352 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



wide enough so they shall not seem to run 

 together. But reading by form can not be ap- 

 plied to matter containing figures, such as are 

 found in the advertisement referred to. 



Besides the editors and their work, there are 

 others connected with the publishing depart- 

 ment of the A. I. Root Co. who are very impor- 

 tant factors in all publications turned out by 

 that company, l refer to the foreman and his 

 stafif of compositors. In their province, good 

 judgment and good taste have to be continual- 

 ly exercised. 1 judge from the work turned out 

 by that establishment that there is a master 

 hand at the helm, and one that can do good 

 work with very commonplace material. Then, 

 too, a publisher is often a better judge of liter- 

 ary work than the editor; therefore there must 

 be times when articles are handed to the fore- 

 man for publication that would cause him to 

 "sweat blood." 



Ponca, Neb. 



(To be continued.) 



BUILDING WORKER COMB. 



Question. — How can I secure worker comb in 

 frames without giving frames filled with foun- 

 dation? In taking out combs and inserting 

 frames having only a starter, I find the bees 

 invariably build drone comb. I also find that 

 swarms hived on frames having starters on 

 them often fill whole frames with drone comb. 

 Please tell us in Gleanings how we can secure 

 extra frames of worker comb without using 

 foundation. 



^?i,SM;er.— In this question we have one of 

 the puzzling things which confront us in bee- 

 keeping, and one which every bee-keeper is 

 sure to run against, even though he inserts 

 only a few frames in a hive which are not fill- 

 ed full of foundation. I have found, from 

 twenty-five years of experience, that it is folly 

 to insert a frame, having only a starter in it, 

 into a full colony previous to the swarming of 

 that colony, with the hope of getting one square 

 inch of worker comb; and if frames must be 

 inserted in such colonies, at such times, it will 

 pay the apiarist to purchase comb foundation 

 for such frames, even though he has to pay 

 as high as a dollar a pound for it, rather than 

 try to get them filled with worker comb by the 

 bees. 



But if we have extra combs ou hand to put 

 in the place of those taken out then we are all 

 right, and even better off than to put in foun- 

 dation, had we a storehouse full of the same. 

 So we come to the main question: " How shall 

 we secure extra frames of worker comb without 



using foundation?" I find that there are three 

 conditions of the hive or colony, under which, 

 if rightly managed, the bees will almost in- 

 variably build worker comb. The first, and 

 surest of the three, is when a colony is very 

 weak, or what we term a nucleus. If such a 

 weak colony is deprived of all of its combs save 

 one of honey and one of brood, and a frame with 

 a starter in it is inserted between the two combs 

 left in the hive, the bees will, 99 times out of 

 100, fill that frame with worker comb, said 

 comb being as perfect as one built from foun- 

 dation under the most favorable circumstances. 

 Now, in all cases of uniting bees in June, that 

 two moderately weak colonies may make one 

 strong one for the production of comb honey, I 

 am always on the lookout for these extra combs, 

 for this is just the time to have them built. In 

 fact, whenever I have any weak colonies in 

 June or July, or whenever I have any very 

 strong nuclei in my queen-rearing, I always 

 have an eye to this matter; and in this way I 

 secure many extra combs of the most perfect 

 kind, to be used in years to come. 



The second is at the time of hiving new 

 swarms, which are treated in this way, when I 

 wish them to build worker combs. The swarm 

 is hived on the full number of frames the hive 

 contains, and left for 36 to 48 hours, the surplus- 

 apartment generally being put on when the 

 swarm is hived. The hive is now opened, and 

 five of the frames are allowed to remain — those 

 which have perfect worker combs started in 

 them, the rest being taken away, and dummies 

 used to take the place of them. This throws 

 the force of bees, not needed below, into the 

 sections, and gives a place in the sections for 

 storing all of the honey brought in from the 

 fields, so that the bees do not need to build any 

 store comb in the brood-nest, which store comb, 

 when built for that purpose, is generally of the 

 drone size. By this time the queen is ready to 

 keep up with the bees in their comb-building, 

 with her eggs, and thus nine times out of ten I 

 get these five frames filled with worker comb, 

 and, besides, secure a good yield of section 

 honey. This is very similar to the way W. Z. 

 Hutchinson works to secure a good yield of 

 section honey and frames filled with worker 

 comb, and, if I am not mistaken, he agrees 

 with me that combs so built are a clear gain to 

 the apiarist. When any colony having an old 

 or laying queen is first hived, some of the combs 

 started are liable to be of the drone size, on ac- 

 count of the queen's not being in a condition to 

 fill the cells at first, as all queens cease almost 

 entirely to lay for 24 hours previous to swarm- 

 ing, so that they may be reduced in weight 

 that they may fly and accompany the swarm; 

 and full prolificness does not return under 48 

 hours after the swarm has commenced keeping 

 house in its new home. As these combs having 

 drone size of cells are just right for store combs. 



