GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 1 



such circumstances more than under the 

 most favorable?" 



"Because extracted honey is best produc-« 

 ed with very strong' colonies; and such col- 

 onies will, as a rule, build mostly drone 

 comb when the honey-flow is on, while such 

 comb is a disadvantage to any apiarist only 

 as it is kept for special use over queen-ex- 

 cluders." 



"Does not drone comb work equally well 

 with worker comb when working' for ex- 

 tracted honey where queen-excluders are 

 used ? ' ' 



"Yes. But unless the averag"e apiarist 

 is very different from Doolittle there will 

 come a time in his life when he will say he 

 would g'ive almost anj' thing if those combs 

 were only worker combs so he could use 

 them just when and where he pleased. 

 Where half-depth combs are used for ex- 

 tracting-, as the custom of some is, it does 

 not make so verj^ much difference whether 

 they are of the worker or drone size of cells; 

 and in this case I would allow the bees to 

 build their own combs in the frames." 



"But suppose the apiarist is working- for 

 comb honey, then which is best?" 



"That will depend on whether he is go- 

 ing" to allow swarming, or whether he is 

 going to keep his bees from swarming. If 

 the latter (I very much doubt about his suc- 

 cess in this matter, however), then he will 

 have as much need of foundation when 

 combs are being built as he would were he 

 working for extracted honey, as strong col- 

 onies building combs under an3' system of 

 non-swarming will give a drone size of cell 

 more often than otherwise." 



"But I work i-ny bees on the swarming 

 plan. How -would it be with me?" 



"If you use full sheets of foundation in 

 the sections, and such use of full sheets is 

 considered right by the larger part of our 

 practical comb - honey producers, then I 

 would say that it would pay to allow the 

 bees to fill the brood-frames with natural 

 comb. Each new swarm seems to go pre- 

 pared for a start at comb-building in its 

 new home, and such building seems to give 

 them a greater activitj' than they show if 

 the hive is supplied with emptj'^ combs or 

 foundation; and I have often thought that, 

 where the hive is contracted so as to hold 

 only about two-thirds of the nvimber of 

 frames needed to fill the whole hive, and 

 the sections put on at the time of hiving, 

 this number of combs will be built by the 

 bees without the loss of a single pound of 

 honey to the apiarist, while the cells will 

 be nearly' or entirely of the worker size, un- 

 less an old or failing queen is used, in 

 which case little besides drone comb will 

 result under the most favorable circum- 

 stances." 



"Do j'ou have the most off your comb 

 built in this way?" 



"Well, no; although I have had very 

 many perfect combs built in this way, and 

 know it to be a good plan." 



"How do you have them built?" 



"Really the nicest way, where we decide 



to have our combs built by the bees, is to 

 set apart each j'ear all the colonies we may 

 happen to have when the honey-flow com- 

 mences, that are not strong enough to do 

 good work in the sections, or upper stories 

 of hives for extracted honey; and as soon 

 as the honey-flow commences, take away 

 all their combs, except perhaps one having 

 a little brood and some honey in it, giving 

 the brood to other stronger colonies to make 

 them still stronger, when just the number 

 of frames these little colonies can work on 

 to the best advantage are given to them, 

 each having a starter of worker comb or 

 comb foundation in it, say from half an 

 inch to an inch in depth. In this way I 

 succeed in getting the nicest of combs built; 

 and by taking them out in such a way as 

 to keep the bees desiring only worker brood, 

 I am quite sure a worth of combs can be 

 obtained greater than the value of honey 

 which it would be possible for them to pro- 

 duce were thej' allowed to have their own 

 way. At least, this is the waj' I think I 

 have proven the matter in my case." 

 "Do you think I could do as well? " 

 " I do not know why 3'ou should not; but 

 if 5'ou fear otherwise, it will be easy for 

 you to test the matter for j'ourself; and if 

 this does not prove in your hands as it does 

 with me, then 3'ou can change to what seems 

 best for 3'ou, or use foundation. There is 

 no great loss in tr3'ing a few of the little 

 colonies that wa}% should ycu have them, 

 as the combs of brood given the stronger 

 colonies help there fully as much as could 

 be possible anywhere else. But it has en- 

 tirely stopped raining now, and I am oblig- 

 ed to go to town on business." 



Say, dear reader, if j'ou know an3' thing 

 about brushed or " shook " swarms I wish 

 3'OU would tell us what you know. 



By the time this journal is finding its 

 wa3' to our readers I shall be on the way to 

 Denver, together with my brother Huber. 



As mentioned in a footnote to a. Straw in 

 this issue, there is a large amount of white 

 clover in bloom everywhere; but I have yet 

 to hear of its 3'ielding hone3% even where 

 the fields are white with the bloom. 



Sweet clover did not do well this year, 

 in the East at least. It needs a season of 

 drouth to make it do its best. The great 

 amount of rain early in the season made 



