1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



781 



the production of wax is a profitable branch of 

 bee culture, and that he predicts that, before 

 long, it will be usual to feed back honey for the 

 sake of producing wax. 



It seems to me that comment on such a the- 

 ory is superfluous; but Mr. Simmins' method of 

 arriving at his conclusions may be of interest. 

 He found, by feeding back, that 12f lbs. of hon- 

 ey would produce 1 lb. of wax; but from this 

 he deducts one-half as being the amount of 

 honey consumed by the bees while building the 

 comb. He thus figured that, according to the 

 "Simmins system," one pound of wax can be 

 produced from 6§ lbs. of honey. Why the cost 

 of the wax should not include the feed of the 

 bees and their time while making the comb is 

 more than I can see. 



I think it will be generally admitted that 

 drawn combs are very valuable to the bees; 

 but I scarcely see how Mr. Simmins can claim 

 to be the discoverer of their usefulness. If it 

 be a fact, however, that we can obtain a plen- 

 tiful supply of drawn combs before the honey- 

 harvest, by Mr. vSimmins' method, he is cer- 

 tainly entitled to a great deal of credit. 



But, let's see how he proposes to do it. After 

 splitting the sections as shown in cut, he fills 

 them full of foundation, making no allowance 

 for sagging. He claims that this foundation 

 will be built out to }4: in- deep in a very few 

 days, if we feed them carefully and keep them 

 warm enough which he proposes to do by "any 

 kind of hot-water vessel placed above, espe- 

 cially at night, where it can be regularly at- 

 tended to." Drawn combs are pretty valuable; 

 but I don't believe that many people want them 

 badly enough to patrol the apiary day and 

 night, with a tea-kettle full of hot water. The 

 kind of foundation that he considers " perfect " 

 for surplus honey is only a septum, without 

 any side-walls whatever; for he finds his bees 

 generally gnaw off all the side-walls before 

 they begin to build. He must have had very 

 strange bees to obtain such a result. Com- 

 menting on a recent editorial in Gleanings, 

 Mr. Simmins says he doesn't see how deep-cell 

 foundation can be made, and that the cost will 

 be prohibitive. If he doesu't know how it can 

 be made, how does he know what it will cost to 

 make it? 



• It was not proposed to use any more wax, but 

 to take it out of the base of the foundation, 

 where Mr. Simmins prefers to have it, and put 

 it into the walls where the bees can best utilize 

 it. 



Later. — Since the above was in type a letter 

 has come to hand from G. M. Doolittle, who, 

 speaking of putting on sections before the 

 honey flow, says," If we put our sections on ear- 

 ly, and they are on when there is no honey to 

 be had, the bees seem to be bound to cut out 

 the ordinary light foundation aud make a 

 'mess' so that when a yield comes the founda- 



tion is out of place or gone entirely, which is a 

 nuisance." It would seem from this that Mr. 

 Doolittle's experience with foundation before 

 the flow is not the same as Mr. Simmins'. 



[Whether Mr. Simmins is right or not in his 

 idea on the economy of producing comb made 

 by bees before the actual harvest, by feeding. 

 I should be inclined to give him credit for first 

 conceiving the great possibilities and advan- 

 tage of drawn comb in the production of covib 

 lionerj. Now, if any one in this or any other 

 country is prior in this idea let him hold up his 

 hand. 



I did receive the pamphlet bearing date of 

 1886; but I must confess that 1 did not at the 

 time " catch on " to the value of drawn combs 

 in supers. Indeed, I was and have been skep- 

 tical all along until Mr. Weed convinced me by 

 actual tests in the apiary this summer that 

 bees would fill with honey, and seal over sec- 

 tions of drawn comb, before they would even 

 touch foundation in other sections next to 

 them.— Ed.] 



BEE-KEEPING IN JAMAICA. 



INDUCEMENTS AS WELL AS .DRAWBACKS. 



Bij H. O. Burnet. 



Friend JJoot;— Bee-keeping in this ideal 

 clime, one would think, should be in keeping 

 with its surroundings; and if the location is 

 properly selected, or the bee-keeper does a little 

 migrating to catch the flow from different 

 sources, he will ordinarily not find any thing to 

 complain of. Box hives and black bees are the 

 rule in the island — at least among the peasantry 

 — with the old box super, with glass side, for 

 the surplus arrangement. Some are beginning 

 to use frame hives, and, of course, extractors 

 naturally follow, and other modern appliances 

 are apt to make their way, though slowly — at 

 least among bee-keepers of the peasant class, 

 who mingle more or less superstition with their 

 knowledge. A colored neighbor who has an 

 apiary of 100 colonies in boxes of varied dimen- 

 sions sells his honey at retail at 12 cts. per pint 

 — this for strained honey — for which the demand 

 is greater than comb. Wholesale rates for 

 export are much lower, being from 38 to 45 cts. 

 per gallon in Kingston, which does not show a 

 very great apparent profit; and as to how much 

 profit there may be, I can not say until 1 have 

 had more experience. I think the home mar- 

 ket capable of expansion if proper care be 

 shown in catering to it. A recent inquiry in 

 Kingston showed the market entirely bare — 

 none to be had at any price. No wonder there 

 is no home market. 



As to the drawbacks: In some places ants are 

 very troublesome, and hives are set up on posts 

 two feet high, and various methods used to 

 prevent the ants from getting to them. In 

 some parts of the island drouths sometimes 

 cut seasons short, and even make feeding neces- 

 sary if extracting has been too close: but if the 

 bee-keeper sees to it that the lower story is not 

 disturbed, the bees, if Italians, will go through 



