Skptkmbkk, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



L 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



(iiitiT tag is toiii off. Ill some iustaucos, bee- 

 koepors club together to send their wax. In 

 such cases, the outer tag shoubl show tlie 

 name aii<l address of tlie shipper, while the 

 inner tag should show the name and address 

 of the person to receive credit for the wax. 

 With reference to shipments of oUl combs, 

 cappings, or slumgum, which are often sent 

 to foundation manufacturers for rendering, 

 shippers are sometimes rather disappointed 

 at the amount of beeswax secured, especially 

 from old combs and slumgum. On the aver- 

 age, about 214 pounds of beeswax is secur- 

 I'd from ten full drawn combs where full 

 sheets of foundation have been used. The 

 weight of the combs does not determine the 

 amount of wax they contain, as combs full 

 of pollen, scales, or other waste matter con- 



Au ad wortli w nin'. 



tain no more wax than the same number of 

 light, dry combs. Neither is the weight of 

 slumgum a basis for figuring the amount of 

 beeswax it contains. It is impossible to 

 give any rule for estimating the amount of 

 wax that may be secured from a lot of slum- 

 gum. The difference in equipment, together 

 with the experience and time given to the 

 rendering of old combs by the beekeeper, is 

 responsible for the wide variations in the 

 amount of wax secured. Cappings also vary 

 greatly in the amount of wax they contain; 

 when well drained they will turn out a 

 greater percentage of beeswax than when 

 heavy with honey. Cappings should be well 

 drained or washed in warm water and dried 

 before shipping in order to obtain the most 

 satisfactory results. Whenever possible, 

 old combs, cappings, or slumgum should be 

 shipped during the cold weather as they 

 can be handled then more easily than dur- 

 ing the warmer weather. Such shipments 

 of old combs, cappings, or slumgum may 

 be marked and shipped as "Beeswax Eef- 

 use, ' ' which takes a lower freight rate than 

 beeswax. Superior Honey Company. 



Ogden, Utah. 



THE GRANULATION OF STORES 



Outside Combs in Wide Hives May Become Al- 

 most Useless to the Bees 



In all the discussion relative to granula- 

 tion of stores, there is one important point 

 that I do not think has been mentioned. It 

 does not apply everywhere, but in Colorado, 

 or at least in this part of it, it is a very vital 

 point to be considered; and I believe that 

 in very many other places it has an impor- 

 tant bearing on the question. This is, that 

 in a wide hive, such as the 10-frame, the 

 outside combs are so far from ihe cluster in 

 the winter that they are almost certain to 

 be granulated in the spring. With the soft 

 granulation of the eastern honeys this might 

 not be so very detrimental, tho even with 

 some of them there is considerable waste 

 when the bees try to use it. But with the 

 hard granulation of our honey it becomes a 

 more serious question, as the" bees are very 

 loath to use such honey unless compelled to. 



I have seen 10-frame hives that for sev- 

 eral years (and I do not know how much 

 longer) had been really only eight-frame or 

 even seven-frame hives as far as brood 

 capacity was concerned. The outer frames 

 were filled solid with hard candied honey 

 and were not used by the bees for any pur- 

 pose whatever. Next to them were the combs 

 used mostly for storing pollen, and inside of 

 them the five or six frames of brood. The 

 outer frames might just as well have been 

 solid boards, except that they had perhaps 

 some value as a reserve that might be drawn 

 on in an emergency. For the most part tho, 

 they were very dead capital. Doubtless you 

 will say that more prolific queens would 

 have compelled the bees to utilize these 

 combs. I do not know. They were not mine 

 and I had no chance to experiment. 



I am only telling you of things as I have 

 found them. Another matter of frequent 

 observation was that bees in 10-frame hives 

 <W(\ not winter as well nor build up as quick- 

 ly, on the average, as in eight-frame hives. 

 I do not know just why this should be so. 

 It certainly was not true of my sectional 

 hives, which are of about the capacity of 

 10-frame hives, tho of only eight-frame 

 width. In these also, there was no more 

 trouble from the granulation of the side 

 combs than in the regular eight-frame hive, 

 the obvious reason for this being that in 

 the taller hive the stores were above the 

 bees instead of being off at the sides. 



I believe that in many cases it will be 

 more profitable for the experienced beekeep- 

 er to use a larger hive than the eight-frame 

 Langstroth; but when you attempt to justi- 

 fy the present movement toward wider hives 

 on the theory that they are safer for the 

 careless or the inexperienced, I cannot help 

 wondering how often this is true. 



Grand Junction, Colo. J. A. Green. 



