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QEORQE \V. YORK, Editor. 



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40th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL, AUGUST 16, 1900, 



No, 33. 



Preserving- Combs from Moths — Caging Queens. 



BY G. M. DOOtlTTLB. 



WILL you please tell us thru the columns of the American Bee 

 Journal how to keep combs during the summer months from be- 

 intr eaten up by the laryte of the wax-moth, when we wish to pre- 

 serve those from which the bees have died during the winter? I 

 have several hundred such, so I am anxious to know. 



Answer. — In the March number of the American Bee- 



Keeper I find the following-, which was given by Frank 



Benton at the December meeting of the Ontario County (N. 



Y.) Bee-Keepers' Association, held at Canandaigua : 



Place an empty brood-cbamber on top of a stack of combs, and there- 

 in place a dish with a Utile bisulphide of carbon, then cover up tiglit; 

 the liquid will transform into gas and kill every living thing within the 

 stack of hives. 



I have this down in my reference book, and whenever I 

 have any combs to preserve in the future I shall try it, but 

 as I have none not covered with bees the present summer, 

 I could not vouch for the truth in the matter, further than 

 that it comes from good authority. 



Fumigation with burning sulphur has been the former 

 way, and as this has workt well with me I will give it, 

 together with sonie other ways of working, so the questioner 

 can try it by the side of the Benton plan, and thus find out 

 which he likes best. If he wishes to keep his combs for an 

 indefinite period, they should be fumigated and stored away 

 afterward where the female moth can not have access to 

 them. But where such combs can be used during June and 

 the forepart of July fumigation may not be necessary. 



For storing combs froih which the bees have died dur- 

 ing the previous winter, my plan is to store them in some 

 dry, airy room, where they can be hung two or more inches 

 apart. In storing them I select out all that contain much 

 bee-bread or pollen, and place them by themselves where I 

 can use these first, then I select all having'but little pollen 

 in them, and place these where they will come to hand next 

 after those first named ; then I select all which are old and 

 black, but with no pollen, and have these next at hand, 

 while those having been used but little by the bees for 

 breeding purposes, and having no pollen in them, are left 

 to be used last or latest in the season. 



All white combs in which no brood has ever been reared, 

 the same having no pollen in them, whether containing 



honey or not, and that have been taken from the hives dur- 

 ing-the fall, winter, or early spring, are almost moth-proof, 

 or, at least, I have never, to my remembrance, had such 

 combs disturbed by the larva; of the wax-moth, where kept 

 as above for any term of years ; but when such combs are 

 taken from the brood-chamber of the hive during hot sum- 

 mer weather, and stored away as above, then they may be 

 troubled some. 



Combs stored two or more inches apart, with those hav- 

 ing the most pollen in them to the front, need not be lookt 

 after in this locality till June, when they should be exam- 

 ined ; and if any fine webs are noticed about the cells con- 

 taining pollen, these should be given to the bees as soon 

 thereafter as possible. By about the 10th to the ISth look 

 after those having a little pollen in them, and by the 25th 

 look after the old, tough combs ; while those which the bees 

 have used but little for breeding purposes will rarely need 

 looking after before July 4th to 10th. 



In this way I have no difficulty in using all the spare 

 combs I may chance to have before the moth troubles them 

 to an extent sufficient to injure them, unless my losses have 

 been exceedingly heavy during the winter. 



But if we wish to keep combs during a whole season or 

 more, they must be fumigated in some way, or else have 

 been exposed to a temperature as low as zero during the 

 previous winter. Where this latter has been the case, pack 

 them away in early spring in some box or closet which you 

 know to be absolutely moth-proof, and they will keep for 

 ever, or as long as the box or closet keeps, providing no 

 female moth is ever allowed to deposit eggs on them. 



To fumigate by the old way, place them in a tight 

 room, or in hives which will sit closely together, one on the 

 other, without bottoms, when sulphur is to be burned to the 

 amount of a pound to every 400 cubic feet contained in the 

 hives or room. In sulphuring combs there is little fear of 

 using too much sulphur; for should a deposit of sulphur 

 occur on the combs, thereby giving them a greenish tinge, 

 it will not harm as it does on comb honey. 



In sulphuring honey or combs, too much care can not 

 be taken guarding against the possibility of fire ; for a 

 room filled with the fumes of burning sulphur, together 

 with many inflammable combs, is a poor place to go to ex- 

 tinguish what may prove to be a conflagration, unless found 

 in time. For this reason an iron kettle, partly filled with 

 ashes, with live coals on the ashes, with the combs so hung 

 that none of them can melt and.fall in the fire in the kettle, 

 is the best thing to use to pour the sulphur on. If you wish 

 the combustion of the sulphur to be complete, too much must 



