698 



Tmm fEMERicitPc mmM joismv^mi,. 



could make at least 50 in one day. 

 Place one of these boards on top of the 

 cases, and on top of the board an up- 

 per story of brood, and the bees will 

 desert it to such an extent that they 

 will leave it in a starving condition, 

 or, in otlier words, they will leave the 

 brood to take care of itself. Always 

 leave surplus room below the board 

 while honey is being gathered, when 

 the honey is readj- to take oil" on top 

 of it. 



We have just passed through a fair 

 season for the honey-producer in this 

 location.- My Ijees are in good condi- 

 tion for winter quarters. My yield per 

 oolony, spring count, is 2081 pound.s — 

 all comb honey except 600 pounds. 



Welton. Iowa. 



UNWIRED COMBS. 



Seriirins^ Oood Combs Without 

 Wiring — Empty Combs. 



Written for the American Dee Journal 

 BY G. W. DEMAKEE. 



My answers to Queries in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal have brought me a 

 request to write an article on this sub- 

 ject. To the practical bee-keeper 

 there are a number of objections to 

 wired combs, but the greatest of these 

 is the cost and high order of skill nec- 

 i^ssary to procure good wired combs. 

 To perforate the frame stuff accurate!}', 

 and draw the wire in the frames so as 

 to be tight, without sjiringing up the 

 bottom-bar, must be done by one who 

 is capable of doing a nice mechanical 

 job, and this is more than a majority 

 of practical bee-keepers are supposed 

 to be able to do. It is therefore a 

 desideratum on the part of the gener- 

 ality of bee-keepers, to have a simpler 

 and cheaper way to procure good 

 combs for brood and extracting pur- 

 poses. 



Perhaps it is not generally under- 

 stood what an advantage it is in ob- 

 taining a large yield of honej", to have 

 on hand a bountiful supply of good 

 combs, to supply every need of the 

 apiary. I have sometimes remarked 

 that the season must be poor indeed if 

 1 fail to get a paying crop of honey, 

 taken with the extractor, when sup- 

 plied with plenty of empty combs. 



The first requisite to success in ob- 

 taining good combs without wire, is a 

 good article of foundation, and tliis I 

 have not failed to find in Dadant's 

 manufacture, live or six sheets to the 

 pound of wax. Let the sheets be well 

 fixed to the top-bars, and hang clear in 

 the frames, with a space of J of an 

 inch at the ends, and a half inch at the 

 bottom. 



My method of fastening the sheets 

 to tlie top-bars of the frames, is to 



press the edge of the sheet fast to the 

 top-bar with a putty-knife, and after- 

 ward run some melted wax (with a 

 small spoon) on the opposite side from 

 the lap ; this prevents the tendency of 

 the sheet to " peel off" when weighted 

 by the bees. I use no mixture for this 

 purpose — as wax can be hardened 

 sufficiently, by pouring it, while hot, in 

 cold water. The bees object to any 

 foreign substance in wa.x. The frames 

 thus arranged are placed in tiering 

 supers or cases ready for use. 



When the honey season opens in the 

 spring, I place a superof empty combs 

 on each hive to be worked for extract- 

 ing, and as soon as the combs are 

 pretty well filled with new honey, the 

 case is lifted, and a case tilled with the 

 prepared sheets of foundation is placed 

 under it. If the season is good, the 

 foundation will be drawn out in a few 

 days, and may be used to hive swarms 

 on. Bj' proceeding in this way, all the 

 combs needed can be obtained. 



If there is any loss to the colonies 

 while drawing out the foundation, it is 

 more than made up by the swarms 

 that profit by the ready-drawn combs. 

 If I do not have empty combs to start 

 with, I use the foundation in their 

 place, as the best thing that I can do. 



When a crop of comb honey exclu- 

 sively, is being taken, it does not pay 

 to set the bees at work drawing out 

 foundation, for in every trial I have 

 made in that direction, the bees have 

 neglected the section-eases in their 

 eagerness to fill the sheets with honey 

 as fast as the cells are drawn out. The 

 plan is only practicable when taking 

 honey with the extractor. Still, if I 

 was producing comb honey exclusively, 

 I would employ a number of colonies 

 to draw out all the combs needed for 

 the swarms. 



It should be known, however, that 

 full sheets of foundation fastened to 

 the top-bars, as described above, may 

 be placed alternately with drawn 

 combs in the brood-chamber, and large 

 swarms may be hived upon them with 

 perfect safety. I have found, by ex- 

 perimenting with sheets of foundation, 

 that they can be made strong enough 

 to bear large swarms, by simply cut- 

 ting them into two pieces, and lapping 

 the edges together about } of an inch, 

 and welding them together by pressing 

 a putty-knife on either side, thus form 

 ing a rib in the centre of the sheet of 

 sudicient strength to prevent the sheet 

 from sagging. 



A piece of fine wire maj- be inserted 

 between the lapping edges, which will 

 add greatly to the strength of the 

 sheet. I have found that the rib is not 

 in the way of the bees, as they com- 

 plete the comb right on over it. 



How to prcser\'e emptj' combs when 

 not in use, was once a serious problem 



with me. The sulphur remedy was 

 never satisfactory in my practice — it is 

 a filthy, disgusting remedy. My plan 

 is this : 



In the early spring, the combs hav- 

 ing been subjected to winter freezing, 

 I pack them in bales of ten combs 

 each, inserting a strip of wood at the 

 ends between the combs, to hold them 

 apart, to admit the air between them 

 so as to prevent dampness and mold. 

 The bales of combs are bound together 

 with wrapping-twine to facilitate the 

 handling. Each bale of ten combs is 

 slipped into a cotton bag, and the 

 mouth of the bag is securely tied. 

 They are stored away in any dry place 

 where mice cannot get at them. By 

 this plan, empty combs can be kept 

 free from moth depredation for an in- 

 definite time. 



It is highly probaljle that nice, dry 

 combs would have no tendency to 

 mold if only a sheet of paper is placed 

 between them, in place of the strips of 

 wood. The latter, however, is of no 

 consequence to me, as I use the end- 

 pieces of frame-stuff". 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



PURE HONEY. 



It i§ Revtifled, and IVot Digested, 

 Nectar. 



WrttUn for the American Bee Journal 

 BY A. H. DUNLAr. 



I am now nearly 70 years of age. I 

 well remember watching my bees ma- 

 nipulate their wax, building cells and 

 capping them when full of ripe, digest- 

 ed (or something else) honey. I also 

 noticed that in the evening, a great 

 many cells of the new comb were full, 

 but were empty in the morning ; this 

 would be repeated for several nights 

 before the bees capped them over ; 

 what they were doing with it, I never 

 so well understood as I think that I do 

 now — they were either "ripening " it, 

 "digesting" it, or doing something 

 else with it. Now this "something 

 else " is what I understand is asked for 

 on page 648. 



I never liked the word "ripe," as 

 applied to honey, as its proper use is 

 to express the condition of vegetation 

 after growth and development into its 

 perfected state — it is then "ripe." As 

 for " digested " honey — oo ! oo ! ough ! 

 When I first saw this word applied to 

 honey, how it made my stomacli 

 squirm. That just won't do ! 



Now let us have that " more appro- 

 priate word." and call it "rectified" 

 honey ; and if any one wants to know 

 what rectified honey is, just say it is 

 " pure honey." If anybody wants to 

 know how it is rectified, say. " I don't 

 know, the bees did it." 



