558 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



pairs. I mention this misfortune that it 

 may be a warning to others who are under 

 the necessity of moving bees. It was all on 

 account of our busy season, the rush of or- 

 ders, and scarcity of help, that we took 

 these little risks. We thought when the 

 busy season was over that we would erect a 

 substantial shed and a suitable hitching- 

 place. But misfortunes would not wait. 

 The moral is, where property is involved, 

 do not run risks, where a few dollars in a 

 shed or in a hitching-post will save a good 

 many dollars in an accident. 



GETTING BEES STARTED TO WORK 

 IN SECTIONS. 



ALSO USING ONE OR MORE PARTLY FINISHED SEC- 

 TIONS AS A STARTER. 



LIKE Doolittle's article, nnd the comments 

 thereon, on page 474. For the benefit of the 

 younger members, let me repeat what I have 

 already said. 1 have never had any trouble to 

 get bees to work in sections by simply placing 

 in the center of the super a section upon which the 

 bees had previously worked. Tt does not matter 

 whether the honey has been emptied out or not, 

 only so that previously it has been partly filled 

 with honey. The severest test I ever gave to this 

 plan was last year and the year before. In each super 

 put on, I placed in the middle a section that had 

 been filled or partly filled with honey, and this hon- 

 ey had all been emptied out. Every colony which 

 had any honey to spare from the brood-chamber 

 commenced promptly in this section, filled it with 

 honey, and commenced putting honey in the ad- 

 joining sections. These colonies were very few in 

 number. The others, which had no more honey 

 than was needed in the brood-chamber, as well as 

 many which had not enough for the brood-chamber, 

 commenced work in the " bait" section, generally 

 filling and sealing it. I had many supers with the 

 " bait" section tilled and sealed, and not another 

 section in the super worked on. So I feel pretty 

 safe in saying that, with such a bait section in the 

 super, my bees will work as readily as I want them 

 to, in the supers. The bait sections are likely to be 

 second class, but there need be only one for each 

 colony, not one for each super. 



SHALL UNFINISHED SECTIONS BE AGAIN USED ? 



Since writing the above I have read friend Green's 

 article, on page 449. I think the strongest discus- 

 sion ever had on the matter of using unfinished 

 sections was at the National Convention, at Chica- 

 go; and, if I remember correctly, it was a pretty 

 one-sided affair. I believe I gave no opinion, un- 

 less it was to say that sections partly filled at the 

 time of putting on, were sometimes watery after 

 being filled. But I've asked myself some questions 

 about it since, one of which was this: If bees will 

 commence and tinish a section of foundation quick- 

 er than one filled with comb, how does it come 

 that so much more extracted honey can be pro- 

 duced than comb, especially by those who allow the 

 honey to be sealed over before extracting? The 

 Dadants, it is well known, do no extracting tili the 

 close of the harvest, leaving the combs to be sealed 

 over; and on page 429 of that excellent book, the 

 Revised Langstroth, they say: " If we give to bees 

 empty combs, to store their honey, we shall find, by 

 comparing the products of colonies who have tq 



build their combs, with those of colonies who al- 

 ways have empty combs to fill, that these last pro- 

 duce at least twice as much as the others." Now, 

 if they produce twice as much in the course of the 

 season, can they not produce it more rapidly? How- 

 ever that may be, there seems to be a pretty plain 

 statement that, in the course of the season, twice 

 as many pounds of honey will be stored in ready- 

 built combs as in foundation. Now, if that be true 

 of full-sized combs— although the Dadants do not 

 use full-sized combs for extracting— why is it not 

 true of combs of any size, even down to 4^x4%? 

 And if these sections can be sold for only two cents 

 less than the best, they are still very profitable, if 

 even a fourth more honey can be produced in 

 them. I confess that I have been quite puzzled to 

 reconcile these apparently contradictory state- 

 ments and opinions. Without being at all sure of 

 my ground, I may be allowed to give a possible ex- 

 planation. Remember that man}', like friend J. A. 

 Green, have held the view that a section used by 

 the bees last year will not be tilled as soon as one 

 containing only foundation, and that it is not 

 profitable to use such. One year I used a number 

 of sections partly tilled, left over from the previous 

 year. I can not now tell whether they were filled 

 more or less promptly than the others, but they 

 were filled and stored for some time with the oth- 

 ers. Before very long I found these sections, 

 which had been left over from the previous year, 

 becoming watery, the honey oozing through the 

 capping, while the sections built on foundation 

 were all right. Now, in this case is it not probable 

 that the honey left over in these sections was un- 

 ripe to begin with; and, after being kept over the 

 winter, had soured at least a trifle? And is it un- 

 reasonable to suppose that the bees would be slow- 

 er in tilling such sections than in tilling those fur- 

 nished with foundation onlj ? 1 remember, that at 

 that same convention at Chicago great stress was 

 laid upon the importance of having all vessels, used 

 to contain extracted honey, very clean— the least 

 remains of granulated honey being enough to spoil 

 a lot of fresh honey. Now, is it not possible that 

 those who have found unfinished sections so ob- 

 jectionable have used those containing some old 

 honey, at least as much as the extractor would 

 leave in them? The sections I use for bait are 

 treated in this way: 



Those containing much honey are extracted the 

 previous fall, and all are cleaned out thoroughly by 

 the bees, a pile of supers being left where the bees 

 can rob them; the entrance, however, being large 

 enough fur only a single bee. I could not be induced, 

 I think, to dispense with such bait, and I wish 

 friend Green and others would try it and report. 



Let me suggest how to settle pretty conclusively 

 whether unfinished sections or foundation will lie 

 finished first. Take such bait sections as I have 

 described, the last vestige of honey cleaned out of 

 them by the bees— mind you, this must be done at a 

 time when bees will rob, or they are not likely to 

 clean the sections thoroughly — and put one in the 

 middle of each super. Now, don't wait, till the 

 whole super is finished, but watch from time to 

 time and see what is the first section finished. 

 Another good way is this: 



Fill a super alternately with sections of comb 

 and foundation, then keep close watch and find the 

 time when all the sections of one kind are finished, 

 but not the others, and see which kind it is. Better 



