb honey 

 is of little value unless properly finished or capped over. 

 Therefore, the thing the questionpr asks about, " how to man- 

 age our bees so as to have few uncapped sections in the fall " 

 is to very many a question of as much or more importance 

 than the one regarding comh-honey production, which has 

 been written on for nearly half a century. 



For years I was troubled by having from one-fourth to 

 one-half of the combs in the sections not fully sealed, at the 

 close of the honey harvest, which were salable only at a re- 

 duced price, if at all; but of late years I have but few of such, 

 even in a poor season. After experimenting several years in 

 the matter I became convinced that the cause of the trouble 

 was in giving the bees too many sections; and especially con- 

 ducive to this was the plan of tiering up sections late in the 

 season. How often have I, years ago, spoiled a promise of an 

 abundant yield of comb honey by tiering up four or five days 

 before the honey-harvest closed. To tier up sections profit- 

 ably requires considerable tact, and especially do we want a 

 thorough knowledge of the honey-resources of the field we 

 occupy. 



Another thing, I have often thought there has been too 

 much injudicious talk in our bee-papers during the past in re- 

 gard to allowing the bees, under any circumstances, not to 

 cluster on the outside of the hive, the idea being generally 

 conveyed that when bees thus cluster out, they need more 

 room. Now, that depends upon when this clustering-out oc- 

 curs, whether more room is needed or not, and hence I said 

 •'injudicious talk." If the clustering-out occurs at the com- 

 mencement, or in the very heart of the honey -harvest, then 

 more room should be given, while, if at the latter part of the 

 harvest, or in a time of honey dearth, no more room is needed, 

 for more room at such times results in the one case in many 

 unfinished sections, and in the other an absolute waste of 

 time used in enlarging the hive. To illustrate: 



During some seasons we have but a few days of nectar se- 

 cretion, and tliat often after the flowers which produce the 

 honey-yield in our locality are past their prime. At such 

 limes we often do net have half the surplus room on the hives 

 wliich we would use in good seasons, and for this reason the 

 bees bi'gin to be crowded out before they have commenced in 

 the sections at all. Hoping that the weather may be good during 

 the rest of the time that the flowers are in bloom, we give 

 double the room that they had before, only to have it soon 

 turn bad weather again, thus giving us only part-filled sec- 



" RED STAR APIARY," OF A. E. wiLLcuTT. — See page 732. 



tions in the fall, while, had we left them as they were, all 

 would have been finished, and we and the bees have been 

 happy. 



My plan Of operation to secure all capped sections or as 

 nearly so as may be, when the season closes, is as follows: 

 When the bees show by building bits of comb here and there 

 about the hive, and by lengthening the cellsalong the top-bars 

 of the frames, that they are securing honey from the fields. I 

 put on sections to the amount of, the smallest capacity of one 

 of my surplus arrangements — or say 20 to 25 pounds — and 

 leave them thus until the bees are fairly well at work in them, 

 when I add more room to the amount of one-half that put on 

 at first, if possible: and, if not. then the smallest possible 

 amount consistent with the surplus arrangement I use. gen- 

 erally putting tills last under the one tlie bees are already 

 nicely at work in. if this room is needed during the first half 

 of the probable surplus yield. When more room seems likely 

 to be needed, by finding that the room now on is fully occu- 

 pied, it is given by placing wide frames of sections containing 

 full sheets of extra-tliin comb foundation at the sides of those 

 sections the bees are already at work in: or. if our surplus ar- 

 rangement will not admit of doing this, by )>lacing these same 

 sections over those already occupied. 



By working according to this last-naincil ]ilan. the bees 

 always have plenty of room so that they arc iH'vcr crowded. 

 yet it is given in such a way that they "will alwiix s complete 

 all of the sections underneath or betwe<'ii. wliii'li were fully 

 occupied when' this latter room is given. 



By the time more room is needed, the sections first given 

 are ready to come off, wlien.as they are taken off. more room 

 is given at the sides or top. as the case may he. and thus the 

 bees are kept finishing sections the nearest over the broixi- 

 chamber and cDmnieuciug in those furthest away. In this 

 way the si'ason will close with a minimum number of unfin- 

 ished sections, instead of a maximum number, as is generally 

 the case where the old way of tiering up is u.sed. 



1 am well aware that we used to argue that by putting 

 the empty sections between those already occupied and the 

 brood-nest, the bees were incited to greater activity, and. as a 

 result of this activity, a greater result in comb hiuiey would 

 be secured, but after trying both plans side by side for several 

 years, I can see no difl'c"rence in thi' yield of honey in thor- 

 oughlv good years, while in from fair to poor years the plan 

 aliovedutlinetl L'ives much tlie greater yield of markelabh' 

 Imnev. OumulagoCo.. N. Y. 



