486 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations with Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



KEEPING COMBS THROUGH THE SUMMER. 



" How can one keep surplus combs dur- 

 ing the summer months'? I have no trouble 

 in keeping them up to July ; but from then 

 on to the middle of September, or when the 

 weather turns cold for fall, I am troubled 

 with the larvae of the wax-moth getting into 

 them and often ruining a part or all of 

 those which are not held by the bees." 



" The keeping of combs through the 

 whole year, at any time when there are not 

 bees enough to occupy them, from winter's 

 loss, sale of bees, or any other cause, is 

 something which sooner or later confronts 

 every apiarist. Half a century ago our 

 fathers melted up all combs for the wax 

 they contained if they had not bees enough 

 to give sufficient swarms so that they might 

 be hived in them; these fathers knowing 

 full well that the hives containing such 

 combs would hold only a mass of cocoons 

 and webs in the fall if they tried to keep 

 them over. 



'' Four decades ago some one found that 

 combs could be kept indefinitely by sub- 

 jecting them to the fumes of burning sul- 

 phur, of sufficient strengih to kill the wax- 

 moth and its eggs, provided the combs Avere 

 then kept in a moth-proof room or reposi- 

 tory. 



" A little later it was found that, if the 

 combs were exj^osed to the air and light, 

 each comb being separated from the next 

 by two or thi-ee inches, all those not having 

 pollen in them could usually be kept per- 

 fect throughout the summer months without 

 further attention. By giving tbose having 

 pollen in them to the bees, little loss ever 

 occurred where the room in which they 

 were stored had plenty of windows to fur- 

 nish air and light. Where the combs con- 

 tained honey, it was necessary to use screens 

 at these windows in order to keep the bees 

 from carrying this honey off. 



" Then some sharp-eyed and keen-scented 

 person, given to close observation and ex- 

 perimenting, diseovei'ed that any comb 

 which was subjected to cold from fifteen to 

 twenty degi'ees below zero would be free 

 from the ravages of the moth forever after- 

 ward, provided it was stored in a moth- 

 proof place. Such a degree of cold killed 

 even the eggs which might have been laid 

 during the warm days of late fall. Thus, 

 step by step, knowledge was gained, until 

 at the present time no well-to-do apiarist 

 thinks of melting up combs for the wax 

 they contain, with no other reason for do- 

 ing so than the fear of their being destroy- 



ed by the larvae of the wax-moth, if he has 

 a room that can be sufficiently ventilated so 

 that the temperature may fall below zero 

 on some winter night. 



" When I began out-apiary work I found 

 that a room was not necessary for this pur- 

 pose; for after a trial of several years I 

 concluded that the very best place to pre- 

 serve empty combs was in the hives. But I 

 think I hear my questioner saying, ' Do not 

 the moth-worms destroy the combs in hot 

 weather when they are left in the hive out 

 of doors? No, not if the hives containing 

 them are piled up in such a way that the 

 moths can not get into these hives after the 

 combs have been subjected to cold of suffi- 

 cient amount to kill all life in the eggs or 

 larvae. The combs must, however, be win- 

 tered out of doors, or where they will freeze. 

 As we have plenty of zero weather in this 

 locality every winter I have said ' zero ;' for 

 I have not experimented with a warmer 

 temperature. It is possible that less se- 

 vere cold would kill the eggs. Pei'haps some 

 of the friends further south can give their 

 experience in this matter. Of course, the 

 reason the worms do not destroy such combs 

 when treated as indicated is simply because 

 the eggs that produce them have been de- 

 stroyed by the freezing during the winter. 

 This plan of preserving empty combs will 

 not work, of course, except in latitudes 

 where freezings are sufficiently severe to 

 destroy the vitality of all that pertains to 

 the bee-moth. 



" When the extracting is done for the 

 season, the combs can be put back in the 

 supers, and these set under the brood-nest 

 so that the bees may remove the honey 

 which may remain in them. It will not be 

 necessary to disturb them again until the 

 bees are prepared for winter. These supers 

 of empty combs are now piled up out of 

 doors to freeze during the winter, and there 

 they remain till wanted again, whether the 

 next season or ten years later. Hives of 

 reserved combs of honey are piled up in the 

 same way, and I have never found any 

 worms in or among such combs when thus 

 treated, even where the combs are packed 

 in as closely as the hives will hold. I think 

 it best, however, to remove one or two 

 combs from each hive, and then place the 

 others at about an equal distance apart. 

 In this way surplus combs can be kept the 

 year round, thus saving the labor of carry- 

 ing them in and out, also the expense of 

 providing extra room for them, and they 

 remain bright and free from mold when in 

 hives properly made." 



