176 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



therefrom. It is always safe to use combs as 

 long as they are in good condition, and old 

 combs have the advantage of being better for 

 the bees during winter than new; consequently 

 I liiive no thoughts of throwing away these 20- 

 year-old combs at present. 



OLD POLLEN IN COMBS. 



Question.— J have several combs which have 

 old, hard, dry pollen in them. Shall I give 



Fin. 07.— Hiving a .' 



im. (,)rif^inal— from iiholugi-qjh. 



these to the bees to clean, or shall I melt them 

 for wax ? I gave a few such combs to the bees 

 last year; but the pollen was so hard that the 

 bees had to tear the combs down and build new, 

 which caused them much trouble and labor. 



Answer. — I have had combs filled with pol- 

 len, or partially so, all through the lower half 

 of them, which was so hard that the bees had 

 to remove the whole of the cell -walls in clear- 

 ing it out, leaving nothing but the septum: but 

 I do not linow that I ever had the combs en- 

 tirely cut away in this process of removing old 

 pollen. As the septum of the comb remains, 

 cells were built out upon it later on, very much 

 as foundation is often 

 used in times of a 

 heavy honey-flow, so 

 that the cells were 

 still of worker size, 

 which is not the case 

 when combs are en- 

 tirely cut away, in 

 which case cells of 

 the drone size are usu- 

 ally built. But of 

 late years, where from 

 any cause pollen has 

 hardened in the cells, 

 I place such combs in 

 tepid water, and allow 

 them to remain thus 

 for a few days, when 

 the pollen will all be 

 soaked soft, and the 

 extractor will gener- 

 ally throw all out. 

 If I do not wish to 

 use the extractor on 

 such combs, I shake 

 what water out I can 

 conveniently, after 

 the soaking process, 

 when the combs are 

 put in sweetened wa- 

 ter for a few hours, 

 and then given to the 

 bees, which will clean 

 them up as good as 

 new. I believe that 

 it pays to let the bees 

 clean all such combs; 

 and as to the trouble 

 10 the bees, spoken 

 of, I should hardly 

 think this was worth 

 mentioning, especial- 

 ly where the combs 

 were given them dur- 

 ing some dull time, 

 or in the absence of a 

 honey-flow. 



The questioner 

 speaks about melting 

 these pollen - filled 

 combs, to obtain wax from them. I wonder if 

 he or anyone else has ever tried getting wax 

 from such combs by means of the solar wax- 

 extractor. I have, and I find that, where there 

 is much pollen in combs thus melted, said pol- 



