June, 191£ 



American Hee JoarnalJ 



Decov Hives on the Roof of the Apiarv of the T^ate Wm. Stoli.ey. 



give them, instead of these, some 

 combs of sealed brood, say one each 

 week. They will soon be strong and 

 will protect themselves from themoths, 

 provided they have laying queens. 



Do Bees Love or Hate Moths? 



We keep a few empty hives at each 

 apiary in readiness for natural swarms, 

 and also for artificial swarms should 

 we see fit to make them during our 

 rounds. Never has a swarm taken 

 possession of such a hive. But last 

 season we had a number of swarms 

 take possession of hives completely 

 filled with bee-moths. The interior of 

 the hives was lined with their cocoons, 

 and on this account the hives were set 

 apart from the rest of the apiary, and 



thought worthfess. But the bees con- 

 sidered them good. This season we 

 experienced the same thing, and we 

 wonder whether the bees love or hate 

 their foe, the moth. Or is it their in- 

 stinct to go into quarters where they 

 will have to spend considerable time 

 cleanning up and getting ready for 

 house-keeping ? 



[We suggest that the more or less 

 conspicuous position of the empty hives 

 has something to do with their adopt- 

 ion by the bees. The late Mr. Stolley, 

 of Grand Island, Neb., a view of whose 

 apiary is here reproduced, kept sev- 

 eral empty hives, ready for swarms, on 

 the roof o! his bee-shed. He thus 

 hived many stray swarms, and ascribed 



the success to the elevated and attrac- 

 tive position of the abode offered. 



The strong smell emitted by a hive 

 containing moths may also have at- 

 tracted the attention of the scouts seek- 

 ing a home. — Editor.] 



A Great Season 



So far this has been the greatest sea- 

 son we have ever experienced. This 

 condition exists throughout Dixie. 

 There has been a great increase made 

 and a great harvest of honey well up 

 to all expectations, and in most cases 

 beyond. This means a great uplift for 

 our industry. Naturally much opti- 

 mism prevails. 



CONTRIBU-nED ^ ARTICLES^ 



Value of Combs in Sections 



BY (;. M. DOOI.ITTLE. 



I HAVE SOME questions sent in 

 with the request that I answer 

 them in the American Bee Journal. 

 The questions are as follows: 

 1. When a flow of nectar comes 

 on gradually, which would be best to 

 use in the sections, starters of founda- 

 tion, full sheets of it, or sections partly 

 or entirely filled with drawn comb ? 



At the beginning of a honey-flow the 

 bees are not fully prepared to take care 

 of the nectar that comes in except in 

 empty cells which may remain unoc- 

 cupied in the brood-chamber. The 

 reason is that it takes 2 or 8 days of 



extra How of nectar above what is 

 needed for brood-rearing purposes, for 

 the bees which build comb to use 

 enough of this nectar for the secretion 

 of wax to produce comb wherein to 

 store surplus honey. Therefore, empty 

 comb enables the bees to store honey 

 sooner than could be done were there 

 no empty cells in the sections or else- 

 where in the hive. For this reason 

 drawn comb, or at least a few sections 

 of it put in the first super as "baits," 

 are a decided advantage. 



If I could have my clioice, however, 

 I should be glad to have all the sec- 

 tions in the first super filled with 

 drawn, or partly drawn combs. I have 

 known several seasons which proved 



to me that a super of partly-drawn 

 comb given each colony at the start 

 meant just one more super of finished 

 honey. A colony given a super of 

 combs would have them filled and 

 started on a second super of sections 

 by the time the colony giyen founda- 

 tion had made a start. 



This difference is more noticeable 

 with the dark or leather-colored Ital- 

 ians than with the golden Italians, hy- 

 brids or blacks. The dark Italians 

 cling to the brood-nest where a super 

 has no drawn comb in it, until actually 

 forced out of it. If a bee emerges, 

 and the queen does not stand ready to 

 put an egg in the cell, it is quite likely 

 to be filled with honey. Give such a 

 colony a super filled with drawn or 

 partly-drawn combs, and the bees will 

 store honey in the combs about as 

 readily as in the combs below, until a 

 sufficient supply and long enough time 

 has elapsed for them to be compelled 

 to secrete wax, build comb, or draw 

 foundation in the sections. 



Bees rarely work at drawing out 



