THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



469 



ble,aiKlis as follows : Bear the queens 

 now and introduce them to 8-frame 

 nuclei ; when 3 or i days old, take 

 them to a locality where there are no 

 bees W'ithiii 2 or 3 miles, or even a 

 mile will answ^er ; take along a strong 

 nucleus containing a lot of selected 

 drones and a quantity of unsealed 

 brood; place strips of wood between 

 the top-bars of the frames, and tlien 

 wedge up with a thin wedge on one 

 side, which will let iti enough air at 

 the top. The entrance, which is sim- 

 ply a one-inch auger-hole, is covered 

 with wire-cloth. So prepared, I place 

 20 or 30 in a lumber wagon containing 

 a little hay in the bottom ; they may 

 be transferred thus with safety, -5 

 miles or so, in the evening. Afte'r 10 

 days, they may be hauled back with 

 the certainty that 9 out of 10 are mated 

 as desired." 



Explanatory.— The flgures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has Itept bees. Those .4pter, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and tall, or fall and spring-, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 6 north of the centre ; 9 south ; O* east ; 

 ♦Owest; and this 6 northeast; ^northwest; 

 o^ southeast; and ? southwest of the centre 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee Joarnal. 



SPIDEKS AND EMPTY COMBS. 



Spiders are one of the Bee-Keapers' best 



friends to preserve empty combs from 



the Eavages of the Bee-Moth. 



REV. L. L. LANGSTKOTH. 



Kever since the introduction of I 

 movable frames has there been, in ! 

 our country, a greater mortalitv among ' 

 bees, than during the last winter and I 

 spring. Before the use of these 1 

 frames, to most bee-keepers such 

 losses were irreparable. How often 

 by natural swarming did the old- 

 fashioned bee-keeper, when a few 

 good seasons came in succession, I 

 make such a success in the business, I 

 as convinced him that a given sum of 

 money invested in bees, paid better I 

 than anything else V But sooner or ' 

 later comes the bad year— when most, : 

 and perhaps all of his colonies are , 

 lost— his golden dreams vanish, and 

 in most cases he abandons the pursuit 

 in disgust, having nothing to show 

 for his investment but some empty 

 hives, extra nice indeed for kindling 

 wood, and some combs of value only 

 for their wax. Was he one of the 

 kind who have little use in their 

 vocabulary for the word failure"^ 

 Being able to make but little if any 

 use of his old combs, he painfullv 

 waited upon the seasons, and unless 

 he had in him the making of another 



Quinby or Grimm, he could only hope 

 to build up his apiary again, if favored 

 by a succession of favored seasons. 



We have had some very calamitous 

 seasons since movable frames began 

 to be extensively u.sed, but by those 

 who know their business, how quickly 

 are such losses repaired. Although 

 not very often referred to. this power 

 of speedy recuperation is one of the 

 greatest benefits which come from the 

 control of the combs. Nearly every 

 empty comb can be utilized 'for the 

 bees, especially since the era of send- 

 ing queens by mail and purchasing 

 bees by the pound ; and even if he 

 has lost all his colonies, no one need 

 call himself a bankrupt bee-keeper, 

 but in a single favorable season may 

 hear again the cheerful hum of in- 

 dustry in hives no longer desolate and 

 silent. The change so speedily ef- 

 fected seems almo.?t like a resurrec- 

 tion of the dead ! 



But it takes time, even with the 

 best management, to secure such re- 

 sults, and just here comes a new ele- 

 ment which must be taken into 

 account. Nothing is so acceptable to 

 the bee-moth as combs with no bees 

 to protect them : the older the combs, 

 and the better in all respects for the 

 bees, the better too for the moth, and 

 the great question is, how with the 

 least trouble can these empty combs 

 be saved V Hang them up in some 

 light and dry place, carefully sepa- 

 rated so that they nowhere touch each 

 other, and sulphur them from time to 

 time. Most of you know by heart 

 this old, old story, and many of you 

 only to neglect what requires so miich 

 care and never waits upon any pro- 

 crastinator. You need not be told 

 that eternal vigilance is the price i 

 which miist be paid if we would save 

 empty combs for the bees. 



