CONDITION OF THE COMB IMPORTANT. 281 

 CONDITION OF THE COMB IMPORTANT. 



Comb is the honey bee's furniture, and like all else 

 that is perishable, will endure a longer or shorter 

 period in proportion to the care taken of it. If kept 

 in good condition, the bees will inhabit the same comb 

 and continue prosperous for ten or more years. I 

 have known them to do well for fifteen years, and 

 instances are recorded of still greater duration. 



Exposing a hive of bees to extreme heat or exces- 

 sive dampness, whether in a cellar or other moist 

 room, or in a shady place near the earth, not only 

 injures the comb, but (as it is elsewhere shown) se- 

 riously affects the health of the bees. 



surface ; portions of comb are sometimes used for the same pur- 

 pose.) These so-called comb guides are sheets of zinc or thin 

 boards, and placed so that they intervene between the combs ; in 

 this way, very straight, regular combs are made. Yet the eco- 

 nomical bee-keeper cannot afford to use them, for the following 

 reasons (besides it is a very unworkmanlike way of doing) : 

 The space between two combs is three-eighths of an inch*"; (if 

 brood, honey is less,) if these so-called comb guides (which should 

 be of wood) are used, two spaces will be necessary; together 

 with the thickness of guide, one-eighth, will make seven-eighths of 

 an inch, in place of three-eighths inches, between combs. The 

 proper thickness of a comb and one space is one and seven-six- 

 teenths inches ; add to this one-half inch space and wood, and we 

 have one and fifteen-sixteenths, over one-fourth of which is worse 

 than useless room. For bees, in building comb, require the tem- 

 perature in the hive to be ninety-four degrees, or nearly blood 

 heat. To maintain this, requires great exertion of the bees dur- 

 ing the cool nights, and not unfrequently during the day ; hence, 

 it is obvious that a swarm cannot do this without a much greater 

 consumption of stores, and even then it is impossible to cover the 

 useless space and make as great progress as when no obstacle 

 intervenes. 



