74 



THE BEE-KEEPERS 



One way to make bees begin promptly in 

 the sections is to wait till you are sure the 

 flow has begun, and then scratch with a fork 

 all the sealed honey that intervenes between 

 brood and sections. When all is closed up 

 drum the hive well. Highly recommended 

 by comrade Baldridge. A. B. J. 35. 



Mr. Baldridge tiers up his supers of fin- 

 ished honey in the sun, with shaded wire 

 screen on top to let out the hot air and 

 moisture. This is to ripen the honey— after 

 the bees are " Portered " out of it— and he 

 likes the plan. A. B. J. 21. 



RiCHAEDS, Ohio. Feb. 25, 1897. 



Comb Foundation and Drawn Combs— Do Con- 

 sumers Like "Fishbone 1" 

 In Gleanings for March 1st, is an article 

 on the above subject, written by F. Greiner 

 of Naples N. Y. Here is the article. 



"The value of comb in producing honey, 

 both extracted and in the comb, has long 

 been well understood; and it seems all ought 

 to agree pretty well on the subject, at least 

 now, after all that has been said of late. I 

 am not going to offer any evidence to prove 

 how much more honey may be produced by 

 the use of ready comb, as it is generally 

 conceded the gain will more than pay the 

 cost; but I may offer some suggestions as to 

 how to secure the comb. 



The producer of extracted honey, of course, 

 has no trouble in obtaining all the comb he 

 may need in a short time; and, once in pos- 

 sesion, he is well fixed. It is far different 

 with the comb- honey producer; his combs 

 are sold with the honey, and a new supply 

 must be looked for every year. Fortunately 

 we are not situated as our German honey- 

 producers. After setting forth the advan- 

 tages of our little pound sections to them, 

 Vogel the German, made the following 

 reply to me: ' Our honey Reasons are not to 

 be compared with yours in America. Of 

 this I am sure. It would take us one year 

 to have the comb built in such secHons : 

 another year to have them filled and finish- 

 ed.' When the "se of comb foundatinn 

 was suggested, Vogel again replied: 'To 

 secure comb honey, which will attract and 

 satisfy our buyers the comb will necessarily 

 have to be built from the very start by the 

 bees; comb foundation is not wanted. ' 



I myself have not yet learned ' to chew ' 

 even chewing gum; and I still object to the 

 fishbone found in comb honey V)uilt on 

 foundation; but with our American custo- 

 mers of comb honey it seems to be different. 

 Evidently they chew and like it. and the 

 fishbone meets with their approval. 



It may be said here, that a good grade of 

 comb foundation could not be detected in 

 the finished product; but of this I am not so 

 sure — at least, I have so far been seeking in 

 vain for such undetectable comb foundation. 

 At the last convention of our ( )ntario, N. Y., 

 bee-keepers, the question of foundation in 

 comb honey came ui), and, to my great 

 surprise, not one of the ( )utario Co. comb 

 honey producers present had ever used or 

 gott'-'n hold of that ' good grade ' of comb 

 foundation. One friend from an adjoining 

 country, I will call him B. as I wish to re- 

 fer to him again later on, said that he was 

 pretty sure no such undetectable good grade 

 of comb foundation was offered for sale, 

 but he had made and used such himself, and 

 he also offered samples, which I shall test 

 the coming season. Be that as it may, the 

 majority of our bee-keepers had found that 

 it paid them well to use comb foundation 

 such as they could obtain and since the hon- 

 ey-consumers do not object to its use, if they 

 don't object I may offer suggestions as to 

 ' how to have the foundation drawn out 

 previous to the honey season. ' I must, 

 however, first cite another saying of our 

 friend B, above mentioned — a saying which 

 suggested to me the idea I wish to bring 

 out. He said: 'Buckwheat honey is and 

 has been a curse to bee-keepers. ' Why ? 

 ' The inferior article has lowered the price 

 of honey more than an ythi g else. ' 



Now. this may be true; and while I am 

 pondering over it the thought strikes me. 

 ' Why not use the buckwheat honey-flow 

 for the purpose of drawing out section foun- 

 dation, to have ready for the next season, 

 thus not only relievine the market of at 

 least a part of the inferior product, but also 

 making our chances for a crop of fine grade 

 of honey the next year all the better ? Now, 

 thi'5 is not mere conjecture. I have had 

 quite a little foundation drawn out in this 

 way, although not exactly for use in sections. 

 The plan will work well, I am quite sure. It 

 would be well to have the supers, in which 

 comb-building is to go on protected dur- 

 ing thi=! lime, as the nights are often (juite 

 cold. It will also be found a cood plan not 

 to allow too much room, so the foundation 

 may be drawn out evenh/ all aver the frame. 

 Excei)t when the brood-nest is greatly con- 

 tracted, siv half-story frames may V>e quite 

 enough. The frames may be removed as 

 fast as the foundation is suflicientlv 

 drawn out, and replaced by others. Should 

 any houey have been deposited in the 

 combs, this could e-isily he removed with 

 the extractor, or. better, by a careful exr>os- 

 ure in thf< bee-yard. One colony worked in 

 this fashion niitrht easily furnish enough 

 comb to fill a dozen section supers or more, 

 derondiritr altosrether on the honey- flow; 

 and, further, we might continue the pro- 

 cedure by feeding, or, whore no buckwheat 

 is arown. feedintJ might be substituted. 



A bec-keepintr friend, located within a few 

 miles of nie. follows a similar plan to obtain 

 comb. He sets anart his ^^est ooniti-hnild- 

 ius colonies for the purpose, and during the 

 time just previous to his expected honey- 