Columella said nearly two thou- 

 sand years ago : " This business 

 [bee-keeping] demands maxiniam fidel- 

 itatem [the greatest tidelity], which 

 since it is the rarest of qualities," 

 etc. It is just as hard to find it now 

 as then, but we never needed it more, 

 and I proceed to tell those who are 

 conscious that they are weak in this 

 matter, how " without money and 

 without price " they may secure it. 

 The facts which I shall now give are 

 recorded in my private journal, and 

 have been often told to bee-keepers, 

 some of whom will, no doubt, remem- 

 ber them as given by me many years 

 ago. AVithin a year or two my 

 methods have been given in part to 

 bee-keepers by some German apiarist 

 — and how much do we owe to our Ger- 

 man friends, among whom Dzierzon 

 stands first. 



I extract now word for word from 

 my .Journal, Vol. I, under date of 

 July 8, 1864 : 



" Spiders 1 coxint as friends. Last season 

 I put away small frames of comb under a 

 box, and the spiders kept them free from 

 moths ; this year I had a number of hives 

 with combs, but no bees, and they have 

 gruariled them well ! Where a spider has her 

 web. there it \vill be safe to keep empty 

 combs." 



I will now explain more fully how I 

 came to find the spider's value to the 

 bee-keeper. A nucleus with a choice 

 imported Italian queen, was placed on 



an empty box -hive laid on its side 

 upon the ground, with its cavity fac- 

 ing the north, to protect its contents 

 from the sun. In this cavity I put 

 quite a number of frames with choice 

 combs to be given from time to time 

 to the nucleus, when frames of brood 

 for queen-rearing were taken from it, 

 I expected that some at least of these 

 combs would be visited by the bee- 

 moth, but examining each comb as I 

 took it from the old box. I found no 

 signs that they had injured them. 

 This surjirised me much, until 1 saw, 

 when I came to the further end of the 

 box, a spider's web with its occupant 

 and many proofs of the kind of work 

 that had been done— (all unknown to 

 me)— in the shape of skeletons of bee- 

 moth and other insects suspended in 

 that web. 



It was not until the next year that I 

 reaped any great benefit from seeing 

 the handiwork of this spider. Dec. 

 .30, 1S63, the weather at Oxford, Ohio, 

 was quite mild for a winter day, the 

 mercury ranging at about 42-, the 

 day being misty and threatening rain. 

 At .^^SO p. m. my thermometer was 

 42-. The wind began to rise, and at 

 fi:.SO p. m., the record was 32- ; 7:30 p. 

 m.. 22' ; ]0:.30 p. m., 8'J. Jan. 1, 18&4, 

 7 a. m., Ifi^ below zero, with a gale of 

 wind. What soldier who camped out 

 that day will ever forget it V In our 

 apiary were many weak colonies, win- 

 tered only because we could then sell 

 every tested queen we could spare in 

 the spring, for from SIO to S20. Nearly 

 every one of these weak colonies was 

 dead when I examined them after 

 nearly two weeks of unusually cold 

 weather. The hives with their empty 

 combs were piled up against the 

 north side of the barn, and shut up 

 only enough to exclude mice. It waa 

 quite late in the spring before my 

 health allowed me to give them any 

 attention, and my son was absent in 

 the array. But I was able to use 

 every comb in my various operations. 

 The spiders had taken possession of 

 them, and the bee-moth had no 

 chance. Had I closed the hives so 

 tightly that the moth could not have 

 got in them, I should in all probability- 

 have lost most of the empty combs. 

 The odor of such hives .attracts the 

 moth, and if she cannot enter them, 

 she will lay her eggs in the most con- 

 venient cracks and crevices for her 

 progeny to get access to their proper 

 food. It is much easier for a spider 

 to entrap the moth, then it is for her 

 to catch her larvae when once they 

 have burrowed into the combs? I 

 prefer, therefore, to give the moth the 

 freest possible admission, consistent 

 with excluding mice, to all hives with 

 empty combs. 



Solomon says : " The spider taketh 

 hold with her hands, and is in king's 

 palaces." And she is very fond of 

 making her hunting grounds in the 

 combs of our queen's palaces when no 

 longer under the protection of the 

 bees I But we need trust nothing, 

 even to her alacrity to volunteer in our 

 service. In our bams and woodsheds 

 can always be found in autumn and 

 early spring a supply of those white 

 bags in which the pro\ident mother 

 so nicely tucks up, as in the softest 



