S20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUIlE. 



July 



I hardly think it worth the trouble. The 

 purchasers are humbugged in buying a box 

 hive whether it has a patent on it as claimed 

 or not. I would endeavor to keep the peo- 

 ple posted as much as possible, but I would 

 avoid getting into controversy and argu- 

 ment ; mildness and a gentle, quiet way of 

 exposing and rebuking such frauds is, as a 

 general thing, much more convincing than 

 heated controversy and loud talk. 



►*♦.< 



UTILITY OF EMPTY COMBS. 



[BLINKING that not all perhaps who read the 

 pages of Gleanings realize the real value of 

 empty combs, I am led to give a few experi- 

 ments with them, and a few suggestions which may 

 be of benefit to some of the ABC class, if not to 

 others. When we first began bec-kocping, we were 

 short of combs; and, as our bees would persist in 

 building more or less drone comb, we were often 

 obliged to work swarms for box honey with as 

 low as six Gallup frames in the hive. In fact, up to 

 1877, we did not average over 7 Gallup frames to the 

 hive, so short were we of empty combs. As we 

 wished to make the most of our bees, they were al- 

 lowed to build comb in the brood apartment till the 

 yield of honey came on plentifully, at which time 

 the boxes were put on, after shutting them (by 

 means of division boards) on to as many combs as 

 they had completed up to that time. Thus, in 1874-5, 

 we obtained an average of over 100 lbs. of box honey 

 per stock, each year. Full frames of drone comb 

 were taken away as fast as built, before any bees 

 had matured in them; and, in this way we obtained 

 our starters for boxes. To get rid of the drone 

 comb, where frames were filled partly with drone 

 and partly with worker comb, we bought up all the 

 worker comb we could get, paying as high as 25c and 

 30c per lb. therefor, and, after cutting out the drone 

 comb, we fitted worker in the place of it, thus pre- 

 venting the bees from filling the same space again 

 with drone. Alter this, if any we had bought was 

 left, we fitted it in frames for use where most need- 

 ed, often using pieces not over two inches square, 

 soldering them in place by melted beeswax till the 

 bees attached all together. Much loss is always sus- 

 tained by letting our bees build comb in the brood 

 apartment during the best flow of honey. Early in 

 our commencement of bee culture we were obliged 

 to do this, as we could not buy combs, or get our 

 bees to build enough before the main honey harvest 

 for them to rear brood in while at work in boxes; 

 but later, in order to have no brood combs built, we 

 gave our new swarms only five frames, and, as soon 

 as these were filled with all worker comb, we spread 

 them apart, putting in each alternate space an emp- 

 ty comb, thus completing a hive full of combs at the 

 time of honey harvest. If the swarms were too 

 large to work profitably building these few combs, 

 boxes were placed around and over them so they 

 could build comb in them, thus losing no time. 



In these experiments, we found that we could get 

 }{i more honey from a swarm treated in this way 

 than from one building the whole nine frames full; 

 and, by filling the hive full at the time of hiving, we 

 easily obtained double the amount. If these combs 

 could be filled with honey when the swarms were 

 hived on them, we were almost sure of three times 

 the amount that we would get from a swarm in a 

 hive containing no comb. If the swarm contained a 



good, prolific queen, nearly all the honey there was 

 in these combs would be in the boxes in two weeks, 

 and the combs nicely filled with brood. There is 

 nothing of more value in the apiary than good, all 

 straight, worker combs, except good, prolific queens. 

 Such combs should be looked after with care, when 

 away from the bees, and the moth worms should not 

 be allowed to cat them up. 



Some have the idea that comb foundation is pref- 

 erable to frames full of comb. This I think is a mis- 

 take, for the bees must consume some t'ime in get- 

 ting the foundation worked out to full combs, say- 

 ing nothing of the expense of buying it. We were 

 pained, not long ago, to see hundreds of moth eaten 

 combs on the premises of a prominent bee-keeper 

 who had, a year or two ago, bought a fdn. machine. 

 These combs had been looked after with care in 

 years gone by, and were built in the frames as 

 straight and true as a board; and, to my mind, be- 

 fore the moths had damaged them, were worth 

 double the same amount of fdn. 



In bee-keeping, as well as in any other business, 

 prosperity comes only by husbanding what you al- 

 ready have, and being careful of the outgoes. 

 Therefore when you hear a person giving advice 

 that the true way to make money from your bees is 

 to buy and use fdn., as did a certain person in the 

 Bee-Keeper^ Exchange, who is considered authority 

 by some, beware, and don't let your better judge- 

 ment desert you. Foundation is good in its place, 

 but the sheet anchor of bee-keeping is all straight 

 worker comb, and if you have such use them in 

 place cf having bees build more, or of buying fdn. 



Borodino, N. Y., June, 1880. G. M. Doolittle. 



I would most heartily endorse every word 

 of the above, friend D. Let nothing go to 

 waste ; stop all possible outgoes ; give each 

 new swarm a hive full of empty combs so 

 long as you have them, and by no means let 

 combs of any kind be left scattered about to 

 become a prey to the moth. Moths should 

 never find a scrap of anything to live on, 

 about a well kejit apiary. Jf your combs are 

 old and heavy, or contain too much drone 

 comb, melt them up, but never let the moths 

 get into them. 



FROM FRIENDS JONES AND BENTON, 



IN THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS AND 



THE HOLY LAND. 



MJJRIEND Geo. Douglas, of Listowel, Out., 

 Canada, sends us the following clipping 

 from a newspaper: 



(TO THE EDITOR OF THE WITNESS.) 



Sir,— As several of your readers have requested 

 me to reporl through the Witness from time to time 

 the progress I am making in connection with the 

 importation of the great Cyprian bees from the Is- 

 land of Cyprus, I beg to say that I have delayed wri- 

 ting until I could say something from personal ob- 

 servation, and also report something definite as to 

 the prospect of getting the bees from there to Cana- 

 da. I may say I left Canada the beginning of win- 

 ter, and after visiting principal bee-keepers and 

 apiaries of Europe as well as the editors of the va- 

 rious bee journals, I landed in Africa an examined 

 the Egyptian bee. I next sailed to the Island of Cy- 

 prus, and, after procuring guides, mules, muleteers 

 and interpreters, made a journey through the Is- 

 land, procured all the hives I could, and started a 



