AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



113 



Jones who wrote of some persons keep- 

 ing several sections of honey in their 

 chamber a year in perfect condition. I 

 had almost forgotten the item, until my 

 experiment brought it to my mind. Was 

 it you, Bro. Jones, who wrote that item? 

 If so, please tell us more about it. 



Many are asking what to do with can- 

 died comb honey, or if it can be liquified 

 in the comb. The only thing that can 

 be done with such honey is to melt it up 

 and make extracted honey of it. This 

 is done at a loss, of course, for extracted 

 honey is the cheaper, and could have 

 been produced cheaper than comb honey. 



We can hardly imagine how much 

 candied comb honey there is in the 

 country each year. Will those who 

 have candied comb honey tell us where 

 they kept it, and at what time of the 

 year it candied? And will those who 

 can keep comb honey a year without 

 having it candied, please tell us where 

 they kept it, etc.? 



Now will Prof. Cook tell us just what 

 temperature is needed to keep comb 

 honey one year in perfect condition ? 



Ovid, Pa. 



le Renewini of Brooil-Comlis. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY KEV. S. ROESE. 



It is a sad mistake for bee-keepers to 

 allow brood-combs to remain in the hive 

 year after year until they become as black 

 as a stove-pipe, and the cells rounding 

 instead of six-cornered, and dotted with 

 holes here and there, caused by the bee- 

 moth, which is too willing and ready to 

 carry on its work of distruction in the 

 hive, when a colony has dwindled down 

 below its normal strength. 



Brood-comb should be rejected and 

 melted over, as soon as it becomes dark, 

 and the walls of its cells thick, this 

 thickness being caused by successive 

 breeding in the same cell, each larva 

 maturing leaving a thin coating in the 

 cell ; and every intelligent bee-keeper 

 knows too well that every queen prefers, 

 by far, bright combs for depositing her 

 eggs, to those of dark, callous and thick 

 cells; and it is also known that the 

 worker-bees will fill older combs first 

 with honey, and leave the newer and 

 brighter combs for breeding. 



The writer's experience has been such, 

 that colohies which had their hives filled 

 with old combs, were breeding very 

 slowly, and on giving them a new comb 

 of honey kept over from the previous 



season to stimulate breeding, it soon be- 

 came emptied, and the honey transferred 

 to older combs, and the new combs were 

 filled with eggs in a short time. 



Since the invention of the movable 

 frame and comb foundation, this act of 

 renewing combs is no longer a task, but 

 a delight for the bee-keeper to see his 

 discouraged colonies take a turn from 

 bad to better, with new life and energy. 



Herr Schoenfeld, a noted German bee- 

 keeper, states in his experience, that re- 

 newing brood-combs becomes, with a 

 vigilant bee-keeper, a matter of neces- 

 sity, as workers matured in old combs 

 are of much smaller size, and often de- 

 formed and weak ; and contrary wise, 

 bees matured in new combs, are of 

 plump and healthy size, and are healthy 

 and strong. 



But the renewing of brood-combs 

 must be done in the right time and sea- 

 son, so as not to endanger the prosperity 

 and well-doing of the colony. It has 

 been the writer's practice for years, in 

 early spring, as soon as the temperature 

 would admit an examination, to place in 

 each strong and healthy colony one or 

 two clean, new combs in which two or 

 three patches of brood had been reared 

 the year before ; and the result has been 

 a satisfactory one. And if this opera- 

 tion is repeated every spring, the dan- 

 ger of combs getting too old is avoided. 

 Later on, at the time of the honey-flow, 

 it is a good plan to place in each strong 

 colony a frame having a full sheet of 

 foundation, between the frames of hatch- 

 ing brood. 



This renewing of combs should be 

 done in the spring of the year, as such 

 operations towards fall would greatly 

 insure the winter preparations of the bees 

 going on at that time of year in the 

 hive. A word to the wise should be 

 always suflScient. 



Maiden Rock, Wis. 



'' Larpst House-Apiary "DescrW. 



BY W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



House-apiaries present several advan- 

 tages over out-door establishments. 

 Hives and supers may be of poorer and 

 thinner lumber, and require no paint, 

 as they are not exposed to the weather. 

 There is no wading through the wet 

 grass, nor working under a sweltering 

 sun. The hives and implements are 

 close together, enabling the operator to 

 do more work with less tramping about. 

 All trouble from robber-bees is entirely 



