38 



IffiS BE)^-KEEPERS' REVIK^. 



two to be given the colony, the bees to be 

 ran into the apartment containing the col- 

 ony from the other apartment as fast as 

 they take wing. The details will, of course, 

 have to be worked out. I have been think- 

 ing of incorporating the idea in my unfin- 

 ished article. Had it not better be tested 

 first? What do you think of the idea any- 

 way. ? 



Sincerely yours, 

 E. A. Daggitt. 

 White House Sta. Feb. 12, 1897. 



[ Friend Daggitt's plan is essentially the 

 one that Mr. Doolittle used to use, and may 

 use yet for all I know, that of having an 

 apartment on each side of the brood nest, 

 there being narrow slots through the thin 

 division boards that separated the brood 

 nest proper from these honey chambers. If 

 I remember aright, Mr. Doolittle asserted 

 that the bees built comb better at the side of 

 the brood nest, but stored honey and sealed 

 it over more rapidly above the brood nest. 

 For this reason he had the combs built in 

 the sections at the side of the brood nest and 

 then moved them to the space above to be 

 filled and sealed. I think that the idea of 

 having the foundation drawn out right in 

 the sections where it is to be nsed is the cor- 

 rect idea, but exactly where and how this 

 shall be done under all circumstances and 

 conditions is yet to be determined. There 

 is one point that I fear some of us are over- 

 looking, and that is that the need of drawn 

 combs is greatest at the beginning of the 

 season. When there is a great mass of bees, 

 the weather warm, and foundation fresh 

 and soft, it doesu't take very long to change 

 it into drawn comb. I have had a case of 

 twenty-eight sections filled with foundation 

 drawn out to full length and filled with 

 honey ( but not sealed ) in three days time. 

 What we most need drawn combs for is to 

 get the bees started in the sections in the 

 early part of the harvest. That it is also 

 an advantage later I do not dispute, but the 

 advantage is not so great. 



In hiving a swarm when producing comb 

 honey, I would not give the queen any 

 drawn comb ( unless it might be one when 

 no queen-excluder is used ) if I were prac- 

 ticing contraction of the brood nest. Such 

 comb will be at once filled with honey to the 

 exclusion of the queen. Let them build 

 comb in the brood frames and the reverse 

 will be true. If we should allow comb 



building, or have foundation drawn out, at 

 the side of the brood nest, we would defeat 

 the object for which contraction is practiced, 

 that of forcing the bees into the supers. 

 -Ed. 1 



After the foregoing was in type, the fol- 

 lowing came to hand. 



White House Station, N. J. 

 Friend H. 



On Saturdav I sent a letter to 

 you and received from the post oflBce, by 

 the person that took the letter, the last 

 '• Revifiw. " 1 was eager to find out what 

 was said on the drawn-comb subject. Mr. 

 Baldridee's article, and what is said on the 

 same subject in the extracted department, I 

 have read. At first I was all "all at sea," 

 but after a time my equilibrium was re- 

 stored and I could see the matter in its true 

 light. 



If drawn combs can be secured only by 

 using light brood foundation. I want noth- 

 ing to do with them. In my opinion drawn 

 comb from brood foundation, artificial 

 comb, and " sugar honey, " are going to 

 desrade the reputation of comb honey to 

 the level of extraced honey, and it is time a 

 halt is called. No wonder Mr. Baldridge 

 gets such lots of foundation — not natural 

 comb. Away with it ! If we cannot do 

 any better than he has done, let us stop 

 where we are. 



As for myself, I am going to see if I can- 

 not employ my ideas in getting drawn comb 

 without using foundation at all. I am 

 going to take comb and thin it, and then 

 attach narrow strips of it to the top bars of 

 the sections. I wish you to try my idea 

 and in this way. If we can get along with- 

 out foundation at all, all the better. One 

 thing I forgot to state in my letter to you. 

 It is this: If we have all the brood combs 

 we need why get more ? My idea was to 

 use finished combs as the queen needs them 

 In the brood nest, and turn the energies of 

 the bees in the direction of giving us drawn 

 comb for the sections instead of giving us 

 brood combs that we do not need. Your 

 plan of getting brood combs in empty 

 frames is all right if we need the combs, 

 but if we do not need them we had better 

 have the comb built for the sections. That 

 is what I am going to try to do, but I do not 

 want the bees to idle away time secreting 

 wax. I want to so adjust the relations be- 

 tween comb building and honey gathering 



