IMK BEb^-KEEFERS REVIEW, 



brood. I then took franieB enough from 

 one-half to till the other half, until in a very 

 short time I had them all ready for the su- 

 pers, and was very much suprised to find 

 they were the best honey-producers I had, 

 and gave me a larger average than any in 

 the yard. 



When the swarming season came ( we 

 don't have many swarms, say from 15 to I'O 

 from 1(K) colonies) I hived the new swarm on 

 the old stand, and in four days I set the ex- 

 tracting super on the new swarm, put the 

 parent colony in another part of the yard, 

 where I had a row of them; then I took all 

 the frames, except three, away from them, 

 leaving those having the most brood and a 

 queen-cell. About the time the young 

 queens commenced laying. I gave each an 

 empty frame. Of course they built nice 

 worker-comb, and did it in such a short 

 time I soon had the extracting supers on 

 the lot. and got two good extractings from 

 them the same season. 



Then after the honey or extracting season 

 was over, I took all the frames except three, 

 from a numV)er of colonies, and started 

 them in to build worker-comb, and kept it 

 up until I had all the combs I needed. Then 

 when I set the extracting supers back on 

 those hives, I found them in the best con- 

 dition of any colonies in the yard. 



About this time I became so confident in 

 the success of my experiments that I ven- 

 tured to tell it to others, but was somewhat 

 surprised to find they could not see it in the 

 light I did. One said: 



'Xo doubt you will get nice work-comb in 

 that way. but see what it costs I For my 

 part. I run my bees to make money, and 

 could not afford to have my bees build 

 combs in the way you suggest.' 



Now I know this party claimed he had a 

 better locality than mine for honey; I also 

 knew his average yield was much less than 

 mine, so h*» did not convince me that I was 

 wrong. Now, along comes Mr. Deacon 

 with hi-s very intereresting article. I feel so 

 pleased lo know that there is at least one 

 who thinks as I doon this subject. " 



Here are exactly the conditions under 

 which I should expect that bees might build 

 their own combs to advantage, viz., a slow 

 flow lasting for months. It is when the 

 honey comes in with a rush that comb foun- 

 dation is needed to help the l>ees in furni.sh- 

 ing storage room. Althougn it touches up- 

 on some other points I cannot better express 

 my ideas upon this subject than to quote a 

 chapter from Advanced Bee Culture upon 

 the 



" Use and Abuse of Foundation. " 



"That foundation has been a boon to bee- 

 keepers, no one doubts: that money expend- 

 ed in its purchase is often returned many 

 fold is equally true, but such is not always 

 the case. .Ml throuL'h the working season 

 wax is being secr'-'f^'l to a greater or less 

 extent. If not ntiHz d it is lost. Of course, 

 bees that fill themselves full of honey and 



hang in clustering festoons secrete wax to a 

 very uiuch greater extent than those engag- 

 ed in bringing in honey. The bees of a 

 swarm will nearly always, be found with 

 large wax scales in the wax pockets. Hav- 

 ing found that foundation is used at a profit 

 in some places and at some times, the bee- 

 keeping world seems to have decided, with 

 almost no experiment, that bees ought never 

 be allowed to build comb. 



Years ago I practiced hiving swarms on 

 empty combs, upon foundation, and upon 

 empty frames — empty except starters of 

 foundation. The first swarm %va8 hived up- 

 on comb, the second upon foundation, and 

 the third upon starters only. This order 

 was continued, the first year it was tried, 

 until fifteen swarms were hived, when the 

 use of empty combs was discontinued, as 

 it was only too evident that they were used 

 at a loss. I have reference here to what 

 was used in the brood nest in hiving swarms 

 when raising honey. The difficulty with 

 drawn combs is just this. Before the queen 

 will lay in old combs, the cells must be 

 cleaned out and ' varnished ' until they 

 shine; and long ere this, especially if there 

 is a good flow of honey, they will be badly 

 needed, and will be used, for storage. In 

 other words, combs are ready for honey be- 

 fore they are ready for eggs, and the bees 

 fill the combs at once with honey, when, 

 from some perversity of bee nature, work, 

 in many instances, comes to a stand still. 

 Having filled the body of the hive, the bees 

 seem disinclined to make a start in the sec- 

 tion. Where bees co'iimence storing their 

 surplus, there they seem inclined to contin- 

 ue to store it: ai'dlet the bees once get the 

 start of the queen, by clogging the brood- 

 nest with honey, and that colony becomes 

 practically worthless for the production of 

 comb honey. 



The advantages of full sheets of founda- 

 tion over starters, or vice venta, were not so 

 apparent, and, until the close of the season, 

 an equal number of swarms were hived up- 

 on foundation and starters. Enough was 

 proved the first season to show that, so far 

 as surplus was concerned, nothing was gain- 

 ed by using foundation in the brood nest, 

 except for starters, when hiving swarms. I 

 have since continued to experiment, year 

 after year, by hiving swarms alternately up- 

 on foundation and upon empty combs, 

 weighing both surplus and brood-nests at 

 the end of the season, and the evidence has 

 been in favor of empty frames ei^ery time. 

 Occasionally I have hived a swarm on emp- 

 ty combs, hut the loss has alwaiis been so 

 great, that it seems like folly to repeat it. 

 When full sheets of foundation are used 

 in the brood nest, and the brood nest is so 

 contracted that some of the liees must enter 

 the sections, and the sections are filled with 

 drawn comb, or partly drawn comb, the 

 honey must from necessity be stored in the 

 supers until the foundation can be drawn 

 out; and even then, having commenced work 

 in the sections, the bees will not desert 

 them. But there is only one queen fur- 

 nishing egcs, while hundreds of busy work- 

 ers are pulling away with might and main 



