310 



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MAY. 



The finches are singinK, 



The bright bees are humming, 

 The grasses are springing, 



The Summer is coming, 



For May is here. 

 With sunshine and shadow. 



Refreshing and cheering. 

 How green is the meadow ! 



Where daisies appearing. 



As stars, shine out clear. 



The tree-tops are swaying. 



With nests on their branches ; 

 The rabbets a-playing. 



Or sit on their haunches. 



As striving to hear 

 The church bells' far pealing. 



Now swelling, now sinking. 

 Through the wood, the stream stealing, 



Seems joyously thinking 



Glad Summer is here.— Sel. 



Hotv and When to Renew the 

 Old Combs. 



Written for Vie American Bee Journal 



Query 631.— 1. What is the best procedure 

 for the renewal of old combs lu hives which 

 bees have occupied for 12 or 15 years ? 2. 

 When Is the best time for such procedure ?— 

 Iowa. 



1. Use full sheets of foundation. 2. 

 Any time from April to September.— 

 Will M. Baknum. 



Cut them out before they are occu- 

 pied with brood in the spring. — J. P. 

 H. Brown. 



1. The Heddon method of trans- 

 ferring. 2. About swarming time. — 



C. H. DiBBERN. 



1. Remove them and render them 

 into wax. 2. In early spring. — J. M. 

 Hambaugh. 



1. Use sheets of foundation. 2. Any 

 time, e.xcept during a good houe}--flow. 

 — Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Transfer about the usual swarming- 

 time, a la Heddon ; as described in my 

 "Manual," on page 219. — A. J. Cook. 



I have never had any combs too old 

 in my apiary to be useful, and I have 

 kept bees 20 years. — G. M. Doolittle. 



1. If you are satisfied that they must 

 be renewed, cut them out and fill the 

 frames with foundation. 2. After you 

 get all the brood out, in June or July. 

 — H. 1). Cutting. 



I do not know that I fairly under- 

 stand the question. 2. During fruit 

 blossom, as a rule. — J. E. Pond. 



1. Melt the old combs into wax, and 

 give frames entirely filled with founda- 

 tion. 2. In the spring — perhaps about 

 the time of apple-bloom. — Mrs. L. 

 Harrison. 



1. I do not know how to " renew " 

 old combs. If it is desired to replace 

 the old with the new ones, I should say 



that the best method would depend 

 upon how surplus honey is secured. If 

 to be comb honey on the contraction 

 plan, and swarms are hived on empty 

 frames with starters, and a queen-ex- 

 cluding honey-board is used, new 

 combs will be secured. If the surplus 

 is to be extracted honey, furnish the 

 surplus frames with full sheets of foun- 

 dation. 2. When securing surplus. — 

 — A. B. Mason. 



I never renew them on account of 

 age alone ; but probably the best way 

 to renew them is to melt them up, and 

 replace with worker foundation. — C. 

 C. Miller. 



1. I am not certain that they ought to 

 be renewed. 2. If you are sure that 

 they are worthless, select the time 

 when they have the least honey and 

 brood in, which would be in April or 

 May. — Eugene Secor. 



1. Take them out and replace them 

 with new worker combs, or with comb 

 foundation. But we would not i-emove 

 them unless very, very old and thick. 

 As long as the queen breeds in them, 

 they are as good as new combs. 2. 

 The best time is spring — April or May. 

 — Dadant & Son. 



1. If you must renew them, take out 

 one or more at a time, as you can find 

 them empty, and replace them bj' put- 

 ting frames filled with foundation in 

 the brood-nest as needed. 2. Such as 

 you find empty, may be taken out at 

 any time when bees can fly, but frames 

 of foundation should only be put in 

 when some honey is coming in. — R. L. 

 Taylor. 



1. My plan is to work out the old 

 combs gradually at any time that it 

 can be done with the least labor to my- 

 self, and disturbance to the labor of 

 the bees. I sort out many poor combs 

 in the spring, and many when making 

 up nuclei for queen-i-earing. — G. W. 

 Demaree. 



1. Drive or shake the bees upon 

 foundation, and after the brood in the 

 old combs has emerged, shake these 

 new bees into the same hive with the 

 others, and melt the combs into wax. 

 2. Any time when the combs have but 

 little honey. — J. M. Shuck. 



1. Combs that have been occupied 

 for 12 or 15 years do not need to be 

 renewed. I would not care to use 

 them more than 40 years, however. 2. 

 If portions of them, from being moldy 

 or from anj' other cause, become unfit 

 for brood-rearing, they may be cut out 

 at almost any time that may be con- 

 venient. — M. Mahin. 



1. Place them in the supers of hives, 

 if they contain brood, till it hatches 

 out ; then extract the honey and melt 

 up the combs. In renewing, take out 

 alternate combs, and insert frames 



with full sheets of foundation till all 

 the combs are renewed. 2. The above 

 procedure maj' be carried out at any 

 time in the season. — G. L. Tinker. 



Exchange the frames of old combs 

 (if they must be renewed) for frames 

 tilled with comb foundation. It can 

 be done best in the spring, about the 

 time of fruit^bloom. — The Editor. 



Central miohigan Convention. 



— W. A. Barnes, of DeWitt, Mich., the 

 Secretaiy of the Association, sends the 

 following report : 



The Central Michigan Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in the Supreme Court 

 Room on Wednesday, May 1, 1889, and 

 the election of officers resulted as fol- 

 lows ; President, Rev. J. H. Ashworth, 

 of Lansing ; Vice-Presidents, S. E. Van- 

 etter, of Williamston, Miss Minnie 

 Brindle, of Bath, and W. O. Wilson, of 

 Okemos ; Secretary, W. A. Barnes, and 

 Treasurer, N. U. Goodnoe, of Lansing. 

 The convention adjourned to meet 

 with the State Bee-Keepers' Association 

 next fall. 



A Queer Hive.— Mr. E. L. Dickinson, 

 of Central Point, Calif., writes to the Pacific 

 Rural Press this Item, under the above 

 caption : 



A very novel and curious bee-hive was 

 discovered recently at Dutch Corners. It 

 consisted of a straw- burning engine, which 

 a swarm of bees had taken possession of as 

 their home. Every attempt to dislodge 

 them had failed. The engine was stored in 

 an open shed, facing the road ; hence it was 

 very desirable to get rid of the bees. 



The proprietor of the Dutch Corners' 

 hotel, offered me the bees if 1 would take 

 them. Accordingly I went at it, and in a 

 few minutes had them safely hived in a box. 

 1 moved them 80 miles, and set them up. On 

 being liberated they immediately went to 

 work. 



There were in the engine about 14 pounds 

 of honey of a very fine flavor, and nearly 

 pure white, from alfalfa, of which there 

 were large fields near by. The means of 

 capturing them was simply smoke and 

 water. After capturing, I tound the queen 

 and clipped her wings, and all trouble was 

 over. 



Scientific Queen - Rearing:, as 



practically applied ; being a method by 

 which the best of queen-bees are reared in 

 perfect accord with Nature's ways. This is 

 the title of a new book of 176 pages, by G. 

 M. Doolittle, of Borodino, N. Y., which is 

 now ready for delivery. 



In this book Mr. Doolittle details the re- 

 sults of his experiments in rearing queen- 

 bees for the past four or five years, and is 

 the first to present his discoveries to the 

 world. It is published in time for every 

 progressive bee-keeper to test the various 

 discoveries which it details, during the pres- 

 ent season. Send all orders for the book to 

 this office. Price, 81.00, postpaid. The usual 

 discount to dealers in lots of 10 or more. 



