1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



263 



35 cts. for what he ought to have for 15 cts. This, I be- 

 lieve, is the principal reason why more people " do 

 not like honey." I have never yet seen the person 

 who preferred cane syrup, or the othei- manufactur- 

 ed syrups, to nice honey, when it could be had at a 

 fair price; and, in fact, nine out of ten persons In 

 our community tell me they oare but little for 

 any other sweet. 



The only way I see for the bee-keepers to increase 

 the sale and consumption of honey, and at a price 

 which will pay them for their labor and capital in- 

 volved, is to place the honey in the consumers' 

 hands, in good shape (which can not be done after 

 it has been through the hands of two or more mid- 

 fllemeo), and at a price which a laboring man can 

 pay. When this is done, honey will not be a drug 

 on the market, as it is now becoming. We must all 

 work hard to create a local demand instead of hold- 

 ing conventions to keep prices up. 



Oxford, N. H., Feb. 'ZS, 1887. H. W. Bass. 



DRONE COMB, AGAIN. 



DOOLITTLE CONSIDKRS DADANT'S THEORV. 



TT was with great interest that I read Chas. Da- 

 1^ dant's article on drone comb, in Gle.\nings 

 ^l for Feb. 15; and 1 wish to say that I consider that 

 -*■ what he calls his "theory" is mainly a fact. The 

 only thing I can not fully indorse is the idea that 

 the queen has control of the matter of combbuild- 

 ing. This I doubt; but as the facts regarding the 

 building of both drone and worker comb remain 

 exactly the same as Bro. D. gives them, I do not 

 know that it makes any particular difference which 

 it is, bees or queen, that controls the matter. As 

 bearing directly on this subject I wish to give a 

 few more points not touched upon by friend D., or 

 only partially explained by him. 



In preparing for swarming, the old queen begins 

 to cease her proliticness some three days before the 

 swarm issues, so that, during the last 24 hours, 

 only a few hundred eggs are laid, as nature has 

 provided that the queen should not be cumbered 

 with eggs to such an extent that she can not fly 

 when the time for swarming comes. There is also 

 another reason for her doing so, which bears moi'e 

 directly on the comb (juestion, which is, that, when 

 the swarm finds a natural home, there is no comb in 

 it, hence no place for egg!<, even if the (jueen could 

 lay the 3500 eggs D. speaks of her laying the first 'M 

 hours. As a rule, it takes 8 hours after a swarm is 

 put in an empty hive before thei-e is a cell formed 

 deep enough to have an egg placed in it, while with 

 an ordinary swarm, comb-building does not become 

 extensive during the first 24 hours. By this time 

 the queen is ready for her part of the work, after 

 which we find it is just as friend D. states. Now, 

 any thing which keeps the (jueen from following 

 the bees right up with eggs as fast as the comb is 

 built, tends toward drone comb; hence the putting 

 of one empty comb in the brood-chamber, as I saw 

 recommended by a writer in one of our bee-papers 

 lately, is just the thing to fill the hive to a large ex- 

 tent with drone comb, as years of former experi- 

 ence proved to me when 1 thoroughly went over all 

 of the ground. It would take the queen so long to 

 fill this comb with eggs that the bees would get the 

 start of her; and no worse advice could be put in 

 print than this writer gave. 



AgdiQ. the giving of a frame of brood to prevent 



decamping is subject to the same objection, pro- 

 viding there arc empty cells in it, or nearly mature 

 bees, v/hich will hatch to any extent so as to 

 cause the queen to leave off following the bees. 

 Again, a very large swarm, as where two or more 

 swarms are hived together, is sure, to bviild quite 

 a share of their comb of the drone or store size, for 

 the reason that they build comb faster than the 

 queen can occupy it with eggs. Now for the rea- 

 son why the plan as recommended by Bro. Hutchin- 

 son has a tendency toward the building of only 

 worker comb in the brood-chamber: There is little 

 room for comb below, and lots of room above, while 

 the room above is made enticing for the bees to 

 build comb there first, as in the surplus-apartment 

 a start has already been made, so as the most of the 

 comb is built there for the first 24 hours. They now 

 begin below; and as the queen is now ready for 

 business she keeps up with the comb-building here 

 while that which would tend to exceed her prolific- 

 ness is built in the sections. Now, if for any reason 

 the bees fail to enter the sections and thereby air 

 crowd into the small hive below, thus building comb 

 very fast here, .so as to get the start of the queen, 

 the small size of the brood-chamber or the presence 

 of surplus room on top has no effect whatever; and 

 I here state as my belief, that something of the kind 

 has been the trouble when success has not been at- 

 tained. In other words, having too full sections, 

 so that not enough room for the surplus of bees 

 was given; too much room, so the bees were loth 

 to enter the surplusarrangment; or an unproliflc 

 queen, has been the cause of the failure, for I have 

 used it successfully for 14 years, and was the first 

 to describe it in connection with securing all work- 

 er comb. 



One other item : After 21 days have elapsed from 

 the time of hiving a swarm, if any more room is 

 added to the brood-chamber it must be given in the 

 shape of empty comb or comb foundation, for 

 drone comb is sure to result, as the instinct of the 

 queen takes her back over the former ground, rath- 

 er than to lay in newly built cells. From the above 

 the reader will see how my fourteen years of ex- 

 perience agrees with friend Dadant's article. How- 

 ever, I find, contrary to what I read, that nearly all 

 of my prime swarms having a (jueen a year or more 

 old will rear a few drones within six weeks from the 

 time of hiving, so I consider the idea fallacious, 

 that new swarms do not build drone comb for the 

 purpose of rearing drones. With me there are al- 

 ways a few square inches built for this purpose, no 

 matter how well suited to the building of work- 

 er comb my plans are. Then, too, my earlier 

 swarms often swarm again, in which case they will 

 have drones, even if they have to tear down work- 

 er comb so they can build drone. Hoping the above 

 may throw some light on what the editor calls 

 " deep water," is my excuse for this article. 



Borodino, N. Y., March, 1887. G. M. Doolitt'LE. 



Friend I)., you have no doubt thrown 

 some liglit on this matter that 1 have called 

 "deep water,"" and I see now how it is that 

 the position tliat yon liave held so long and 

 tenaciously is going to agree prett> well 

 with friend Hutchinson's new developments. 

 The new developments slip over on to 

 ground we have already traveled, altliough 

 many of us did not see it until you pi)inted 

 it otit, only yon did not recommend, or, at 

 least, I do not remember that you recom- 



