462 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Junk 1 



been extracted from three or four times. 

 But the queens seemed to prefer this foun- 

 dation comb to lay in. They would, in al- 

 most all cases, have it filled with eggs as 

 soon as it was built, and some of them were 

 so keen to get brood started on it that they 

 could not wait until the cells were fully 

 drawn out before laying in them. This 

 was a great objection, I found, to having it 

 drawn out below. It made too much room 

 above, occupied with brood. But these new 

 combs, filled solid with brood, were a pret- 

 ty sight, and they were a fine sight, too, 

 when filled and capped solid full of white 

 honey. The pleasure of seeing and han- 

 dling these might be classed as one of the 

 things we would not sell for money, even if 

 we could. 



I expected that, when part or nearly all 

 the brood-combs were removed to the upper 

 story, and frames containing full sheets put 

 in their place, it would have a great ten- 

 dency to check swarming, especially if done 

 before the swarming fever was acquired; 

 but I found that here it had no effect what- 

 ever to stop or even hold it back. On the 

 other hand, I believe that, in some cases, 

 it induced swarming that would not have 

 occurred otherwise ; for in some instances 

 queen-cells were at once started in the up- 

 per story; and as soon as one of these was 

 sealed a swarm issued, whether they had 

 cells below or not. Usually, though, with 

 strong colonies, as soon as part of the 

 brood-combs were placed above, cells were 

 started both above and below. 



With a number of colonies I removed all 

 the brood to the upper story, and filled the 

 lower story with frames containing full 

 sheets; and every colony so treated swarm- 

 ed. Five of these colonies were in ten- 

 frame hives that I bought a year ago, and 

 one was in a twelve-frame hive. Two of 

 these colonies swarmed before any cells in 

 the upper stories were sealed, and no signs 

 of cells below. 



Some claim that a swarm will never is- 

 sue with cells in the upper story when 

 there is a queen-excluder between the two 

 stories unless they have also started cells 

 below. But I am absolutely certain that 

 three of my colonies did last season, and I 

 feel morally sure that five or six more did. 



A method that did in all cases prevent 

 strong colonies from swarming, whether 

 they had contracted the swarming fever or 

 not, was to remove all the brood, give emp- 

 ty frames below, and use either drawn 

 comb or full sheets in the upper story; and 

 when this was done the bees drew out the 

 foundation more readily than they did when 

 there was brood below, probably because 

 they had no intention of swarming, and 

 this method gave us the largest amount of 

 surplus of any plan I tried. But almost all 

 the colonies so treated built a large amount 

 of drone comb below. 



Southern Minnesota. 



[I have personally tried a good many 

 different ways of wiring. I have used the 



perpendicular and the horizontal plan, 

 wires close together and wires far apart, 

 wires coarse and wires fine. After testing, 

 on a large scale, all the different methods, 

 I came to the conclusion that, with medium 

 or light brood foundation, four horizontal 

 wires give the best results, all things con- 

 sidered. But in the use of very light foun- 

 dation for brood purposes, perpendicular 

 wires about 36 gauge and two inches apart 

 gave better results. I believe the time will 

 come when manufacturers will put out an 

 extra-light weight of wax with the wires 

 already incorporated in it, and so arranged 

 as to hang horizontally when the founda- 

 tion is in the frame. But at the present 

 time the makers are not able to incorporate 

 the wires into such thin sheets without mak- 

 ing them cost a great deal more per square 

 foot than the ordinary light brood foundation. 



This question of useless consumers is al- 

 most entirely a matter of locality. Where 

 the honey-flow continues on through pret- 

 ty much all the summer, and especially 

 where there is a late summer or fall flow, 

 those " useless consumers " come to be use- 

 ful producers. But in most localities in the 

 northern part of the United States, in a 

 broad belt-line running from Wisconsin and 

 Illinois through southern Canada to New 

 York and Pennsylvania, it is a waste of 

 honey and a waste of energy to raise very 

 many bees during the midst of the honey- 

 flow, to be useless consumers, as you say, 

 when the honey-flow is over. In the terri- 

 tory named, it is necessary to have large 

 quantities of brood reared from the first of 

 April till the first of June in order to have 

 producers of the right age when the main 

 crop from basswood and clover comes on. 

 In many localities in the South, in Texas, 

 Arizona, in some parts of California, Col- 

 orado, Utah, and Idaho, the conditions are 

 different. Brood-rearing in such localities 

 may continue to good advantage throughout 

 almost the entire season. 



It is, therefore, necessary that every bee- 

 keeper should study carefully his locality. 

 If his neighbor is getting honey and he is 

 not, there is something he can learn from 

 that neighbor — no doubt about that. Your 

 own neighbor, for example, if he had stud- 

 ied his own locality as carefully as you, 

 • or if he would copy your methods, would 

 be able to get crops where he now fails. 



It is a little curious that your bees should 

 apparently show a preference for natural- 

 built combs over those built from founda- 

 tion for the storage of honey. It is not at 

 all strange that the queen should prefer 

 foundation comb. I can readily understand 

 that ; but I cariH see why the bees should 

 prefer to store in all natural comb. As all 

 our combs for years have been built off from 

 foundation, we are not now in a position 

 to see whether they would really show a 

 preference, and I should be glad to hear 

 from some of our subscribers who are able 

 to give us some facts along these lines. Let 

 us have the truth, even if it is "unhealthy" 

 for us foundation-makers. 



