416 



Gl^EANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



June 



she came from, especially if honey is coming 

 in, and they have no other queen hatched. 

 At other times I think there will occasion- 

 ally be trouble. 



SPACING BROOD-COMBS. 



HOW FAR APART SHALL WE SPACE OUR BROOD- 

 COMBS FROM CENTER TO CENTER V 



What is the proper distance from center to cen- 

 ter to space brood-combs— 1 'a inches? So far as I 

 know, Tfi is all right, and I think It is the distance 

 agreed upon by the majority. But sometimes we 

 settle down upon something in a kind of passive 

 way, without any special reason for it; and some- 

 times that turns out right, but sometimes wrong. 

 How about this spacing business? What do we 

 know about it? Why is l?s better than lyi or 1!^? I 

 don't know; but is it not time to examine the mat- 

 ter a little? One of the first factors In the problem 

 is the thickness of brood-comb. If I am not mis- 

 taken, worker comb, when first made, is % thick. 

 As successive generations of brood are raised in it, 

 the deposits at the base of the cell increase the 

 thickness of the septum, and wax is corresponding- 

 ly added at the mouth of the cell. So, you will see, 

 the thickness of comb, although an important fac- 

 tor, is not a ^red factor. Without giving the mat- 

 ter any special attention, I have measured worker 

 comb a plump inch in thickness. Here an eighth of 

 an inch has been added to the thickness; and if the 

 comb were twice as old, would not another eighth 

 be added? So I should not like to say that ii is the 

 average thickness, only that it is constantly in- 

 creasing in thickness, that thickness bring limited 

 only by the age of the comb or the room the bees 

 have to elongate the cells. I have seen cases where 

 I suspected the bees had gnawed down every thing 

 to the original septum of wax, just because through 

 age the comb had become so thick that it could be 

 made no thicker without making the passageway 

 between the combs too narrow. If the bees could 

 have moved the combs further apart, I see no rea- 

 son why they might not have done so and gone on 

 thickening the combs. 



But I suspect that we so seldom have comb thicK- 

 er than one inch that we may base our calculations 

 on ]^ as the thickness of comb. And here I may re- 

 mark, in passing, that friend Heddon, when he 

 said he would have top-bars only % wide if he had 

 1^0 space between them, could hardly have counted 

 much upon combs increasing in thickness with age. 

 With top-bars % wide and i% between them, there 

 would be i6 space between combs when new, and 

 that space would be constantly decreasing as the 

 combs grew older. While the comb is new there 

 would be barely room for two bees back to back, 

 each hugging down tight to the comb; and when 

 the comb becomes one inch thick there will be only 

 ^e between the two faces— not room enough for the 

 queen to stand erect. Would the bees tolerate such 

 a condition? 



The next question is. What space is desirable he- 

 tween the faces of the combs? There is good au- 

 thority for saying that there should be more space 

 between combs in winter than in summer. For all 

 that, I think the majority will keep the same space 

 summer and winter, and we are left to decide what, 

 all things considered, is best for all the year round. 

 Suppose we have our brood-combs spaced 154 from 

 center to center, with a cluster large enough to oc- 



cupy 8 combs. If, now, we space our combs a little 

 less than 1J4 from center to center, 10 combs will go 

 in the same space the 8 occupied, allowing us to 

 raise a fourth more brood with the same bees, be- 

 cause they can cover just that much more. But 

 there is a still further gain; because, when we put 

 in the two extra combs, there is just that bulk of 

 bees displaced to occupy more combs. The 8 combs 

 measuring ig each, occupy "iS inches, leaving iX 

 inches as the measure of the bees that fill the 

 spaces. Now, suppose we space our combs 1J4 

 inches from center to center. Take ig (the thick- 

 ness of the comb) from IJ^ inches, and we have ib as 

 the space to be filled with bees. We have 4K inches 

 of bees, and these will fill 14 spaces of i'e each. So 

 we can have 14 combs covered by the same bees 

 that covered the 8 combs, just by spacing them X 

 inch closer. In the same way, if we space 1% from 

 center to center we shall find that, instead of 8 

 combs, the same bees will cover 34 combs, barring 

 the fact that some of the bees may go into the cells. 

 And so, the closer we space, the more brood we can 

 raise, till— but, hold on ! Another factor comes in. 

 We can't space so close that the bees can't get be- 

 tween the combs to feed the babies, even if the 

 queen had the eggs laid there. Moreover, there 

 must be enough bees between the combs to keep 

 up the requisite heat or the eggs will not hatch. A 

 single bee can not hatch an egg, as a hen can; and 

 in spring weather I don't think a single layer of 

 bees could. So you see we gain by spacing closer, 

 only up to a certain point. When we find just what 

 the right point is, then spacing closer than that 

 will leave some of our outside spaces too cold to 

 hatch eggs, and we shall lose by it. Somewhere 

 about 1% from center to center is right; but I don't 

 suppose it is exactly 1%. How can we find what it 

 is? Upon that depends our spacing and the width 

 of our hives. I suppose we need to find what is 

 best for spring; for, after warm weather comes, it 

 does not matter so much; and at the South, can we 

 not space closer than at the North? I should not 

 be surprised if some one points out factors that I 

 have left out altogether, and I feel that it is worth 

 while to find out all we can on this topic. 

 Marengo, 111., Mar. 24. C. C. Miller. 



Doctor, I am glad that you did think 

 about accommodations for the nursing bees. 

 When they are incessantly putting their 

 heads into the cells, and backing out again, 

 they can not afford to have cramped quar- 

 ters, nor even to have somebody just be- 

 hind them to hit against, every time they 

 back out. Suppose you had to crawl into a 

 cell to feed the children, and you were 

 given such close alley-ways that you are 

 striking a back wall every time you back 

 out. Now have these alley-ways crowded 

 with people, and see what a predicament 

 you are in. Our packing-room has been 

 too much like that during the past few 

 weeks, and I tell you it pays to have more 

 room or fewer people. I do not believe that 

 combs ever ought to be nearer than If 

 inches ; and if they are old and crooked 

 and wavy, I am in favor of something pret- 

 ty near H inches. In changing combs 

 about promiscuously, as we used to do 

 every day and every hour, I have seen 

 brood-combs pushed so closely together that 

 the nurse-bees could not get in to feed the 

 larvte, and keep them from starving, with- 



