1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



317 



A NEW COMB HOLDER. 



CLARK'S COMB HOLDER. 



I see nothing- among' your comb holders which I 

 think quite as convenient as the one represented 

 above which I use. It consists of two ends of a Sim- 

 plicity hive with the rabbets, a bottom nailed on, 

 and a piece through the centre with a hole cut for 

 the hand. I can take out with it, enough frames 

 with fdn., for a hive, and still have room to put on 

 frames from the hive. N. C. Clark. 



Sterling, 111., July 16, '79. 



OVER PRODUCTION OF DRONES, AND PASTEBOARD 

 SECTIONS. 



Last Sunday, the 23d, one hive swarmed until I 

 thought the hive had been transformed into an au- 

 tomaton, and was vomiting forth bees for fun. I 

 hived them, and they have thus soon (6 days) built 

 comb and stored honey until it would give any Nov- 

 ice the '"bee fever," were he not armed against it. 

 I'm not ''armed to the teeth" though, for I like it, 

 fever or no fever. The hive from which they issued 

 had one box nearly filled, and one I put under it well 

 started; immediately after swarming, the bees left 

 both boxes, and have done nothing' since. A few 

 bees roam over the combs but the drones, a part of 

 the time, arrange themselves in platoons on the 

 combs, and take posession of the partly filled cells. 

 The body of the hive is pretty well tilled with bees, 

 but there is an over abundance of dnmes. Why so 

 many drones? and why don't the bees work in the 

 boxes as other stocks do after swarming? Can not 

 sections be made cheaper and answer as well, from 

 heavy pasteboard pressed into shape as the butter 

 dishes are which you see at nearly every grocery? 

 I want your story and a half Simplicity, all complete, 

 this fall. Wm. M. Young. 



Nevada, O., June 28, 1879. 



Your hive that contains so many drones 

 has probably an unprofitable amount of 

 drone comb in it, and the presence of so 

 many drones to eat up the honey is very 

 likely the reason why they do not work in 

 the boxes, like the other stocks. It is a lit- 

 tle doubtful about getting sections made of 

 pasteboard that the bees will not bite and 

 gnaw; besides, very nice sections are now 

 made of wood, for ic. each. Pasteboard 

 could not be near as substantial, and proba- 

 bly little, if any cheaper. 



WHAT TO DO WITH BEES THAT HANG OUT AND WON'T 

 SWARM. 



I have one stand of blacks, which, early in the 

 season, appeared well thinned of bees; but, early in 

 June, they raised a large brood, completely tilling 

 the hive, making two boxes of honey, and, at the 

 same time, hanging in large clusters outside the 

 hive. About the 10th of June, they started a <iueen 

 cell, near the glass, fashioned it for half its natural 

 length, and then ceased all work upon it. No swarm 

 issued. I waited until July 12th, and then took two 

 frames (Gallup) from a strong swarm of Italians, 

 tilled half with sealed brood and half with honey, on 

 one of which was a queen cell, with larva and royal 

 jelly, brushed off all the bees and placed the frames 

 in an empty hive. To this I added one frame from 

 a strong hive of blacks, filled with sealed brood and 

 honey, cutting out two queen cells, and brushing- off 

 all bees as before. I then brushed off all bees clus- 

 tering on the hive which had not swarmed, moved it 

 20 feet away, and in its stead substituted my new 

 hive, filled out with empty frames. The bees brush- 

 ed off soon entered the new hive, the brood hatched 

 in a few days, and blacks and Italians seemed to 

 abound. The new swarm is now strong in bees, but 

 the hive moved away would be called but a fair 



swarm. Will the queen cell thus left be accepted? 

 Have I not made an Italian swarm? Will my new 

 made swarm be pure Italians? Will the old hive, 

 still retaining its queen and having plenty of stores, 

 become strong before cold weather? One other 

 query: In early June, after the first issue from the 

 Italians, can 1 not remove all queen cells but one, 

 and insert them in the frames of blacks, with their 

 brood, thus retarding, or perhaps preventing, the 

 blacks from swarming? Can I not move the hive of 

 blacks as before, thus gradually Italianizing in that 

 way? W. G. Peck. 



Arlington, Mass., July 18, 1879. 



I can answer yes to all your questions, friend 

 P., except about the purity of your artificial 

 colony. This, of course, depends upon what 

 kind of a drone the young queen meets. 

 Your plan is a very good one for making ar- 

 tificial swarms, and it is substantially the 

 same as the one given in A B C, under arti- 

 ficial SAV ARMING. 



AN IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTED ON PREVENTING 

 FRAMES FROM SAGGING. 



Having been bothered with combs breaking down, 

 sagging, &c, I thought I would try your plan which 

 you describe in July No. of Gleanings. Well, I 

 went to work and made some, but found it slow 

 work, and the wires would be more or less crooked, 

 and on straining- the cable I would sometimes pull 

 the frame out of square, and would be bothered to 

 square it again; so I rested and considered. The 

 result was I made some in which I used twine in 

 place of wire — common gray twine such as broom 

 makers use, being thoroughly waxed. I found I 

 could make them about twice as fast and square the 

 frame easily, and it needs no brad through bottom 

 bar and is sufficiently strong, as I hsve proved by 

 experiment. I had one fear that perhaps the bees 

 would gnaw off the twine; but after a week's trial I 

 see no symptoms of it, and I think it is a success. 



Newaygo, Mich., July 21, '79. A. P. Day. 



Almost all kinds of twine, hard paper, 

 etc., have been tried repeatedly, and dis- 

 carded. Even if they do let it alone for a 

 short time, they are pretty sure to tear it 

 out when the yield of honey ceases. 



COMBS MADE WITH A THIN PINE BOARD AS 

 A BASE. 



I have succeeded perfectly, with a board 

 about 4; of an inch in thickness, and the only 

 difficulty now consists in getting these 

 boards coated perfectly with wax on which 

 to make the fdn. Eor once in the world, we 

 have combs perfectly even, and safe from 

 sagging. You can scrape off the honey if 

 you like, and let the bees build on more; 

 but the boys complain that they can not cut 

 out queen cells from them. 



SPONGE FOR THE BOTTLE CAGES, AND THE PAULONtA 

 TREE. 



Try a piece of sponge in the mouth of your bottle 

 of water in your shipping cages. I think you will 

 like it better than a string. I can furnish you seed 

 of the Paulonia tree, as soon as they are ripe. If 

 any of your readers know anything about it as a 

 honey producing tree, it would be of interest, if 

 they would impart their knowledge through Glean- 

 incs. T. B. Parker. 



Goldsboro, N. C, July 8, 1879. 



Nothing seems to answer as well, in the 

 bottles as the cork with a groove in it. The 



sponge allows the water to evaporate faster, 

 and, for a long journey, this is quite an ob- 

 jection. Our Paulonia trees are making a 

 nice growth, but we do not get any blossoms. 

 Farther south, in the southern part of our 

 state, for instance, they are said to blossom 

 profusely. 



