1902 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



201 



ize and market their lioney at any. time 

 of the year, through these agents. The 

 producers are finding out that the con- 

 sumers are paying a good price for all 

 the honey they use. The speculator. 

 who is alwaj's a "bear" to the producer 

 and a "bull" to the consumer, has over- 

 reached himself, and the bee-keepers 

 now have an avenue through which 

 they may market their honey without 

 letting it pass through his hands. 



Scspe, Calif. 



THE USE OF. STARTERS 



And Their Influence Upon the Natural Utiliza- 

 tion of LWax— Source of Discoloration in 

 Combs, Etc. 

 (Arthur C. IMiller.) 



AIMONG the tenets of good bee- 

 keepers there has long stood al- 

 most unchallenged the belief that 

 unless bees were given a chance to 

 build comb wax was lost; this being 

 particularly the case when swarms were 

 hived on combs instead of starters. 



Nature never wastes and products 

 that are not used in their legitimate 

 channel either are used in others or re- 

 verting to their elements pass into com- 

 pounds- But neither does Nature pro- 

 duce more than is necessary for the 

 best accomplishment of ends. In other 

 words, and as applied to bees, animal 

 life is "SO adapted to normal surround- 

 ings that, that is not produced which is 

 not utilized. With this in mind I have 

 made experiments to see how far our 

 methods of keeping bees forced them 

 from normal conditions and habits as 

 regards wax production and utilization. 



A swarm when hived on empty 

 frames or starters gathered in a com- 

 pact mass, generate much heat and 

 convert into wax the honey and pollen 

 in their stomachs and honey sacs. The 

 combination of food, heat, moisture and 

 inactivity are necessary to the highest 

 production of wax, and under any other 

 conditions it is produced sparingly and 

 with exceeding slowness. 



That much was readily determined 

 and it settled the question as to wheth- 

 er wax was saved or lost by hiving 

 swarms on starters or combs- In lo- 

 calities where short and heavy flows of 

 honey are the rule it is, of course, bet- 



ter to hive swarms on starters, putting 

 the supers above with an excluder be- 

 tween. But that is a matter of honey 

 and not of wax; though experiments 

 indicate that more honey will be se- 

 cured where the bees have one comb 

 in the brood nest. Such a comb gives 

 the queen room at once and the bees 

 seem inclined to bend their energies 

 more to honey gathering than wax se- 

 creting. 



I next turned my attention to the 

 loss of wax through scales dropping to 

 the floor and being swept outi Loss 

 by such channels is more apparent than 

 real. Some scales are brushed out with 

 the dirt and excrement which accumu- 

 lates on the floor, but most of the 

 scales are picked up and utilized. Com- 

 paratively few scales are dropped how- 

 ever, the average from normal swarms 

 hived on combs or starters, when re- 

 duced to wax, will not be one-half tea- 

 spoonful per colony. 



HOW COMBS ARE DISCOLORED. 



In conducting these experiments I 

 was surprised to see the large quantity 

 of faeces passed by a colony. It has 

 been claimed that bees never pass dry 

 faeces but always excrement in fluid 

 form. Such belief is erroneous, as any 

 one may see if care is taken in look- 

 ing. It is the dry faeces which, to- 

 gether with pollen, make combs black 

 and which discolor the cappings of 

 honey when left on too long. Not a 

 pleasant thought, but true neverthe- 

 less. 

 Providence, R. I., Oct. 12, 1902. 



One of the largest honey dealers in 

 the United States, located in New York 

 Citv. sends this month a quotation of 

 the honey market in which appears this 

 line: "Southern honey in barrels, 4 1-2 

 to S 1-2 cents per pound." We are very 

 much disinclined to admit any such mis- 

 leading and insignificant quotation to 

 our market column. "Southern honey" 

 is no more specific in designating qual- 

 ity than would be "Northern," "West- 

 ern" or ^'Eastern" honey. This unjust 

 manner of quoting is a relic of days 

 gone by; there are too many progres- 

 sive producers of honey in the "South- 

 ern" belt today to admit of the degrad- 

 ing inference, and The Bee-Keeper 

 declines to serve as a medium for con- 

 veying the insult. 



